Ulrike and Eamon: Compliant

It's Friday afternoon, and walking around the city of Sheffield, I stumble across an inimitable wooden box or room. There are air holes drilled into it and clipboards hanging on the side.

Curious, I approach and examine the clipboards. There are two, each of which gives a brief biography of a militant terrorist:

I am intrigued so, perhaps against my better judgement, I enter the box-room.

Inside, there is a screen on the wall showing a woman being interviewed, or perhaps interrogated. On the wall in front of me is a shelf with a mobile phone and some instructions. I follow the instructions: I pick up the phone and press the green dial button twice. It has started.

A voice on the phone asks me whether I am Ulrike or Eamon. I comply and dial 1: I am Ulrike. The voice then asks me to leave the box, telling me which direction in which to walk. I am going towards an empty office building. When I get there, I must face the doors of the office and call him back. I comply.

"Hello Ulrike, thanks for calling me back". The voice speaks directly to me. He asks me about myself: "Are you a hesitant of decisive person?" After the beep I respond "My name is Ulrike. I am a decisive person". I stand with my back to the world, looking inside the desolate office space. I feel at once absorbed in an intimate conversation with the enigmatic voice on the phone but self-conscious; back to the world I am unaware of what is happening and it makes me feel strangely vulnerable.

I move off, following the directions of the voice, but he advises "Keep your eyes open. Act natural." Between directions, the voice tells me about my life. The choices I have made. How he admires my courageousness. How I once said that to set fire to one car is a crime, but to set fire to 100 is political. How I choose to place my children in an orphanage, and how it made him wonder why I would have done so.

I am asked to make a decision. Do I want to continue walking down this street: If so stay on the line. Otherwise hang up. I comply and stay on the line. I'm involved now. I walk towards a sheltered spot, under a tree. The voice says "Pick a person on the street. Look at them. Think about their home. Think about who they love." I comply. Doing so, the way I feel about this person is hard to describe: One of the things I feel for them is a strange sadness as they walk passed me in the rain, unaware of how they absorb my thoughts.

I move off and continue on my journey. The voice directs me down a deserted alleyway.

When I reach the bottom, he asks me if I'd like to see this thing through. Am I prepared to face the questions? Or am I the type of person to run and hide? I've come this far - I stay on the line, and the voice says "Ok Ulrike, I understand, You're prepared to face the questions". I am led to a meeting point. I nod as instructed at the 'contact' and I am led to another wooden box-room.

There are two chairs, and a mirror on the wall. A man tells me to take a seat and sits down opposite me. I hadn't expected this. I don't feel prepared. But I comply.

"What would you fight for?" His eyes fix me in place.
"Personal Freedom", I mutter nervously.
"Against all odds?" "Where do you draw the line?" "What are you prepared to do for this? Could you kill in the name of personal freedom?"

It is intense. An interrogation. Finally he asks me, "Are you a hesitant or a decisive person?"
"I am Ulrike. I am a decisive person."

"Thank you" he says, and leads me out of a door on the other side of the room. He walks me around the box to a window. "Wait here" he says and leaves me. I look through the window, I realise the mirror in the box-room was a two-way mirror. Somebody was watching everything I said.

Horrified, I stand there looking in as a woman is led into the room. She sits, as I did, and the interviewer starts again:

"What would you fight for?"


('Ulrike and Eamon: Compliant' is the creation of Blast Theory, and first presented at the Venice Biennial. I saw it in Sheffield, UK as part of the Sheffield Doc/Fest)