An eight-hour work might sound like an ordeal,but these days the idea of bingeing an entire season of TV or reading a book cover to cover in one hit is hardly novel. Post-lockdown,spending a whole day or even venturing out of the house in your PJs doesn’t seem so alien,either.
That might be whyWORK enjoyed a sold-out season and tickets toREST are already scarce. It turns out that a lot of people can’t wait to venture into the depths of Arts Centre Melbourne for a show that begins at 9pm and runs until nearly dawn.
The idea for the8/8/8 trilogy arose when its makers,Harriet Gillies and Marcus McKenzie,were presenting a work at Trades Hall. Woven into the carpet of that historic building is a motif celebrating the landmark win by Melbourne workers in the 1800s,who successfully campaigned for a daily routine of eight hours’ work,eight hours’ rest and eight hours of leisure time.
WORK was an extended investigation into productivity,the job market,labour,careerism,the so-called work-life balance and everything else associated with employment. Here,an equally wide spotlight is thrown onto the idea of rest.
Following on from last year’s 8/8/8:WORK,Marcus McKenzie and Harriet Gillies return with their overnight performance,REST.Chris Hopkins
Like many durational performances,the events of8/8/8 give those inside it a different way to experience time,a break from the usual cycles that dictate their day (or,in this case,night). What’s different to many other works is that the team here (Gillies and McKenzie are joined by three other performers) isn’t intending to bore you into an altered state of consciousness.REST might be a tranquil experience,but it’s also one whose makers have a deep consideration for the value of their audience’s attention.
“It’s not this big immersive thing where you have to figure out what to do,” says McKenzie. “The audience is very held. We’re very considered with where we take our audience and the experience we give them. As opposed to an installation where it’s like ‘Off you go,spend as long as you want,’ you’re sort of carried through this work in quite a specific way. It has a certain linearity to it.”
REST will lead audiences through a wide variety of spaces within the Arts Centre,all reimagined to invoke the strange liminal states we go through during the nocturnal hours.
Harriet Gillies and Marcus McKenzie won’t be offended if people nod off during REST.Chris Hopkins
“We’ve been thinking about different forms of engagement,” McKenzie says. “Like various forms of low-stimulation entertainment,which is becoming more and more popular in today’s world. For example,to chill out from rehearsals I’ve been playing this video game where basically nothing happens. It makes little sounds,it’s very visually dark,there’s no music. So we’re interested in these sorts of spaces that are playing with low stimulation,but still keeping people going,giving them the right avenue to zone out.”
Our circadian rhythms lead to different levels of sleep throughout the night,and REST has been carefully constructed to echo the ebb and flow of consciousness we’re accustomed to experiencing. And for a good night’s sleep,of course,experts recommended leaving your phone off.
“[REST] is a place to give your attention to something that isn’t a screen. Harriet and I use a lot of media in our work. We use screens a lot and the internet a lot,but we’ve thought really hard about the extent to which screens and technology don’t play a role in this work.”
Sleep might seem like the simplest thing in the world – you don’t even notice you’re doing it – but it’s also deeply contextual. The team has been reading about the epigenetics of sleep:the rest cycles of pack animals are staggered across the group,“so less of the pack is asleep at one time and more animals on sentry duty,” while some marine creatures such as dolphins will send one of the brain’s hemispheres to the land of nod while the other remains switched on.
Even among humans,sleep practices vary. “The general sleep cycle during something like feudalism was very different to how it is in industrial society,” says McKenzie. “It was very common to go to sleep for a few hours when it got dark,then wake up in the middle of the night and do work for a few hours before going back to sleep. It was a very common broken sleep cycle,which is hard to understand today.”
It was common to go to sleep for a few hours when it got dark,then wake up and do work for a few hours before going back to sleep.
Marcus McKenzie
Just asWORK explored the contemporary worker’s alienation from their own labour,REST examines the ways in which our downtime has been transformed by the economic landscape. “Rest has been stolen from us in a certain sense. In this late capitalist era of hyper neo-liberalism,rest has become this thing that the individual has to carve out for themselves among their hustle.
“Any minute of the day can be work hours. We’re all connected to the internet,we’re all connected to our phones,all these kinds of media,everything is instant,everything can be delivered door to door in an instant. But by the same token the labourer is constantly expected to be on.”
It’s for this reason thatREST’s creators have become intrigued by the idea of a Sabbath,or mandated day of rest. It’s an alternative way of thinking about rest that isn’t dependent on the individual finding a moment to squeeze in some shut-eye.
“It’s rest as something that could be done communally,which has a long,ancient tradition. Because when you rest by yourself and you look around and see everyone else isn’t resting,there’s a loneliness in that. But when you rest and everyone else around is resting with you,on somewhat agreed terms,there’s a sense of calm.”
So while a micro-sleep during any other performance might be a no-no,McKenzie and Gillies are open to anyone who needs a quick kip at 3am. It might even lead to something unexpected. “We’re inviting it as a potential mode,that place of slipping in and out of consciousness. You know in those rare cases where you’re falling asleep at your desk or wherever,having a daydream? It’s intense,almost psychedelic.”
8/8/8:REST is at Arts Centre Melbourne,June 7-9. The Rising festival runs June 1-16;2024.rising.melbourne
