A record player and a stack of vinyl albums. For each record, there is at least one story to tell. The stories come from our own and others’ lives, from gossip, magazines, friends, and strangers. One by one, the records are played, and the stories grow out of the previous one and into the next.

This experience unfolds over two evenings; on the first evening, the impressive record collection is played in random order, and the company tells the stories behind them. On the second evening, the audience is invited to bring their own records and share their stories about them.

Each performance features the records in a new order. Every evening opens the door to new stories, resulting in a remarkably precise and heartwarming show, a journey through art, politics, and love, seen through songs they both love and hate.

This project is part of the Hospitality cycle, an extended period of research on the theme of hospitality.

Bring Your Own Record/Listening Party

Similarly to what the performers of PME-ART did the day before (in The DJ Who Gave Too Much Information), the public is invited to a special encounter called the Bring your own Record/Listening Party, where anyone can bring their own record or music from their phone (or any other format, please, mention what will be available technically) and tell a story of their own in a casual atmosphere, raising every kind of question. A place to come together and listen, think about where songs take us and what we take from them.

Listening to music together, with friends or with strangers, is an activity filled with politics, questions, personal history, and stories of every kind. This project, which has been touring for fifteen years, came from PME-ARTs research into the theme of hospitality, of how to welcome the audience into a space with the performers. It is an attempt to create a welcoming, relaxed place where so many different kinds of music open up numerous directions for humour and felt thought. It is definitely the most popular show PME-ART has ever made, and every year more records and stories are added, making the work a kind of strange archive of it’s own continuation.