Passage of Witnesses is a double entry and common denominator performance proposition: the witnesses (I, you, he, we, you all, they) pass, the witnesses (as in the metaphoric relay  race of the Greek couriers) pass on to I, you, he, we, you all, they...eventually looping endlessly, like a Moebius strip.

We are grappling with the communication of man and space: does architecture speak the same language as man? As all men? The lack of communication or simply of the possibility of communication – is it not in itself an unconscious mechanism of exclusion? What about landscape design?

Edward T. Hall reminds us that there are two ways of structuring space: “the radioconcentric” which is sociofart and “the chessboard” which is sociofugal. And he confirms, “If one goes the wrong direction in the radioconcentric system, the error becomes more and more serious as one moves away from the center. [...] In the chessboard system, the errors are inevitably at 90° or 180° and are consequently easy to perceive even by those who lack a sense of direction.”*

The site itself is a mechanism, both the urban site (which is accessible) and the architectural site (also accessible). To communicate is to “put in common” and “to be in relation with” according to Oresme. A passage is a door of communication: the place of exchange and transmission. How far does this go?

Passage of Wtinesses is a situation created in response to the expressed desire to “put into playforms of exchange and transmission that show the virtues of misunderstandings, of paradoxical injunctions and other incomprehensions.” It is a response at several levels expressing itself in terms of choice:

• Sign a group work individually
• Highlight the agility of disability
• Talk seriously with humor
• Present the “D” day as soon as the performance has “already started”
• Produce elements with several outcomes/outputs
• Play with presence and absence simultaneously, like a double saturation
• Work together to strengthen the message
• Consider the res non verba as a language
• Affirm that the site itself is truly the place of paradox (opening and closing, welcoming and keeping at a distance...)
• Cite oblivion, a fruit of the unconscious, as also an act of will

The project developed as follows:

• Have two projects: one, individual, the other, collective
• Choose one of the projects
• Verify its feasibility
• Form the team
• Make a joint proposition
• Create a “paradoxical” situation

Casting:

• Elie Assouline, actor
• Michel Naud, cameraman
• Andy Guignard, sound technician
• Léa Assouline, scriptwriter
• Loup Garcin, assistant director
• Christophe Mazza, editor
• Marielle Assouline-Amozig, boom operator
• Olivier Garcin, director
• The group URSS (Ugly and Ridiculous Sweet Sky), the musicians

The action during No Comprendo will consist of:

• An introduction to paradoxical physics, followed by
• The projection of a burlesque film, slightly fast forwarded, jerky, mute, accompanied by appropriate music improvised and played live by the group URSS group (Ugly and Ridiculous Sweet Sky), followed by
• A brief lecture. The program is preceded and followed by
• A stroll through the exhibit and on the performance sites of others.

* Edward T. Hall, La dimension cachée (The Hidden Dimension), éditions Le Seuil, 1971, page 180.