“Presence” tells the story of Treasure Island, a humanly made island in the San Francisco Bay. On the island, a performance troupe dressed in hazmat suits communicate gestures resembling tox remediation. As the troupe becomes more attuned to the island, its history and its ecology, enigmatic presences infiltrate their spacetime, raising various questions.
Are they from the past, the present or the future? What is the significance of their sudden arrival? What happens when historical and geological eras converge?
Elsewhere, Earth scientists at sites around the globe search for the “golden spike,” a telltale geologic marker that indicates a definitive time change. Within their data is Earth’s biography, but how is humanity insinuated within this chronology?
In “Presence,” Brenda Iijima crafts a story of consequence, action, implication and resounding significance. She writes of encounter and contact between timeframes, cultures, ecologies and persons, exploring the moments of possibility at these junctures.
