Excerpts of the reviews are as followed,
Today, Mayo Martin
17 November 2011
‘Dust: A Recollection is seemingly a culmination of everything we’ve come to expect from the collective: their intricate room installations, trademark textual wit and the performative aspects seen in their last big work, the carnivalesque Abusement Park. But this time it’s more “serious” than usual. ...Well, as poignant as a VS work
gets, that is.
... I never thought I’d say this about one of their pieces, but sitting there near the end of the play, hearing a disembodied voice telling (for the umpteenth time) the story of these sad characters while staring at an empty stage, I got, erm, slightly emotional.’
The Straits Times, Adeline Chia
18 november 2011
'It was a valiant and competent experiment, filled with the pleasures of a detective story, as well as spots of quirky humour and poignancy. Watching able actors perform without langauge was also a joy - they speak gibberish while a narrator in a pedistal narrates their actions and thoughts.
... Audience members sit on the floor to watch the events unfold, while a narrator, armed with a suit and a dead-pan delivery, proceeds to read out a text that is part curatorial essay, part play script complete with stage directions.'
The Flying Inkpot, Kenneth Kwok
19 November 2011
‘After posting my First Impression for Dust: A Recollection, I received an extended missive from an outraged reader questioning my critical faculties as a writer. In my twelve years as a reviewer, none of my pieces has engendered so enflamed a response that it has compelled a reader to write to me at such length.
It is not entirely surprising. The moody Dust by visual art collective Vertical Submarine is a strange little creature, one that I can appreciate might be as easy to loathe as it is to love - and over the past few weeks, I have spoken to people on both ends of the spectrum.
... Dust is gallant work that provokes the mind and exerts a gentle crushing force on the heart.’
The Flying Inkpot’s Kenneth Kwok rated Dust: A recollection as the 5th choice of his top picks, we made it to Mayo Martin’s from Today at the 8th spot whereas The Straits Times, Adeline Chia placed it at the bottom of her list.
