Tim Etchells | Instructions for Forgetting  

 

"I have been looking back through the tapes..."

 

Somewhere between a performance and an idiosyncratic lecture, Instructions for Forgetting interweaves original text by Tim Etchells with stories and video material donated by a wide range of friends, artists, family and acquaintances. 

A solo performer in a space strewed with video monitors, VCRs, cables, untidy stacks of videotapes. The performer speaks - stories, speculations and incomplete dialogues. Images rewind, narratives fast forward, slithers of the past are caught in freeze frame or drawn out in an agony of slow motion. A child does magic tricks. Dogs play in a New York apartment. Cartoon rain shimmers on a white sky. A woman strips in Barnsley. The sea shimmers in Beirut. 

"I ask my friends around the world to send me stories and video tapes. For the stories I ask for things that are true. The topic can be anything. I ask for short reports on things that have happened in the world. For the tapes I say "Don't make me something special - send what you have." I say, "I'm sure that whatever you choose is bound to be right."