Sat in the corner of the beautifully ramshackle Bikeshed theatre bar and café is an old fashioned bureau, decorated with floral fairy lights and a card which reads ‘Paper Secrets by Emily Williams.’ To a passer-by this may simply look like part of the Bikeshed’s bohemian aesthetic, but is in fact an installation piece which forms part of both Exeter’s Ignite Festival and a yearlong project which examines what happens when individuals possess secrets and choose to disclose them.
Behind the bar is the key to the desk, which I was given by a cheerful barman as I entered. Upon unlocking the bureau I found a neat drawer containing an antique looking tin, some paper, pens in a jam jar, a book about the psychology of secrets and a red envelope on which was written the words ‘Open Me’. Inside are the instructions for Paper Secrets.
First you look around the room, think about the people you see there and the secrets they themselves may be hiding, next you take a piece of paper, a pen and an envelope and write down a secret of your choice, and finally, you seal the secret inside the envelope and choose whether to stamp it front or back, the latter meaning that it is a secret never to be opened.
As an individual who likes to think I have very few secrets, if any, in life, sitting down at the desk with a pen in hand, ready to write, caused me to delve deep into my thoughts and think about what I may have never have fully verbalised. The installation really makes you think about the things you may be hiding from others, or yourself, without even knowing it, and offers you the chance to unburden yourself of something you may never have felt you had the chance to previously disclose.
For me, the most intriguing part of the experience was my decision about where I would stamp the sealed envelope. Before beginning Paper Secrets I was sure that I’d decide to hide whatever secret I wrote down, yet as I sat there, stamp in hand, I wondered why I was hovering over the front. In fact the biggest part of disclosing the secret was being brave enough to put pen to paper and not about whether anyone saw it.
Secrets are complex things. The book on the psychology of secrets, which is contained within the bureau, demonstrates what an interesting topic secrets can be. Whether it is to get a load off your mind or simply to see how you will feel at the pivotal moments of the experience, Paper Secrets is definitely worth a visit.
Emily Tanner, Deputy Editor
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