The Quiet Volume aims to expose the “strange magic” in the experience of silent reading.
Ant Hampton and Tim Etchells created the performance where a whispering voice, through headphones, gives instructions to the audience of two.
"Whispering is somehow in between speaking and reading, in a way, we found, because it's not not fully vocalising. You're not actually using your vocal chords - it's just air," Hampton told Radio New Zealand's Charlotte Graham.
He says the piece plays with the audience's expectations as the whispering overlaps with their own inner voices. “When you read there’s a presence conjured from the page. So, essentially that’s what the piece tries to do and really work with this idea".
The Quiet Volume is on at the National Library in Wellington as part of the New Zealand Festival. It runs on select dates through to March 15. Tickets cost $30.