Creator: Livia Rita
For all the best performance art, patience is a necessity. Spend time watching Kira O’Reilly falling down the stairs in dreadful slo-mo, give oneself up to the unhurried gentle stare of Marina Abramović as she sits across the table, and take in the wonder of Franko B swinging in a golden swing, and the rewards will be limitless. The starts of both halves of Livia Rita’s FUTURA Glitch are silly and absurd, but stick around and the result is life-affirming.
It’s not until the end of Creature Birth and Earthly Glitches and when the audiences begin to file out that the real impact of Livia Rita’s vision is felt. To the evocative sounds of a harp, a figure lies dying perhaps, finally released from its wounded and bodily form. Masaccio’s or Dürer’s Adam and Eve, with Eve clinging fearfully to Adam’s arm, wander lost around the Lillian Baylis Studio while Pan covered in moss cavorts up the stairs, trumpet in hand. Dancers with flowerpots for feet lay drowsily in this Garden of Eden.
Before this, Livia Rita has emerged from a flower singing songs about blue skies and fatalities in a Bjork-y kind of way. It’s almost like a happening in the 60s, but unlike the 60s everyone feels compelled to film this quasi gig on their mobile phones. Some excited spectators even get in the way as the performers wend their way through the audience, mostly sitting on the floor. An official cameraman is also filming the event, along with an official photographer, busily and noisily snapping every moment. It’s a shame as these links to the real world create a distance from the realm we’re otherwise being immersed in.
The second half, Kisses and Dances, begins much like the first, but there are plenty more outfits to admire, all designed by Livia Rita, who comes and sings again. Veils are lifted. Helium balloons float. Sometimes it’s even a little funny and baffling, but within 20 minutes any reservations will disappear and the end is energizing, communal, and with Pan dancing beside you, even spiritual. Enter this space with open arms.
Reviewed in 13 May 2022, and continues to tour in other formats
