Editor’s note: Schedule below modified and updated on our site on Friday, June 17 at 11:15 a.m.

HONOLULU—The Contemporary Museum presents Speaking in Silence, a public group performance created by site-specific artist and social choreographer Ernesto Pujol in collaboration with local artists on Saturday, June 18, from sunrise to sunset.

Pujol was born in the island of Cuba and raised in the island of Puerto Rico. He currently resides in New York. His performance practice is about pilgrimage, the sacredness of people and places, and presence. The Contemporary Museum is currently hosting a decade survey of his work.

Speaking in Silence addresses the cultural diversity of consciousness throughout the Pacific, in terms of its indigenous/native, Christian, Buddhist, and secular components. The performance group consists of 19 local artists and citizens: Bernice Akamine, Mary Babcock, Jackie Burke, Mihoko Furuya, Carolyn Hilton, Eva Enriquez, Sherri Lyles, Jessica Orfe, Heather Matsuura, Ernesto Pujol, Ryan Schulz, Emily Sewell, Molly Timmers, Jorge Veras, Ayano Yasumoto, Kate Werner, Kimberlie Wong, Rex Vlcek, and Erin Yuasa.

The performers will be simultaneously scattered, alone or in pairs, throughout Honolulu for an entire day, alternating between acting as public speakers and silent monastics. They will be sited at 12 historic and culturally relevant sites—Aloha Tower, Chinatown Historic District, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawai‘i State Library, Iolani Palace, Mission Houses Museum, Oahu Cemetery, State Capitol, Tamarind Park, and the Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial. The last two locations will be announced on the website once they are confirmed.

At each of the sites, pedestrians will receive free map handouts indicating all performance locations, allowing them to follow Speaking in Silence across the city. The performers will dress in red, appear silently and humbly at sunrise, and disappear silently and humbly at sunset.

“It will be a non-spectacle, nevertheless, a non-profit, very public event,” Pujol says.

The performers will randomly read from a litany of word definitions, in Hawaiian and English, out of a common text. Their subtle gestures invite viewers to become silent and listen, to revisit this place.

“Language is sacred to all peoples. It is both their nuanced vessel of heritage, and the medium for ongoing cultural battles,” Pujol says.

For the past decade, Pujol’s performances have portrayed the essence of threatened communities and landscapes by staging their collective interiority, while also reclaiming urban spaces from speed, clutter, and noise. The artist formally creates silent secular cloisters against the background of classical and historic architecture, fostering reflection about critical issues.

To learn more about Ernesto Pujol and his work, visit www.ernestopujol.com.

 

Speaking in Silence schedule and locations

Saturday, June 18

Sunrise to sunset: Aloha Tower, Ryan Schulz

Sunrise to sunset: Chinatown Historic District, Jorge Veras and Ayano Yasumoto

Sunrise to sunset: Hawaii State Capitol, Mary Babcock and Kate Werner

Sunrise to sunset: Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial, Rex Vclek

7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.: Oahu Cemetery, Nuuanu, Heather Matsuura and Kimberlie Wong

7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.: Mission Houses Museum, Carolyn Hilton

8:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.: National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Punchbowl—Sheri Lyles and Eva Enriquez

9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.: Foster Botanical Garden, Molly Timmers and Jessica Orfe

9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.: Hawaii State Library, Emily Sewell

9:30 a.m. to sunset: Iolani Palace, Bernice Akamine and Erin Yuasa

10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.: Honolulu Academy of Arts, Mihoko Furuya (in Banyan Courtyard) and Ernesto Pujol (in Pavillion Courtyard)

10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.: Hawaii State Art Museum, Jackie Burke