Traces of the Wind at The Cage

Watching Traces of the Wind at the Vaults, one gets a strong sense that something beautiful is happening, but it isn’t quite clear what. This multi-sensory performance is the brainchild of Chinese interdisciplinary art group Not Set, formed of the artists Xi Chen, Jiuming Duan and Jiajing Zhao. Here, Not Set aim to delve into the links between memory, emotion and nature through the non-corporeal entity of the wind.

Taking place in The Cage as part of the Vault Festival, the venue contributes to the somewhat unworldly atmosphere of the show. In this subterranean space, the rattle of trains passing above reminds audience members that they are taking part in something underground, in the literal sense of the word. 

Traces of the Wind certainly also fits into the metaphorical category of “underground”, thanks to its experimental style. Poetry is interspersed with images flickering on a screen. A man moves behind a curtain, creating shadows that shrink and grow with the changing of the light. Transitions between scenes (if they can be called that) are sudden and unexpected, cutting the experience into various sections rather than flowing smoothly. Every part of the show maintains a pleasing aesthetic: the single lightbulb that sways between two fans emits a pleasant amber glow; the sheet upon which pictures flash has a gossamer quality, like a solid spiderweb.

While the performance is beautiful to watch, the conceptual aspect is difficult to grasp. It’s intended as an exploration of how human emotions and memories can be reflected within sensations of the wind, and yet several of the scenes fall flat in this regard. For example, the actors traipsing back and forth, reading aloud from books with overlapping voices, fail to make a comment on memory or emotion, or their links to nature. Similarly convoluted in its connection to these themes is a scene in which a lightbulb is let down from the ceiling and made to swing over scattered pages in silence.  

In the stand-out act, various images are projected on a gauzy sheet. As the actors move the sheet, its rustling noises draw clear allusions to the sound of the wind. A tune one would imagine emerging from a music box plays in the background. Here, the wind is presented as its own sort of “memory box”: the images are its recollections, the various moments it has “seen” and retained through its constant movement. 

Overall, Traces of the Wind is an enjoyable aesthetic experience, but the labyrinthine path it takes toward its primary theme – nature and memory’s interconnection – impedes the potency of its intended message.

Madison Sotos

Traces of the Wind is at the Vaults from 28^th January until 29^th January 2023. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.