Was it worth it? : no man’s land 2012 Remembrance The live performance event ‘no man’s land’ on Remembrance Sunday 2012 set out to try and mirror some of the emotions, thoughts, processes and results of people within a society heading into war. Deliberately obfuscous for audience and participants, the intention was to distribute confused messages and misunderstanding in the way protagonists preparing for conflict often mediate their intentions. This essay discusses a questi

Almost a century on, how do people today interact with the Remembrance 2-minute silence? What does it mean to them? Television news bulletins show the UK coming to a halt, people taking a moment to consider the atrocities of war, yet is this true reflection of what takes place? In 2012, Platform-7’s created the ‘no man’s land’ Remembrance event across 10 London Underground tube stations and the disused Eurostar at Waterloo on Remembrance Sunday. Before the event began, all t

THE RITUAL OF 2-MINUTES SILENCE 7 Dec 2012 Creator of “no man’s land”, John McKiernan ruminates on life as a series of interconnected contrived rituals 2-minute silence at Embankment, videographer Patrick Hoelscher* Play disrupts ritual. Whether internalised or on a field, play develops ways of understanding that cannot always be structured in the everyday. Play allows thoughts, methods and processes to be conducted through the relative safety of game or make-believe. Whe

John McKiernan, the creator of the “no man’s land” discusses his personal concerns and thoughts one week before the live performance across 10 London Underground tube stations. When setting out to create an abstract event like ‘no man’s land’, one hopes that it will ascend what it set out to achieve without it turning into game play or dalliance, and something original emerges. The intention of the event was to, in some way, mimic the experiences of those creating plans and

John McKiernan, the creator of no man’s land performance interventionist event discusses his personal concerns and thoughts one week before the live performance across 10 London Underground tube stations. When setting out to create an abstract event like no man’s land, one hopes that it will ascend what it set out to achieve without it turning into game play or dalliance, and something original emerges. The intention of the event was to, in some way, mimic the experiences of