Imagine (a collective performance)
A118, RMC
Leo Mathisens Vej 1
Kbh K 1437
Denmark
As part of his ongoing artistic research project titled ‘Sound Art as Perceptive Performance’, assistant professor at RMC Anders Mathiasen invites the audience to participate in a collective performance of John Lennon’s iconic song 'Imagine' on a selection of music boxes.
Everyone is welcome to participate, but the number of participants is limited to the available number of music boxes
You can read more about Anders Mathiasen’s ongoing research project here
About the song ‘Imagine’
John Lennon has said about the song that it is "anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic, but because it is sugarcoated it is accepted ... Now I understand what you have to do. Put your political message across with a little honey."
This performance is an invitation to look at the consequences of this sugarcoating - of putting your political message across “with a little honey.”
The song has featured in countless events of mass attendance, often in times of crises. For instance, Madonna performed a version of it in a benefit concert for tsunami-victims in 2007, and Neil Young performed it as a commemoration of the victims of 9/11. It was performed at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics, and has been covered by artists such as Queen, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Joan Baez, Lady Gaga, Diana Ross and Peter Gabriel. As such, it has become part of the collective cultural heritage of a great number of people, and a symbol of hope.
From the political right, the song is interpreted as a communist/socialist anthem, whereas the intellectually sophisticated branches of the radical left see it as a cliché of the naïve utopias of the late-sixties counter-culture movement. To me, it seems naïve to believe that there is any possibility for creating a sustainable world without doing some collective imagining. This is an invitation to do so, in the light of the legacy of a celebrated sugarcoated pop song.
Yoko Ono described the lyrical statement of Imagine as "just what John believed: that we are all one country, one world, one people.” This makes sense to me - is it still possible to imagine “all the people sharing all the world”? (And where do other beings fit in this world?)
NB: The performance will be filmed and audio documented.
Imagine Music Box (collective version)
- instructions for performance
Instruments: minimum two music boxes that can play John Lennon´s Imagine + a timing device indicating minutes and seconds.
Number of participants: the number of participants should be equal to the number of available music boxes, but should be no less than two.
Instructions: each participant has one music box. For the duration of the piece, each participant turns the music box cylinder as slowly as possible, without ever stopping completely.
Duration: the duration of the piece is calculated by multiplying the duration of the original song (3 minutes and 3 seconds) by the number of participants. This means that
2 participants will play for 2x3 minutes and 3 seconds = 6 minutes and 6 seconds,
3 participants will play for 3x3 minutes and 3 seconds = 9 minutes and 9 seconds,
4 participants will play for 4x3 minutes and 3 seconds = 12 minutes and 12 seconds, etc.
Thus, the number of participants determines the duration, and this should be calculated and communicated to the participants in advance of the performance.
If possible, the duration should be calculated and monitored by a participant who is not controlling a music box. If this is not possible, then one participant controlling a music box also takes care of this.
The piece ends when the calculated duration is reached. This is signalled by the time-keeper saying the final sentence of the original song´s lyrics out loud: “and the world will live as one”. This should be said sufficiently loud to ensure that all participants hear it. If an audience is present, they should be able to hear it too.
As soon as the participants hear the time-keepers voice, they immediately stop turning their cylinder, so that no other sound is produced after the last word (“one”) has been spoken.
This concludes the performance.
Optional final section: the participants verbally describe their experience of the performance. Any audience members may do the same.
General notes: amplification may be used if circumstances require it for the sounds of the music boxes and the time-keepers voice to be heard by participants and audience.
The performance may take place under any circumstances that meet the requirements of the piece, and that are considered appropriate by the participants.
Imagine
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us, only sky
Imagine all the people
Livin' for today
Ah
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Livin' life in peace
You
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one