Ever heard of a subtlemob?
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Is it a flashmob? hardly. Is it a movie? Yeah, but no. Is it a completely immersive experience? Hell yes! It’s called a subtlemob and they are being organized by more and more storytellers all around the globe.
Meet Duncan Speakman
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The creator of the first Subtlemob is a musician/sound engineer/documentary maker/digital-artist-by-accident from arts collective 'Circumstance'. All these experiences come in very handy, because they are key elements in any subtlemob.
What’s a subtlemob?
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D.S: “It’s a mass participation piece of theatre where the audience performs the work, guided by instructions that they listen to on a sound file. It blends in and becomes part of the everyday world. It’s not about creating a spectacle in a public space. Think of it as making a cinematic experience without cameras.”
How do you deal with the environments?
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“We work in what we call ‘uncontrolled spaces’ rather than public spaces. We don’t have any control over external influences. We make documentaries in which you’re part of an experience that’s happening around you and we’re framing that with a piece of audio.”
How did you come up with the idea?
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“I was making a theatre show with volunteering performers and an audience in a city. We didn’t want these volunteers to be performance slaves so we gave them a soundtrack and a story to offer them an experience, they really enjoyed. So maybe we could make a performance in which you can be audience and performer at the same time.”
And?
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“We watch and document scenes the real world. Then actors re-perform those things and we turn it into instructions. But film-wise we’re really inspired by Michael Haneke and Rory Anderson, in terms of style and the way we play out the pieces.”
How?
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“We rip off a lot of classic cinematic moments. “My favorite moment in subtlemob Our Broken Voice is a bit like time-lapse photography: you’re walking fast and suddenly you stop and then the music half-times as well. At first you have been walking with the crowd and then suddenly everyone else is passing you by. You get this feeling like time slows down.”
What about the underlying values?
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“In general, it all starts with ‘how to make the world a better place’. In particular, Our Broken Voice was about the culture of mistrust of strangers and tension in public spaces.”
What’s your secret for total immersion?
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“Gently leading people into creating a role. Also, we pretty much close your ears off for the world, so we give you an entirely artificial sound space, and we never break that. That really helps to lock people into one environment for the whole piece.”
But there’s lots of insecurity factors included...
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“Once we sent out the e-mails with the instructions and the sound file, it’s already out of our hands. This was a real challenge especially in China, because there are some restrictions on public gatherings and internet and e-mail traffic is heavily censored, so we had to operate under the radar.”