PLACE/PLACE 

The spatial performance art group Acquaintances (Arnar Geir Gústafsson & Hallveig Kristín Eiríksdóttir) sprouted from a mutual interest in creating a common language between performing arts and urban planning, experimenting with combination of research methods from devised theatre and spatial analyses.

The new interdisciplinary project PLACE/PLACE addresses places in our immediate environment perceived as unattractive, unappreciated and undervalued, diving into the value of places, aiming to expand the audience's spatial perception and understanding of urban planning and the public realm.

Urban planning authorities are set designers of everyday life, indicating the type of play we are situated in, and subsequently which behaviour the context expects.

Acquaintances playfully examine the expectations of spaces and how we interpret them, e.g. objects in the landscape of the theater are often read through symbolism, bearing great weight, while objects in the public space are often read as insignificant objects undeserving of active attention. 

The project asks what happens when we read the environment of the public space through the language of theater? And how does the value of place change?