Staged covertly during public hours, participants arrive on site with instructions to meet a guide, and from there they are led silently through a series of tiny actions following written notes and immersive audio in headphones. They walk through the space and listen together. They look at books and read to each other. Sounds and images found in the library combine and blur. And as the piece progresses the materials they encounter come to form a manual for slowing down.

Intermingling with the daily life of the library, MANUAL proposes a performance that develops through the act of listening and reading with another person. Through a slow and careful process, this piece stages a quiet meditation on the library as a space of shared attention.

Adam Kinner and Christopher Willes create performances that explore unusual states of sensory awareness. Often staged in public spaces, their collaborations stem from an interest in the sensory intelligence of sound, audience positionality, and the aesthetic and political possibilities that participatory performance can sometimes unearth. They both have been active in the music and contemporary dance milieux over the past decade. Their previous project, Listening Choir, was shown in Canada and the United Kingdom. They created MANUAL in collaboration with Hanna Sybille Müller.

Created with the support of: Festival TransAmériques (Les Respirations), Conseil des arts du Canada, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Ontario Arts Council, and LA SERRE –arts vivants.
Touring support: Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec.
Creation residencies: Take Me Somewhere (UK) and LA SERRE–arts vivants (Montréal).