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’The Great Silence’ explores ‘Fermi’s Paradox’ - the apparent contradiction between the high probability that there’s extraterrestrial life in the galaxy and the lack of evidence for it. So far we’ve played this show on a single screen set up, but it’s very much in the early stages of it’s development. Sounds are played completely live, creating textures and ambiences that accompany the visuals (which are pre-produced clips triggered live during the performance).

Fermi’s Paradox is named after the physicist Enrico Fermi. In it’s basic form, it suggests that given the size of the known universe and the size of our own galaxy, with the probability of there being a significant number of other earth-like planets that could nurture life, it should only take a few billion years for such a universe to be teaming with all manner of life…and yet, when we look out into the depth of space with our keenest of instruments, all we get back is ‘the great silence’.

Using a series of quotes by Carl Sagan, the show explores this theme - what does it mean for us to really be alone in the universe? And perhaps the bigger question of ‘what does it mean to really understand that we may very well be unique…the only example of sentient life in our galaxy, possibly the universe.

After our explorations with multi screen projections with our previous project, we returned to the simplicity of a single screen for this show, with sound scapes created with tape loops and simple analogue instruments, immersing the audience in the meditation of self reflection.