We are pleased to announce a new audiovisual immersive cinema performance by People Like Us called The Mirror, performed (and screened in Theatrical form if in the US) from March 2018 worldwide.  

The Mirror is a live a/v performance which splices together movie snippets with unique sample-based music exploring the masks that we wear represented through the lens, using parallel narratives across the screen to depict an ever-changing stream, rather than a singular, fixed being, narrative or moment in time.

“A feat of research and craft, this new work is a spellbinding inquiry into editing and juxtaposition; a collage one can unthread allowing the viewer to discover hidden stories through familiar images. The soundtrack is performed live, made up from hundreds of preexisting songs, as well as particular sounds from the original film clips.” — Flatpack Film Festival

”With The Mirror Bennett has proven herself an alchemist of popular music, able to push her source material into fresh and engaging places.” — The Wire

”Because of the use of familiar pop sounds, “The Mirror” is often grandiose. Like an epic film only with highs, never letting the listener down or letting him doubt the power of pop. Even, of course, when the coordinates are twisted, mixed, over or underrepresented. Each moment feels like something that could only happen in a parallel universe. Although that may sound naïve, it’s just a lost thought of reaction to the beautiful collages of People Like Us in “The Mirror”. This mirror doesn’t reflect an image of ourselves or an image of pop. But an image on the way memories drift and are being constant rebuilt. An unfinished collage.” — Boomkat

“Bennett celebrates the song stylists, the crooners, the sirens and interpreters of melody, and all the psychedelic in-between. The songs she pulls from seem to stem between 30’s ballroom and 70’s soft disco, here presented like being in a deep REM-state, dreaming of being at the drive-in, in warped Panavision. Essential.” toneshift.net

18 March 2018 – World Premiere: Athens Greek Film Archive Foundation (as part of Shadow Libraries: UbuWeb in Athens, organised and produced by the Onassis Cultural Centre-Athens) – tickets/info
13 April 2018 – UK Premiere: Liverpool FACT – tickets
17 April 2018 – Belfast Film Festival at Crescent Arts Centre – tickets
20 April 2018 – London Cafe Oto – tickets
21 April 2018 – Birmingham Flatpack Festival – tickets
12 May 2018 – London Splice Festival, Rich Mix – tickets
11 July 2018 – London Cafe Oto, double bill with Carl Stone – tickets
19 July 2018 – Gijón LEV Arenas Movedizas – free entry
26 July 2018 – MACBA, Barcelona – tickets
17 September 2018 – Theatrical Screening (not live) – Bryce’s Show on WFMU
19 & 20 September 2018 – Theatrical Screening (not live) – Spectacle Theater, Brooklyn
20 October 2018 – 100 Years of Copyright Festival, Berlin HKW – tickets
2 November 2018 – Spill Festival, Ipswich – tickets
10 November 2018 – Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo Norway – tickets
15 November 2018 – Brighton “Cinecity” Film Festival, Fabrica – tickets
30 November 2018 – Theatrical Screening (not live, we do not perform in concerts in the US) Recombinant Festival, Gray Area, San Francisco – tickets
9 February 2019 – Theatrical Screening (not live, we’ll not be there) – The Voix de Ville 2019 / ARTxFM annual fundraiser, Columbia Theatre, Louisville Kentucky – tickets
27 March 2019 – Musikbrauerei, Berlin – tickets
6 April 2019 – Theatrical Screening (not live), Other Cinema, ATA, Valencia St, San Francisco – tickets
23 – 28, April 2019 – Theatrical Screening, AFO Olomouc, Czech Republic.
9 May 2019 – Venice Biennale at HILLARY: The Hillary Clinton Emails by Kenneth Goldsmith after the opening reception. RSVP
14 June 2019 – Newcastle Culture Lab – The Mirror and Objects in the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear
22 June 2019 – Iklectik Art Lab, London
15 September 2019 – Theatrical Screening (not a concert), 21C Museum Hotel, Lexington, KY (introduced by Hearty White)
28 September 2019 – Theatrical Screening (not a concert), Radius Gallery Santa Cruz, CA
5 March 2020 – Theatrical Screening (not a concert) WFMU Benefit, Monty Hall, Jersey City
April – ?? 2020 – all current activities affected by the current pandemic
28 July 2020 – 4 August 2020 – Virtual screening (pandemic rescheduling), Le Nouveau Musée National de Monaco http://4cast.fr/peoplelikeus/NMNM/
6 November 2020 – MAAT, Lisbon – virtual performance of The Mirror
21 November 2020 – BBMix Festival 2020, Paris (cancelled – pandemic)
29 April – 2 May 2021 – Online screening of The Mirror, Oscillation Festival, Brussels
4 December 2021 – Keroxen, Tenerife (cancelled – pandemic)
Feb – April 2022 – part of gallery exhibition MIND MAPS: The Art of Vicki Bennett – solo exhibition Walla Walla USA
April – May 2022 – part of gallery exhibition Cover Versions curated by Anthony
and Graham Dolphin, The Athenaeum, 27 Fawcett Street, Sunderland, SR1 1RE
21 May 2022 – Live again! At Index Festival, Braga, Portugal
3 June 2022 – Open Ears Festival, Kitchener, Canada

If you are a festival organiser with a budget and are interested in booking this or anything else, please get in touch by way of our Contact Form.  If you are in a country requiring a work visa to perform we can in very special circumstances make this work into a theatrical screening, but generally this is only available as a performance with the artist present and you will need to gain necessary papers for us to agree.

SUPPORTING WORKS AND ARTICLES

Download higher resolution images from The Mirror

3 artist commissions : we have commissioned new works by artists responding to The Mirror:
Reflects by Dina Kelberman (December 2018)
Abject Mirror by Porest (Mark Gergis) (January 2019)
The Mirror by Hearty White (January 2019)
(view all three on one url)

The Mirror CD/digital download contains music from The Mirror, and tracks from Gone, Gone Beyond

New Film for Improvising Musicians and Artists – titled Objects In The Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear.  This is not the first film we have made of this type. Previous to this was Notations (which included a national tour in the UK (followed by further dates internationally) with a fantastic roster of improvisers, supported by Sound and Music), as well as some collaborations where we have made the film then made sections available to other artists and musicians to respond (Gesture Piece and CCCitations). You can enquire about performing with this movie by way of our Contact Page. Our first performance will be in Newcastle, UK in June 2019, as part of a collaboration with Newcastle University Department of Music.

Interview with Anne Hilde Neset on BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction, 8 January 2019
Listen to the interview
Interview with Robert Worby and full airy of performance of The Mirror (at Cafe Oto) on BBC Radio 3’s Hear and Now, 19 January 2019
Listen to the interview

Graham Duff – The Mirror a reflection upon the work and surrounding subject matter
Interview in The Wire Magazine in a phone conversation with Emily Bick of The Wire Magazine, Vicki Bennett reflects on The Mirror, Gone, Gone Beyond, and working with preexisting footage.

Info sheet / teaching pack – collected insights on the making of this work by Vicki Bennett.

Shortcut for this url is https://peoplelikeus.org/themirror.html

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