Night Journey – Municipal Hall, Uddevalla /Karlskrona archipelago/Stockholm harbour/river Thames, London.

An audio piece for a sightseeing boat on nocturnal waters: "The night, the separator, the shadow side. What we know is that it attracts, but scares and keeps us on guard against imaginable and unimaginable dangers. What we think is even more frightening. Thoughts are free to roam in the darkness of the night, nightmares are free to rage under the cover of the night. The venue is the darkness itself. The stage for what we can only imagine. With match, torch or lamp wavering, we daytime creatures grope through, hoping to come out unscathed on the other side. Others sleep until the next evening. Welcome to the darkness..."

Audio journeys in three towns the length and breadth of Sweden, beginning with Stockholm, venues of particular distinction were chosen, which already had a presence in the collective consciousness of the local people: in Uddevalla it was the Municipal Hall where witches gather on Walpurgis Night, in Karlskrona an 19th century lighthouse and in Stockholm, as in London, it was the lifeblood of the city, its surrounding water.

Reich and Szyber have been using water as a theme for many years, exploring what is above and below its surface and, in Night Journey, the reflection of the city, be it Stockholm or London, in its waters. The invitation is mysterious and compelling: Come on board and let us take you on a journey, with yourself as the place of destination. A staged sightseeing tour in waters you thought you knew.

The theme running through is darkness, the night, and we are called not to conquer darkness, whether inner or outer, but simply to allow it in for an hour and see what might emerge. Through individual headphones, words, music and other sound effects provide a beguiling narrative, while two silent attendants hover nearby. One Stockholm passenger described it as ”Holy Communion with a twist – a rite of passage for stressed-out city dwellers”.

It is certainly a leap of faith, a journey into the unknown, where what is provided may be either a stimulus or an ambiguous safety net, or perhaps both: Night, partition, the dark side. What we know is that it is seductive, but also frightening, setting us on guard against imaginable and unimaginable dangers… In the gloom of the night, our minds lose all restraint. Under cover of the dark, our nightmares run amok… By light of matches, torch or lamp we creatures of the day stumble and grope our way across the dark, hoping to emerge unscathed upon the other side…