In 760 CE, 8th century Baghdad, a magical Library House, was built and called The House of Wisdom; this house was the lifeboat for ancient literature. Two books that were published in this house changed the course of history. The first book was ‘The book of Ingenious Devices’. The second book was by Aljazri (a scientist) called ‘The book of the knowledge of Ingenious Mechanisms’.
The imagined objects of amusements, play, games and toys illustrated within these two books are what lead to the transformation into the industrial world. In 1258 CE the books in The House of Wisdom were all destroyed by the Mongols who submerged them into the river Tigris.
One could only imagine what the rest of the books in The House of Wisdom contained…
Imagine if one of these destroyed books was excavated out of the ocean, and in it a big secret was revealed that could lead to the next global revolution? This interactive performance piece explores this possibility.
The audience is led to a secret room and invited to witness this excavation, but they are only allowed to enter if they take an oath to forget everything they are about to see. Once they agree to this they are led to the room where the interactive performance begins.
