Since 2021, Cally Spooner has been an associate research fellow at O—Overgaden, developing a long-term itinerant project—moonlighting as choreography, sound, book, rehearsal, and philosophy disquisition—with the overall title Deadtime.

Deadtime asks the clear question: If contemporary society adheres to a “performance principle”—the 24/7 demand to competitively “perform” (well) at all times—might there be a way to resist this “principle”? Or, in other words, does there exist an unfolding of a visceral “culture” that is not filled with planned activity and incessant fecundity? And how to make space for that which is not storyboarded nor prescribed; that which is erratic, electric and does not have its “performance function” calculated or determined in advance, and hence, by certain institutional and industrial standards, might appear to be “dead”? Can alternative temporalities, by appearing dead, out of sync or asynchronous, undetectable, in a state of rehearsal, or even by insisting on being impossibly present or of (endless) durational longevity, subvert the standard, constantly ticking deluge of metric, regulated time?

As the final installment of Spooner’s Deadtime inquiry, this sonic exhibition is structured by a loud “beep”—repeating every 42 seconds, timing the exhibition’s pulse—and shaped by the visuals of two pinkish psoas-muscle-colored surfaces, sweeping the walls of O—Overgaden as an anatomical-architectural intervention. Against this “backdrop”, the show comprises Spooner’s serial batch of 43:59-minute audio pieces, all synchronized and taking their time-lapse-cue from the original reading of Spooner’s cornerstone script, Deadtime (2018). Among the audio works, played on large Fohhn speakers, one finds a cello player warming up in DEAD TIME (Melody’s Warm Up) (2022); a mother and daughter arguing about who forgot to feed the cat in WHAT HAPPENED? A Conversation with my Mother (2024); a choreography of moves and breaths audible in the audio version of DEAD TIME (Maggie’s Solo) (2022);O—Overgaden’s windows thrown wide open, letting in the sounds from Christianshavn; a breathing piece: Dancing Still Life on a Single Breath (2023); and Principles (2023–), the rising, fussing voices of young children, cheerfully counting. In sum, the audible tracks attack the audience with spilling, undetectable, present, asynchronous, and persistent durational noise(s) from all sides.

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*The exhibition is followed by an international symposium on Saturday 26 October, 10am–4pm, with participants including Marie de Brugerolle, Hendrik Folkerts, Irena Haiduk, Will Holder, and Christopher Weickenmeier.

The event is held in English and is free of charge. Please click here for more information about the symposium.