Page 52 - Studio International - December 1970

Notes on 'The the subtle changes in form and substance snowflakes into crystals It contains images of
' created by the combination of lit and pro- duality, a sun and moon tree, a tree of both
jected objects, are all means which confirm a
man and woman, a flower garden where each
Black Box : an picture of reality wider than would be possible flower touches on some process of memory
through the use of a single medium. The possi- and recognition. The whole of this magical
experiment in bilities of transformation and metamorphosis world is inhabited by a shadowy figure,
of an image through different physical states, Piktor, who grasps at a stone and sets himself
the process of change in time, provide other
visual theatre aspects in the representation of an enlarged at odds with the continuous flow of his
environment.
view of reality. It was in this story that we recognized the
John Epstein For example, a real figure walks through a qualities of nostalgia, simplicity and magic
real field which is reflected on to the stage which we were anxious to preserve and con-
from outside the building. The figure then vey in our work. Thus the story has deter-
appears lit on the stage in front of a film mined the total structure and systems within
projection of the same field. Next he is which we work. Being our only frame of
It is the selection, from our environment, of walking along inside the film, himself a pro- reference it has acted as a cohesive element in
that which relates to our inner lives, that jection, and then he reappears, lit on the stage relation to the group. It gave a generally
which can transform itself, through our sitting in an actual cut-out replica of the agreed focal point for decisions and a con-
imagination into imagery, the acceptance of field. This scene slowly fades and the figure sistent means by which the quality and content
those perceptions that can be extracted and reappears walking in the real field, reflected of our work could be referred to. Because of
drawn inwards, that are the concern of the on to the stage from outside the building. the story's strong and explicit visual descrip-
Black Box Group. We assemble selected frag- It is this kind of journey through media that tions the success of any image could always
ments of landscape, images of birds and can represent some of the different perceptions be gauged by how well it illustrated the
butterflies, mountainsides tinged with blue of reality experienced on a 'real' walk in the story: e.g. 'A tree which represented both
light, small fir trees, figures in costume, countryside. Man and Woman' ... 'They were sombre and
flowers in the shape of large cushions, and The construction of a box with a single, square sunk into themselves, as though drunk with
many other objects, projections, sounds, opening which can be looked into is an their own perfume' ... 'Still another (flower)
rhythms and illusions, which become part of attempt to make a structural representation made him recall his mother's voice when he
a reconstruction of an imaginary place, whose of that area of human activity that lies had wandered with her as a child in the
atmosphere and pulse reflects our own behind or beneath the surface. It is an attempt to garden at home'.
imagination, our memories and the rhythmic reinstate the validity of an art form that It was the starkness in the structure of the
quality of our inner lives. Inside the Black represents those areas of human consciousness Black Box and the geometric nature of the
Box appears a model of ourselves. It is this that lie beneath the surface, and to re- square opening that was used to contrast the
process of extraction and insertion inside a emphasize the acceptance of such feelings as magic, flowing, jewel-like quality of Hesse's
defined area that influences the structure and nostalgia, lyricism, melodrama and senti- prose. The story has been illustrated quite
systems of our work. mentality that have been suppressed both in literally rather than in any symbolic or
It is the relationship of actual, perceived images art and simple human relationships for so consciously ambiguous form. Thus, when the
to imaginary concepts, and the necessity to re- long. text read 'serpent' an image of a real snake
construct by relating solid (actual) objects to In order to accentuate the nature of 'the (not a symbol, or an evil ambiguous aura)
projected images that produces a mixed media. interior' which is looked into through an was painted or made; where the text read
The heart of our work has been in combining opening or window, a definite spatial relation- `tree' a real tree was used. This literal
real with projected images and following the ship between the Box and the audience had following of the text was enjoyed as a process
constant transformations that an image goes to be created. The play must be inside the of faithfully representing the childlike sim-
through, slipping in and out of a solid or pro- Box, the audience outside it at a distance, at plicity of the story as a whole. The use of a
jected state. It is the changing patterns in the least thirty feet. text to determine a whole medium, i.e.
relationships of solidity to transparency that The action appears slowly from the blackness. subject matter determining form, tends to be
represent the fluctuations and inter-relation- The distance of the audience from the play a laborious and uneconomical process in
ship between the real and the illusionary in should help to represent the kind of inner some senses. Another subject matter would
our work. distance that exists between oneself and one's thus determine perhaps a very different form
We have been reticent in applying the term dreams (the consistent dream image of the from the Black Box (although a lot of these
`mixed media' to our work, because of its long corridor with something at the end of it). structures and systems would probably be
connotations with light shows, stroboscopic This distance should help to convey the transi- used). Yet whether the building of a new
effects, general aggressiveness of tone and tory, fleeting nature of the medium, and even system or medium for each big idea seems
sensationalism. Nevertheless, the Black Box to raise the question in the audience's minds impractical or not, the truth is that the story
could be defined as a mixed-media project as to whether the play is happening at all. gave the impetus and the sense of impartiality
when the 'mixing' of the media is not seen as Because of this distance and the quality of necessary to bring six people together in an
an end in itself, but as a tool used to represent ambiguous, undefinable space that the Box intense relationship for three years. q
our most central and basic interests. The possesses, the audience could consider the
representation of different levels of perception, action as a projection of their own. It is this
the dualities and paradoxes inherent in what kind of ambiguity that can fortify the effective-
is real and what is illusionary, become ness of the Box as a representative of the
effective when represented in a combination illusionary nature of reality.
of different materials and processen The frame of reference for-the work of -the The preceding notes are extracts from the book The
Black Box-an experiment in Visual Theatre published by
The mixing of actual and illusionary space, Black Box Group has always been the story, Latimer Press, 4 Alwyne Villas, London Nl, Nov. 1970.
the combination of direct light with various Piktor's Metamorphosis, by Herman Hesse. The play Change will be performed at the Round-house,
London, from December 21, 1970 to January 16, 1971.
reflective devices, the ambiguity affected by The story depicts a paradise of continuous, Members of the Black Box Group are: Reiner Burger,
the fluctuation of live to recorded imagery, rhythmic change. Birds grow into butterflies, Robert Burne, Lindsay Davidson, John Epstein, Carole
Frame, David Sawyer.