Evgenia Mikhaylova

Small Talk Opera

A Small Talk Opera propositional interactive multi-media installation explores meaning through the language of small talk as a unique and vital form of communication that helps to provide a foundation for the future possibilities of deeper conversations and connections.

“What is a meaningful gesture? It is significant because it looks like one? What about the ones that you don’t know the shape of? Like an insightful story but spoken in a foreign language. What does a meaningful conversation look like? What if the ones talking don’t speak at all? At times it is hard to recognize one. It may seem empty, but in its emptiness, it offers more space for things to explore their shapes. An improvisational dance needs more room to make mistakes. And sometimes those turn into gestures you know and love- a ritual, a part of identity, a friendship, a shared journey or simply an acknowledgement for the rhythms in sync. A space that seems empty provides a common ground for those meaningful gestures to appear, whatever shape they may be. Allowing for them to happen is a seed that may grow later.A Small Talk Opera propositional interactive multi-media installation explores meaning through the language of small talk as a unique and vital form of communication that helps to provide a foundation for the future possibilities of deeper conversations and connections. Small talk employs speech of social bonding rather than communication through information exchange. The social function of speech depends not on the words exchanged but on the context, tone, body language, and environmental cues. Small talk emphasizes social function and everyday patterns or rituals that connect us with each other and the world around us. Small talk prioritizes not what is true or correct but what is curious and ultimately relates. It has a unique ability to create a moment of self-reflection in parallel to the action itself. It negotiates a relationship taking a role of a vital social mediator. In the ironic juxtaposition of both social interactions: opera and small talk unite in their unique power to connect beyond the words exchanged and form an entry point for future deeper conversations. Through our everyday small talk with ourselves, our environment, the landscape and people around us, we choose to choreograph our dance in the space we have.”