A performance with two kinds of circles, centered around the idea of (awkward) silence.
In 2018, Jeff Bezos banned PowerPoint at Amazon and ordered a return to Six-Page Narratives, memos read collectively in silence. I used this as the basis for this performance.
I asked each participant to browse Temporary and Unnamed to collect content for a personalized PDF that each participant would read during the reading-circle portion of the meeting. The reading bit made up the 'introverted circle' of the meeting.
The reading was timed by a kettle. As soon as the water began to boil, we stopped reading and flipped the chairs facing inwards. Everyone was given a coffee bean, which we then chewed together as we transitioned into the circle-time portion of the meeting, that is the 'extroverted circle'.
I'm describing this and some other things a bit more in depth in this blog post.
In 2018, Jeff Bezos implemented a ban on PowerPoint at Amazon, emphasizing Six-Page Narratives as the preferred mode of communication, where memos were collectively read in silence. Inspired by this approach, I designed a performance structured around it.
Participants were given personalized PDFs, which were then read during the meeting's 'introverted circle' session. We timed the reading with a boiling kettle, concluding it when the kettle stopped and chairs were turned inward. To transition into the 'extroverted circle' or circle-time, everyone was given a coffee bean to chew on together.