**Alice and John Baltimore
We are Alice and John Baltimore. We are both 79 years old. We both worked as librarians all our lives. We met at a library too. Our son is a writer. Our daughter is a playwright. As you can see, our life has always revolved around books and reading.
On a sunny May afternoon in Helsinki, while everyone was outside enjoying the sun, we happened to come across a Bookperformance event at Oodi. It immediately sparked our curiosity. In all our lives, we had heard many things about books—but never a Bookperformance. At least not until that day.
We entered the theatre room of Oodi, the magnificent library. The first thing that welcomed us was a language we did not understand. It softly recited a text, accompanying a black-and-white film projected on the screen. Meanwhile, a young woman was writing on sheets of paper and placing them on the ground in what seemed like randomness. Perhaps she could see a harmony we could not yet perceive.
As more papers were placed on the stage, more people entered the room. They may have been drawn by the mysterious language of the recited poem flowing with the sound of soft bells.
Once all the papers were placed on the stage, the language suddenly changed, and on the screen we began to see another artist moving quickly. We also began to hear Finnish. Through the open door, more people came in. The artist on stage started to move as if trying to catch up with the figure on the screen. The first language continued softly beneath the Finnish, and we realised they were speaking the same text.
We could not understand the words, as like most native English speakers we unfortunately only speak English. But in that moment, understanding did not seem necessary.
When the carefully placed pages were scattered across the stage, the Finnish text ended as well. Then we heard the word “sounds” in English. That was the moment we looked at each other and said: “The Tower of Babel.”
“Sounds” became meditative: sounds of sounds of sounds…
For years we have practiced meditation and yoga, and this felt like a moment in which language itself asked us to step outside of it. The distance we took from Sydney seemed to meet the distance we felt from our own language, now spoken by a Turkish artist with an intensity that carried us elsewhere.
The film on the screen turned into nature, carried by English words. The theatre room became a forest. And when we heard, “it is not the tree but the forest that calls us, rise, rise, rise,” we were already inside the scene.
Like some others in the audience, we stood up and began to paint on paper, which seemed to merge with the autumn leaves in the projected film.
In the end, we both felt quite tired from such an experience at our age. Yet we also felt a deep joy in having been part of it, in having participated in a co-creation, and in having met Çiğdem. A unique artist who inspired us deeply.
As a gesture of gratitude to her practice of co-creation, we wanted to write this together, always using “we”.
We hope you will one day bring your Bookperformance to Australia. We appreciate your intention and creativity. Thank you for reminding us of “we”—that, in your words, we are all one.
**Co-authors of
Bookperformance: Body & Sound & Light & Eye, OODI, Helsinki, 2023.