SILENCES (a slightly political opera) ~ by Anna Buyvid
Anna Buyvid's "SILENCES (a slightly political opera)" was presented before live audience at Centrale Fies, Dro, Italy on August 8, 2025 as one of 24 acts, (curated by Elisa Giuliani) at the occasion of the AEROPONIC ACTS 2025: CHOREIA (convened by Gabriëlle Schleijpen).
Here you will find an introduction by the presenter, video-documentation filmed by Baha Görkem Yalım and a written report by Grant Watson.The report includes a summary of the spoken, improvised comments by esteemed guest respondents Sandi Hilal, and Zairong Xiang.
SILENCES (a slightly political opera)
Anna's question: Can You Think With Your Mouth Shut?
Anna's intro:
Can we transform opera into a (political) statement? Especially if the focus is on silence. Set in an architecture of censorship, acoustic and institutional, it stages the voice not as expression, but as a question: Can you think with your mouth shut? It is an exploration of the silences that are imposed, and how we can subvert them. This opera is a reflection on the politics of what we cannot vocalize: the unspeakable, the redacted, the deliberately silenced. It stages the power dynamics that determine who is allowed to open the mouth, what is deemed sayable, and what is strategically suppressed. But it is also an act of resistance. Through gesture, rupture, breath, and citation, SILENCES excavates the subversive potential of silence itself. Opera becomes a testimony, a living archive of absences, gaps, and refusals that sound louder than words.
Grant's report:
The floorboards of the stage have six white lines taped across them, three on either side, running parallel to the audience. The stage is dark. Figures wearing black sleeveless tops stand along the lines with their backs to the audience in groups of twos and threes. We hear the sound of the orchestra tuning up and a message on the screen requests people silence their phones. The lights come on and as the performers turn to face the audience we see their mouths are taped shut. We hear soaring music, the sound of sirens, and then silence. A new soundtrack begins and this time it is opera, the libretto appears as subtitles on the screen including the lines: free speech is forbidden, they have stolen our voices, every breath is met with suspicion. Then a male solo: these measures are for the greater good; then the chorus: enough talking about politics, nothing new is happening, there will always be people dissatisfied with the government. The performers take single steps to the left and then to the right and a soloist continues: remember your history, never again they swore, oh not this melancholic spiral again, what is the point? There is the sound of coughing. Again the chorus: enough! Time to go home, there is a comedy on the TV, why watch the news when you can laugh? A soloist sings: fools you court your own chains, through the static of state-run channels we hear the voices of political prisoners, this cannot go on, we must act, but what can we do in a situation of total censorship? The performers continue with the same action, stepping to the right and to the left under the spotlights. There is the sound of applause and the lights go out. The lights go up. There is a final exchange between singers: madmen, isn’t it easier to just keep quiet, sometimes there is more power in silence; no matter, I WILL NOT STAY SILENT isn’t silence an act of complicity. There are more cheers and the lights go down. The performers form a line and bow to the audience. The artists comes on to the stage and bows along with the performers, flowers are handed around, there is enthusiastic applause from the audience. The group departs the stage.
Zairong Xiang liked how the piece brings silence to the centre of contention and yet the piece was not silent. The title ‘silences’ is plural and indicates how silence takes many forms. He liked the detail at the end of giving flowers. This is an operatic form through and through. Of course opera contains contradictions. It is a democratic art form that has also been aligned with fascism. Since October 7th he says, we have to face the fact that there is incredible censorship in the democratic west, Germany is a disaster, the campuses in the US are a disaster. But the danger is we that think there was freedom. Current events makes us think again about our political condition. In terms of speaking, in the academic context there is a primacy of the voice, as the authentic and truthful presence, today thanks to this work we need to look into traditions of silence. In Daoism, he notes, the great music is ‘no sound’ - silence has a lot of power, silence, darkness, passivity. The unquestionable good of activism. How do you navigate that?
Sandi Hilal thanks the artist for the work. She notes how it is hard to go on with everyday life seeing what is happening in front of your eyes and thinking - why are we talking? She says that she would push it further. Is it enough, freedom of speech? We need to act. Feeling guilty every day isn’t enough. It is harsh to see that you are in front of genocide. And yet we don't have the power to stop it. I was waiting for the moment to speak about that and your piece gave me the possibility. Every day, while we are speaking are there other things we can do? What is the role of an architects or intellectual? Why are we even talking? Is the piece only about freedom of speech and silence? We are in a situation where it is about powerlessness. It began with the lockdown. The experience of our lives being controlled. My suggestion is that you can push it further, question if freedom of speech is a way to process anger when we can't act. Sometimes it’s only about anger but here there was also joy in the music. Sandi wishes to add one thing following on from these comments. That she didn't find in the piece what freedom of speech means. What is activism? Activism has to do with confronting power. Now that seems to be less affective. This is a moment in history when we realise we don't count. Even if we have freedom of speech no one is listening.
