POMPEII

How To Use This Kit

This kit is designed for deeper engagement and discussion with the SIFA programme. Divided into 4 sections, it comes with guiding questions, suggested activities and links for further exploration on the subject and themes presented in the show:

Written and directed by Edith Podesta with filmmaker K Rajagopal, Pompeii, is a meditation on the archaeology of intimacy. Played out on a live soundstage, in which the lives of this imagined apartment building’s inhabitants materialize before us, the work explores the archaeology of intimacy, and questions if the objects and spaces that we leave behind in death represent that which we were, or betray the true nature that we ourselves denied in life. Pompeii invites audiences to question if the objects and spaces that we leave behind in death represent that which we were, or betray the true nature that we ourselves denied in life.

Pre-show preparation to understand the context

Questions to think about while watching the show

Before The Show During The Show After The Show

A reflective exercise to jot down thoughts

POST-SHOW ACTIVITY

For further exploration on the subject, topic or themes

Trapped in a bomb-shelter, a narrator tells us the story of an apartment block in which the lives of its residents were anything but - until a catastrophe reduced them to the inanimate, their lives existing only as object and memory. A still-life painter ponders the permanence of objects; a husband and wife negotiate the vastness between them within the confines of their tiny apartment; an old man coming to terms with his own end forms a relationship with a child who is unaware of hers. As they hurtle towards their inevitable end, the apartment is transfigured into a museum celebrating the beauty of quotidian human banality.

WHO ARE YOU, AND WHAT DO YOUR OBJECTS SAY ABOUT YOU?

If someone were to ask you to describe yourself, what would you tell them? 1

Use the space below to write down what you would say

Look around your bedroom, or any space that you spend a lot of time in. How does your living space reflect who you are, as an individual, and the way you live? 2

Pick 3 items in your living space that you feel best show who you are. Sketch or describe how they look like below:

3

Look at what your friend or family member had written or drawn. What is one new or interesting thing that you discovered about your friend or family member? Get your friend or family member to do the same about you, and share with each other your thoughts:

Something new or interesting about myself…

Something new or interesting about my friend / family member….

How far do you agree that by looking at the objects used in a living space, you could tell who the person is, or have an idea about the way the person live is living his/her life? Why would you say so?