Shia LaBeouf Will Reveal (and Stream) His Latest Performance Project In Sydney This Weekend
If you've ever wanted to share a statement with the American Honey star, here's your chance.
He has declared that he's not famous anymore, taken phone calls from strangers, transmitted his heartbeat, live-streamed a three-day movie marathon of his own films and asked the public to take him around North America. Now, one of the most intriguing actor-turned-artists of his generation has revealed his next performance piece — and it's happening in (and streaming from) Sydney this weekend.
Shia LaBeouf fans and anyone interested in experimental art antics might already know that the American Honey star has been on the bill for the Sydney Opera House's new pop culture festival, BingeFest, since it was announced back in October. As part of the program, he'll continue to collaborate with his creative partners Nastja Säde Rönkkön and Luke Turner, who he's worked with on more than a dozen projects to date. And yes, at #ANDINTHEEND, they want you to participate.
The first of their two free performances kicks off tonight at 11.59pm and runs through until 6am, with their second taking place between 10pm on Sunday until 6am Monday morning. Here's how #ANDINTHEEND works: visitors will be invited inside Sydney Opera House's Joan Sutherland Theatre one by one, and asked to deliver a statement or message in person to LaBeouf, Rönkkön and Turner. They can say whatever they like — but, the one requirement is that each participant's message should begin with the words: "AND IN THE END…".
Once communicated to LaBeouf and company, the statements will be live-streamed online at andintheend.sydneyoperahouse.com — and beamed across Sydney harbour on a 60-metre display installed on the Opera House itself. At the centre of the piece, the trio are aiming to ponder a number of questions, including where we are headed, what might it all mean and what is important in the end?
"As 2016 draws to a close, we are all too aware of the pervasive sense of foreboding that has come to define the year," the artists offered in a statement about #ANDINTHEEND. "Wars have raged, demagogues have risen, cultural heroes have departed, environmental catastrophe looms, while the voices of the people have been continually manipulated and polarized. Hope for the future seems more distant than ever. And yet, we still yearn for some greater truth, for the utopias of our distant horizons, expressed through art."
Just how it will turn out is anyone's guess, but that's the great thing about live art in general, and about LaBeouf, Rönkkön and Turner's performance projects in particular: no one knows just what will happen. If you're planning to flock to the free event in person — or just thinking about stopping because you're already heading to BingeFest's all-night Buffy binge-a-thon or 24-hour Street Fighter tournament — visitors are reminded that entry isn't guaranteed. Everyone else, train your eyes towards your nearest internet-connected screen once the clock hits midnight tonight, Sydney time.
#ANDINTHEEND takes place at BingeFest on from 11.59pm, Saturday 17 December to 6am, Sunday 18 December — and again from 10pm, Sunday 18 December to 6am, Monday 19 December. Follow @thecampaignbook on Twitter for more information, and visit andintheend.sydneyoperahouse.com to access the live-stream.
Images: Abazar Khayami, Daniel Boud and Vivi Fragou.
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