Pelican

Feeling for the order lying behind the appearance. Albert Einstein

(Click image to watch video)

Pelican took place on a busy crossroads in Newcastle Upon Tyne. On 15 May 2010. A group of 24 participants exploited the pedestrian commands of the traffic lights;

red man - green man or walk - don’t walk.

They were split into four groups of six with each group allocated a colour; red, green, yellow or blue.

The performance started with each group positioned at their designated corner. Each instructed to ‘strictly’ obey the commands of the red and green man. There must be no racing the lights. Stop means STOP just as go means GO. Each participant must be fastidious and consistent in their attention to this rule.

One by one the members of each group would enter the central pedestrian traffic light circuit when they receive the green man command.

After entering the inner circuit, future progress was determined by the un-choreographed (public) vehicular and pedestrian movement which governed the traffic lights sequence (the 24 participants must not press the crossings button). The movement of normal traffic delivered the structure for the groups movement’s and colour arrangement. This dispersed the performers, creating an unpredictable, variable mix of colours.

The performance was principally conceived to take place as a live event during The Late Shows event on May 15 (http://www.thelateshows.org.uk/home.html).