Ryan Ferko
Zen Tourism, or The Ancient Wall
Ryan Ferko
Performance and Site-Specific Screening, Athens, Greece, Sept 26, 2015
A group enters a vacant shopping arcade with the sound of radios playing slowed-down meditation music. Ouzo is served and a group photo is taken — identifying the group as tourists. The group is asked to take a radio and not speak, and not think, but to listen to the meditation music and to drink Ouzo, and to follow the guide on a walk through vacant shopping arcades. The group is not given any further information about the tour, other than the fact that they will cross over the buried ancient wall of Athens several times without knowing. Tourism is an anxious experience, so the proposition is to calm the anxiety and lose some sense of time. This walk eventually leads to a dark, derelict basement arcade. On one side are vacant shops, inhabited by feral cats. On the other side is the ancient wall of Athens — an ancient border. The meditation music continues as a video is projected on the metal gate.
Supported by Sound Development City 2015, Belgrade–Athens