1001 nights cast
For 1001 consecutive nights, at sunset, Barbara Campbell performed a reading on a live webcast. She read her own stories as well as stories submitted by participants who responded to her daily prompt: watercolors depicting news reported by journalists in the Middle East.
In 1001 NIGHTS CAST, Barbara Campbell performs a short text-based work each night for 1001 consecutive nights. The performance is relayed as a live webcast to anyone, anywhere, who is logged on to the website at the appointed time, that is, sunset at the artist’s location.
A frame story written by the artist introduces the project’s nightly performances. It is a survival story and it creates the context for subsequent stories generated daily through writer/performer collaborations made possible by the reach of the internet.
Each morning Barbara reads journalists’ reports covering events in the Middle East. She selects a prompt word or phrase that leaps from the page with generative potential. She renders the prompt in watercolour and posts it in its new pictorial form on the website. Participants write a story using that day’s prompt in a submission of up to 1001 words.
1001 NIGHTS CAST is a project generated by the forces of The 1001 nights: the theatrics of the voiced story, the need for framing devices, the strategies for survival, the allure of the Middle East and its contrasting realities.