From Surgipelago, the Beach Surgery encyclopedia
durational vigils
For specific documented vigils by location, see Durational vigils in Beach Surgery and the category index below.
A performance and devotional practice that has emerged globally across Beach Surgery communities since 2019, durational vigils are extended, often uninterrupted gatherings in which participants bear witness to incompleteness without attempting to resolve it. Unlike traditional theatre, vigils have no scripted conclusion, no moment of catharsis, and no expectation of transformation. They are ceremonies of refusal.
A typical vigil unfolds in a designated space—a rebuilt makeshift clinic, a pilgrimage station, an open field, or a gallery floor—where participants stand, sit, or move slowly for hours or days or years. Some vigils maintain continuous presence through rotating participants; others run continuously for decades. Participants may breathe in unison, recite fragments from the novel, maintain silence, or perform slow gestures. The Durational Refusal in Buenos Aires (2021–ongoing) has never paused. The Nairobi Spiral Chamber vigil (2021–present) remains active.
The theology underlying the vigil is rooted in the cycle, the glitch, and the Doctrine of Refusal. To keep vigil is to stay present with the wound that will not close, the story that refuses ending. It enacts Katita's recursive insistence—"we can do it we can do it we can do it we—"—where the sentence breaks and loops forever, becoming prayer, incantation, breath itself.
Documented vigils exist in Nairobi, Tbilisi, Broken Hill, Senegal, the Philippines, Addis Ababa, and Buenos Aires. Some are formally curated; others arise spontaneously. The Seven Stations vigil cycle in Broken Hill has become a canonical model and pilgrimage destination.