As Time Goes By

A unique immersive theater experience inside a time café

“I think that’s what’s particularly unique and powerful [about the Global Performance Studio]… that it’s a true collaboration... you’re coming up with these ideas together, and so it’s a true cross-cultural exchange.”

— Susan Katz, CEC ArtsLink

Person lying underneath a grand piano, with their head near a red and white striped cushioned stool, playing the piano with their hands.

Yulia Bylenok, Joshua Dutton-Reaver; photo by Tom Pearson

About As Time Goes By

Ziferburg Café, Saint Petersburg, Russia (2016)

The first official project of the Global Performance Studio, March 6-30, 2016 in St. Petersburg, Russia with workshops, discussions, and performances in site-specific and immersive theater.

The residency in St. Petersburg was provided by CEC ArtsLink Back Apartment Residencies for artists and curators.

The project was led and directed by Tom Pearson (New York) with assistant directors Joshua Dutton-Reaver (New York), Renata Zhigulina (Russia and U.S.), project coordinator Yulia Bylenok (St. Petersburg, Russia), along with local artists in St. Petersburg.

As Time Goes By was the inaugural project for the Global Performance Studio. Building upon previous models developed by Tom Pearson and Third Rail Projects and upon recent engagements with CEC ArtsLink, the Global Performance Studio is program that creates opportunities for cultural listening and sharing. For one month, U.S. and Russian-based artists met in St. Petersburg to share methodologies and practices for devising movement-based theater within site-specific and immersive formats. 

The collaborators created a new work for the Ziferburg (a time cafe), and offered audiences an invitation into experiential encounters with performers and situations that unfolded throughout the staircases, rooms and hallways. As action occurred throughout the space, a fragmented narrative emerged through repetition, duration and simultaneity, about our relationship to passing time and what it costs us. Audiences paid by the minute, and were asked to make their own choices about how much time to spend, and where and how to spend it.  

As Time Goes By Film

Streaming on VIMEO (Rent $2.99 / Buy $9.99)

As Time Goes By (2016) was the inaugural project of the Global Performance Studio. For one month, U.S. and Russian-based artists met in St. Petersburg to share methodologies and practices for devising movement-based theater within site-specific and immersive formats which resulted in the first ever performances of contemporary immersive theater in Russia. Collaborators created a new work for the Ziferburg (a time cafe), and offered audiences an invitation into experiential encounters with performers and situations that unfolded throughout the staircases, rooms and hallways. As action occurred throughout the space, a fragmented narrative emerged through repetition, duration and simultaneity, about our relationship to passing time and what it costs us. Audiences, paying by the minute (adhering to the format of the time cafe) and allowed to spend their time however they pleased, had to choose what to follow and how long to stay. They could continue in a one-on-one with a performer, wander through the spaces encountering durational or looped action, or follow a performer, but always at the risk of missing out on something else. (Documentary Short Film and Performance Adaptation, 36:00 min.).

  • Elena Gradkovskaya

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Yulia Rodina

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Renata Zhigulina

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • The Cast of As Time Goes By

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Anna Gorchanuk, Ekaterina Novikova, Elena Gradkovskaya

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Anastasiya Rebkalo, Joshua Dutton-Reaver

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Ekaterina Novikova, Elena Gradkovskaya, Anna Gorchanuk

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Ruslan Rychagov, Ekaterina Novikova

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Mayya Popova

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Yulia Rodina

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Ekaterina Novikova

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Anna Gorchanuk

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • As Time Goes By

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • As Time Goes By

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Anna Gorchanuk, Ekaterina Novikova

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Mayya Popova, Yulia Bylenok, Marina Shamova

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Anastasiya Rebkalo, Renata Zhigulina, Joshua Dutton-Reaver

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Yulia Rodina, Andrey Adamovsky

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Andrey Adamovsky, Yulia Rodina

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Ekaterina Novikova

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Ekaterina Novikova

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Joshua Dutton-Reaver, Yulia Bylenok

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Anna Gorchanuk, Andrey Adamovsky

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Anna Gorchanuk, Andrey Adamovsky

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Ruslan Rychagov, Ekaterina Novikova

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Tom Pearson

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Yulia Bylenok, Joshua Dutton-Reaver

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Yulia Rodina, Renata Zhigulina

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Yulia Rodina, Renata Zhigulina

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Yulia Rodina, Renata Zhigulina

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Tom Pearson, Renata Zhigulina

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Yulia Bylenok, Marina Shamova, Ruslan Rychagov

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Mayya Popova

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Ruslan Rychagov

    Photo by Natalya Nikolaeva

  • Tom Pearson, Yulia Bylenok

    Photo by Joshua Dutton-Reaver

  • Tom Pearson, Susan Katz

    Photo by Joshua Dutton-Reaver

Collaborators

As Time Goes By

by The Global Performance Studio

CREATORS & PROJECT LEADERS

Directed & Designed by
Tom Pearson
in collaboration with

Assistant Directors
Joshua Dutton-Reaver, Renata Zhigulina

Project Coordinator
Yulia Bylenok

PROJECT PARTICIPANTS

Tom Pearson (USA), Joshua Reaver (USA), Renata Zhigulina (Russia/USA), Yulia Rodina (Russia), Anastasiya Rebkalo (Russia), Mayya Popova (Russia), Andrey Adamovsky (Russia), Ruslan Rychagov (Russia), Marina Shamova (Russia), Yulia Bylenok (Russia), Elena Gradkovskaya (Russia), Ekaterina Novikova (Russia), Anna Gorchanuk (Russia), Meiko's Starlight Orchestra (USA), Bina Maracchini (Russia), Natalya Nikolaeva (Russia).

SCHEDULE

March 15, 2016 | 7:00pm: Presentation and discussion about the creation of site-specific and immersive performance through international collaborations and the partnership between Third Rail Projects’ Global Performance Studio and CEC ArtsLink's Global Art Lab.  At the Museum of Russian Ethnography.

March 25-26, 2016 | 8:00pm: Performances of "As Time Goes By" created by workshop participants (USA/Russia). At Ziferburg Café.

March 27, 2016 | 9:00pm: Final late night performance of "As Time Goes By" created by workshop participants (USA/Russia) in celebration of International Theater Day. At Ziferburg Café.

SUPPORT

Global Performance Studio workshops, performances, and discussions are supported by Third Rail Projects in conjunction with CEC ArtsLink's pilot group of international artists and curators in residency in St. Petersburg, a new program which fosters collaboration with local artists. Learn more about CEC ArtsLink’s programs.

Media

Streaming on Vimeo (Rent $2.99 / Buy $9.99)

Performance Excerpt | Opening Sequence | FREE

Performance Excerpt | Book Reading Sequence | FREE

Performance Excerpt | Pillow Sequence | FREE

GPS Discussion at Museum of Russian Ethnography | March 15, 2016 | FREE

Performance Excerpt | Wallpaper Duet | FREE

Performance Excerpt | Piano Sequence | FREE