Presented through Blindside’s gallery activation program; a chamber piece adaptation of Paul Celan’s matière de Bretagne, as understood through the lens of autistic shutdown. Performances with Andrew Huhtanen McEwan, Honor Webster-Mannison and members of the Merri Merri Choir, utilising urinal pots crafted from reshaped and decorated SodaStream bottles. The bottles are reformed using DIY glassblowing techniques applied to plastic, and referencing a photo archive of historical urinary vessels.
Anne Carson asks: where is the human store to which words are gathered? She proposes that, in matière de Bretagne, Celan locates this store in ‘you’. But if shutdowns moor words deep within the body’s archive, do they remain there, literally intact, or are they subject to incessant translation? Periods of shame and solitude inevitably succeed my autistic shutdowns. Clarity of communication and social attendance are cultural imperatives and their failure is difficult to bear. I keep a SodaStream bottle near my bed to pee in, so I can hibernate for longer. My SodaStream bottle is a contemporary urinal pot – a type of receptacle which has existed since ancient times. I keep it hidden. This project aims to invert cycles of shame: to celebrate the form and acoustic potential of urinal pots – utilising them to perform an adaptation of Celan’s matière de Bretagne.