Ariel Vidrio Week 7

Chris, Hannah, Maya, Tessa:

I was really fascinated by the relationship between Hannah and Maya. In the beginning, it was delicate and each movement flowed into the next and then it gradually got more forceful and disjointed. Partner work is so hard to do and I applaud the both of you. The only thing I could recommend is just try finding more ways in which you can share each other’s weight or give your whole to another. Good partner work can really make the audience feel at ease when it is meant to be light, floaty, and fun. This makes me think of the little partnering section in Teać Damsa’s, Loch na Heala (Swan Lake), which was performed at the Power Center last year. The music for the performance is beautiful to listen to as well, and tells a very vivid story, at least in my mind.

Aislinn, Bradley, Joey, and Nick:

I was very intrigued with the ways in which you all would engage with the audience. I am also curious to see how Nic’s moment at the lectern will play out. He had mentioned incopporating a microphone in the performance and it made me think of artist Bret Easterling’s new work, Brecht. I have linked a few photos and video below.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2iq6xYlBYr/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BzOMTSAFeMR/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BzLmzAJF0Pe/

Mira, Nick, Olivia, and Steve:

I thought these sculptures of reused plastic were cute. You mentioned you would like to have more props onstage to set the scene.  If you wanted to be comical and had time, it could be fun and interesting to see something of this nature onstage.

https://www.designindaba.com/articles/creative-work/plastic-bottle-artworks-veronika-richterová

Blog Week 7

Sky, Ariel, Ines, Geoff, Nick:


Our class discussion on the impact of a performance where the audience doesn't necessarily understand everything going on right away made me think of this "hidden microphone" video; it's not exactly using hidden microphones, but I'm providing it anyway because it made think of the idea of incorporating the audience in some way where they don't necessarily know that their actions affect the piece. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14_n-qXwtUk


I missed the first day of performances because I was in New York for interviews, but I did catch some bits from one group so here are my thoughts:

Chris, Hannah, Maya, Tessa:


I wasn't present for this performance but from the bits I've seen and heard, I think it could be really cool for your final segment to involve a settling after the final build as a bit of an audience fake-out.

Reference (Aislinn Bailie)

Hey all - I was out of town last week, so I am only showing my reference to Christopher, Hannah, Maya and Tessa, and looking forward to hearing about everyone else's work so far!

Whenever I think about nature and the impact humans have on our natural environment, I will always think about Pauline Oliveros and her impact on the way the new music and experimental community approaches our interactions with natural. Even though your subject material is more combative due to the nature of protest music, your beginning happenings reminded about her sonic meditations and more specifically a piece called "Earth Ears." I love this interview. 

Geoff blog post week 7

Mira, Nick, Olivia, and Steve:
I really liked how the piece evolved over time and became scarier as it went. The attack-like relationship between the musicians and Olivia was an interesting way to approach the dance-sonic relationship. I was reminded of the scene in the 2018 Suspiria remake, where the dancers a floor up are channeling some force beating another dancer below.

Christopher, Hannah, Maya and Tessa:


Aislinn, Bradley, Joey, and Nick:
I didn't see your performance, but I did hear/understand the choices you're fluctuating between. In my opinion, focusing on the online white liberal is a much more potent choice. This concept would remind me more of Lee Minora and Alice Yorke's White Feminist that UMS put on for No Safety Net this year.

Blog Week 7 (Sky Christoph)

Mira, Nick, Olivia, and Steve:
This might be a stretch but it feels connected for a couple reasons. First off, the way Olivia broke down movements into a few basic steps made me think of the way this really only highlights specific key moments of movement to emphasize them, leading the audience to believe something that is physically impossible. Also, Steve's small jerks of motion with the kick drums (if I remember that right) reminded me of this, as if the movement is being prompted by the light, or the performer is "caught" within that abrupt change, either in sonics or light.
https://www.nytimes.com/video/arts/dance/100000002944572/learning-to-fly.html

Christopher, Hannah, Maya and Tessa:
You literally only see it from 0:31-0:33 ish, but the way that the performers in this are trapped within the plastic is something that comes to mind with the way you guys talked about filling the ground with trash and almost getting trapped in it, like Hannah was the plastic and Maya was the people in this case. They also have a beautiful sequence where feathers are thrown around and literally cover the stage. It's a joyous scene, but I think similar imagery with trash could serve well to make it far less positive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8AM-_KASr0
(I also just realized somebody recommended this performance for other reasons to another group, but I'm going to leave it because I think it's still relevant)

Aislinn, Bradley, Joey, and Nick:
Speaking on the idea of creating zones for people to move towards, or barriers that people need to find their way around, I thought of Richard Serra's Tilted Arc. It's a site-specific sculpture that was very hotly contested and went on trial, and video I linked includes excerpts from the trials. I thought of it because it was made to seem like it was about to fall, purposefully creating a feeling of unease, and also acted as a massive barrier that people would have to walk around in order to get past it. It was removed four years after it went up.
https://www.sfmoma.org/watch/richard-serra-on-trial-for-tilted-arc/

blog post inés hidalgo

Aislinn, Brad, Joey, Nick:
I was really intrigued by the idea of using the lectern as a vehicle for protest. The inherent power structures between the person at the lectern versus those watching is definitely worth exploring, and I think you are on the right path! I am interested to see how the caricature-like movement will communicate with the ambient music.

Christopher, Hannah, Maya, Tessa:
I loved this piece! The physical message that Hannah and Maya were creating was so powerful and gripping. I also loved Tessa's ending sequence music. I am really excited to see how you will put movement to that, but also interested to see if you don't, if that makes sense. This might be too ambitious, but maybe if there was no movement but instead a video that played to it depicting something about your message, that would rock.

Mira, Nick, Olivia, Steve:
I think that the dialogue between the musicians and dancer was super cool and interesting. I think you guys could take it much further though, perhaps with actual movement as well. I know it would be difficult to move the piano, but the other positions have an ability to interact further with the dancer. The dancing was also amazing and incredibly poignant. Maybe having props would provide a way to interact with the musicians.

Week 7 (Hannah Marcus)

Nic, Aislinn, Joey, Brad:

The way Nic was talking about the fetishization of the podium and how it is a symbol of power for leaders reminded me of this performance I saw. You can only spot it in this trailer for a couple seconds between 0:43 and 0:49, but the performer with the foam hand/finger would point at other performers and the audience in a deeply confronting way. I think it took on its own power beyond its identity as an inanimate object, and the performer's character knew how to exploit this.

https://vimeo.com/323837877






***I missed the Tuesday showings, but from the tidbits I've heard from Ariel and Olivia about their groups, I will go for it.


Nick, Mira, Olivia, Steve:

Thinking about a funeral ceremony for Mother Earth-- I was reminded of this work by Teac Damsa because it deals with ritual and death in an interesting way, positioning lively ceremonies (birth) up against an underlying remnant of destruction and expiration. (It's a take on the story of Swan Lake).

Sky, Ariel, Ines, Geoff, Nick:

A truth that is hidden and multiple layers that prevent us from uncovering the truth-- makes me think of language getting in the way. From a sonic perspective, here's Avis 4 by Georges Aperghis. I'm assuming this is not the aesthetic you're going for at all, but it still creates a pile of information that feels difficult to sift through in an attempt to chip at the crux of the issue.

https://open.spotify.com/track/7pyEIUkReQwkrRoRHVVoIl?si=_pPcSrzKTMaRTTeH-7948w

Week 7 [joey fortino]

Ariel, Nick, Inés, Sky, and Geoff:

I enjoyed the ambiguity between whether Ariel was moving to the music or if the music was improvised to the music. There is a connectedness there that is very profound. I also thought the use of morse code was really moving and effective because it felt to me as if the truth about these issues is trying to come out but is being filtered intentionally by corporations. Thought this was a great way to directly represent what you were going for. I stand by my suggestion to make the source material for the morse code be actually exposing truths about the environmental impact of big industry. The vocal processing and droning in your piece reminds of me this performance from Dan Deacon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heFRwLfjVXI

Olivia, Mira, Nick, and Steve:

This piece was super emotional and moving for me. I really enjoyed all the vocal processing, piano, electronics, and movement. The movements felt very taxing. There was a lot of visible effort there which went well with how nick was playing the piano and how steve was using the push. I thought it looked like Olivia was planting some sort of seed. Even though this was wrong I still like that juxtaposition of natural disaster atmosphere with this last-ditch attempt to start something beautiful. With this contrast in mind, I think to this video. It shows both beautiful growth and beautiful decay which is so powerful as imagery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP_-P_BS6KY


Hannah, Maya, Tessa, and Christopher:

I really enjoyed the interactions between Maya and Hannah. I thought it was very straightforward but without being heavy handed. I also thought this represented your message very effectively. I think that Maya and Hannah could break off to represent the earth after humans stop leaching for one reason or another. Very curious to see how you guys pace out the timeline of the relationship. I also Would love to hear Maya's playing incorporate more harmonics because of how they appear in nature. One example could be this piece by MMW and nels cline. The bassist performs with odd atmosphere stuff and uses lots of harmonics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMUqd1ZZ2OQ

Blog Post #4

Bradley, Aislinn, Joey and Nick- The aesthetic feeling of your performance reminded me of an exhibit/ambience experience, especially with how dark the environment was in relation to your lighting explorations. It reminded me of a project I was able to see in California by a troupe of engineers, programmers designers, animators and mathematicians under the name of teamlab. They do a fantastic job at creating an entirely new atmosphere in black space using lights, color and ambience.

https://www.teamlab.art/e/living_digital_space/

Ariel, Inés, Nick, Sky and Geoff- I love how Ariel plays with a prop that delivers sonic qualities- it gives a specific agency to a performer when they can make sounds and movement within the same sphere. It’s beautiful how influenced all the musicians are by the trajectory of Ariel’s movement, and a relationship between the musician and the dancer (which should always be established and valued in a performance setting) makes me think of the dynamic improvised sets between tap dancers and jazz musicians. This duet of Hiromi Uehara (piano) and Kazunori Kumagai (tap) in particular is really interesting to me and is reminiscent of the power that comes from metal. 

Maya, Hannah, Tessa and Christopher- I love the physically direct relationship between Hannah and Maya, which reminded me of the relationship in this DV8 performance- there is a similar exertion of expression and influence/authority, where each individual has a different balance of both qualities. 

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Blog Week 7 (Tessa Fornari)

Group 1: (I was not present for Group 1's performance because I was helping drive back students from the Stearns Collection for PAT 451 directly beforehand.)

Group 2: When I heard that Trump Tweets were being used in this performance, for some reason I immediately thought of this robot someone made that prints out Trump's tweets when he publishes them and immediately burns them:



Group 3: Someone said something about using retro TV screens in this performance and I immediately though of this awesome music video for Undisclosed Desires by Muse:

Week 7 [ Nicolas Hopkin ]

Nick, Ariel, Ines, Geoff, Sky -  Here's a WSJ corporate jargon generator, which seems to heavily echo your themes of corporations obfuscating the truth.
https://projects.wsj.com/buzzwords2014/#p=12%7C%7C%7C4,11%7C0%7C%7C0

Maya, Christopher, Hannah, Tessa - Here's a similar piece of electronic music, rather obviously named, which I remembered after watching your final segment. The repetitive, whirring sounds give a cleaner sound than your more vulgar, agressive sound, however I prefer the direction you've chosen.

Nick, Olivia, Steve, Mira- 
Bear with me a bit on this one. Your ideas of progression reminded me a lot of the very first part of this work, and not much else, but I still think the accumulation of garbage overflowing is a potent image to inform your movement, sounds, and visuals.

Blog Week 7

Nick, Joey, Brad, Aislinn -

I know this isn't really what you are doing, but it's an interesting look at the way that by compiling small segments of clips you can put together a cohesive narrative that says more than any one clip:

Nick, Ariel, Ines, Geoff, Sky -

Here is an interesting interview discussing the fossil fuel industry's continual cover up of the damage they're doing, and for how long they've had knowledge of that damage.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/audio/2019/jun/19/what-oil-companies-knew-the-great-climate-cover-up-podcast

Nick, Steve, Olivia, Mira -

I know we all love reading... here is an interesting paper that discusses environmental dance - what it means, its historical context, and a lot of examples of it.

Blog week #4 - Nick M.

For the following examples, I began my search for new and inspirational material by seeking music on the topic(s) our group has been focusing on. The examples I have chosen are also in some way reflective of the musical structure or expression we are experimenting with, but it began with the text.

1. Buffalo Calf Road - A. Savage

One thing that was really striking about this song is the dissonance between the pleasant musical mood and the horror of the story that was being told. Something that I think we have strives for in our jam sessions is the juxtaposition of highly contrasting elements. It also seems to fit right along the lines of what we have discussed as our topic of protest. 

"After all the gold was gone
Oil came in its wake
Pale face stranded out and found
A new promise to break

Once their land and lore had been stolen there was
Nothing but their water left to take
Nothing but their spirits left to break"

https://open.spotify.com/track/2uvvlRHhX7oGwiAWkuYnzr?si=4p3UlhtiQk-UNlMsJRHVeA

2. The Man Who Would Be King - Billy Woods

The horror of this track kind of left me speechless. I am only beginning to parse the meaning of the words, but they land with intensity regardless. Aside from the actual lyrics, the other musical content feels like a kind of collage of old radio/tv propaganda, electronic music, other "non-musical" sound samples, and a sort of operatic voice repeating over and over. It is quite chaotic and unstable feeling, but still creates a foundation underneath the words.

Without fully understanding the complex lyrics myself, I want to be clear that there is strong language used here that seem to depict very graphic scenes and themes, both literal and implied.

CONTENT WARNING
Use of the n-word

Racial violence

Sexual Content, Assault

https://open.spotify.com/track/6I2GIsTe4ekunivrTBqQqt?si=NX8i-xQ3Tfi0_DYFvAuybg

Blog post #3 Week 4

This video is of a cellist who used actual data in the process of composing a piece that reflects global warming throughout the years. The first part of the video goes through his process: how and why he chose to use data to present his protest. He converts global temperature records from the year 1880 to present day: a note for every five years. Climate change is shown throughout the piece, since the data results in him needing to play in a large range of three octaves. His piece showcases how the use of data can be extremely compelling in protest music, as factual information presented in an artistic form can serve as a call to action.


This song by Neil Young is an angry call to action focused on climate change. Lyrically, the track points fingers at those who are blind to what's happening in the world (a theme our group touched on). And although the lyrics are blunt and unapologetic, Young is also hopeful, claiming "When I look at the future/I see hope for you and me". Although it's not typically thought of as constructive in protest music, I think that expressing a sense of hope for the future generations is important.

Ariel Vidrio Week #4

"The Star Spangled Banner" Whitney Houston (Super Bowl 1991)

Whitney Houston's performance of "The Star Spangled Banner" in 1991 is considered one of the best of all time in popular music. She was inspired by Marvin Gaye's soulful rendition at 1983 NBA All-Star Game.  This was a noteworthy performance as Gaye took a song that was written by a (racist) white man and made it soulful (reminiscent of black music).  "He was just free" as Rickey Minor recounted in the 2018 documentary "Whitney."  Played in 4/4 instead of the waltz 3/4, Whitney had the freedom to hold out the notes and add gospel and jazz flavorings.  This was a shocking change, some even called the arrangement sacrilegious. This was a powerful moment for the black community.  "The Star Spangled Banner" is a song about war.  For the black community, acts of state violence have just often have been used against them as it has been used against the country's enemies abroad.  Even though this song was essentially written to about "the land of the freed," Whitney really highlighted that concept in this performance. Some would say, it was the kind of performance that could convert an atheist to believe in Jesus Christ. It was emotional and stirred something in the hearts of the people.

I thought this was cool.  Although climate change is a controversial topic,  it makes the issue a  human problem that everyone will collectively experience. There is a timer set for the human race's existence here on this earth and it is either shortened or lengthened depending on if we decide to act and change the policies that degrade our world's health.

Blog Post Week #4

Our group is doing a piece that speaks to the issues rising in our world surrounding climate change. I found this piece that takes two sounds, a tone and a pluck,  and uses data from carbon emissions to turn the sounds into pitches.  The intensity of the pitches increases with each year which you can view on the counter at the bottom. I found this interesting because our group is trying to make a similar statement about the alarming status of our earth right now, and I found this piece very effective in doing so.

I really like this example because the song that is featured, "gasoline" by Halsey, features very descriptive ambient sounds that are reflective of space and ambience. I found the dancer's interpretation of these small inflections very moving because sometimes, the dancer moved to cues that I would not normally be listening for. Our group has been discussing composing and improvising the piece alongside our dancer so that it is more collaborative in the moment rather than rehearsed.

Blog Post Week 4 [Aislinn Bailie]

Hi all-

As a group, we have been discussing the idea of universal love, and by comparison, it's anti - fear. Fear and hate resonate in a multitude of ways in our world today, but we want to focus on a particular group and discuss how the group's particular hate manifests, and how to combat it, challenge it, in more of a centering way. When I think of art combatting a gross use of power, and through that power spreading this hate, I always think about Pussy Riot and their views particularly on issues that are heavily present in Russia and America. Something I admire about their presence is their appeal to atmosphere, and obvious focus on image and aesthetic. I think it draws the audience in even further, and keeps them engaged with the issues they protest as a group. Their approach of protest may not exactly align with the universal love concept we have been exploring, but there aspects of their protest that could help influence how we go about our source of protest.


For the second video, I would like to only draw focus towards about 3:35 to 10:00 minutes, because Kanye is specifically talking about his fews on Love vs. Fear. It's funny to have come across this interview after the fact because we actually talked about Kanye as an example that can be quite polarizing when discussing the views of the conservative right. Regardless of my own beliefs, I think that Kanye has a compelling point that is worth discussion. He does not shy away from questioning from the public, and he wants to ask similarly tough questions that we had been discussing, except we were all come from a more liberal-minded basis.

Blog #3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ_QdRlT0Dg

This first video isn't so much aesthetically what we're going for but ideologically it resonates with messages we seek to convey. Idles seeks to raise awareness of issues of toxic masculinity and hate not by simply waving a finger at the problem but by taking it one step further with a loving and inclusive solution. This very much aligns with our idea of presenting universal love to a matter of the alt-right not to sympathize with it by any means but to break the cycle of fighting fire with fire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJKzsSM6MBg

This next video is the antithesis of what our group has been talking about but is also something that we go back and forth on. This video depicts Richard Spencer, a real-life neo-nazi getting punched in the face by an anonymous man. This is something that is immediately very satisfying and almost justified to me. I struggle with the idea of violent protest because on one hand it is absolutely called for but on the other hand it just perpetuates a more extreme back and forth between two apparent sides. It gives the neo-nazis a way to consider themselves somehow oppressed and makes the other side look desperate and "in the wrong". I don't have a proper solution I just know that violence in some situations is not the answer.

Blog Week 4 (Tessa Fornari)

(Article)

Riot Grrl Movement:

I knew of this movement but not much about it in depth. Found a lot of good articles and documentaries
about the movement because I wanted to find something I could draw from a little bit in terms of energy
after we started talking about themes we could use in our performance.  

Glass Armonica: 

Also I was looking up some instruments after our discussion shifting to environmental issues and I
found videos of someone playing the glass armonica when looking for instruments that included the
use of water when played (but I guess we couldn’t do this in Davis due to the liquid rules).

Blog Week 4: Two New Videos (Steve Klingbiel)

"Planetary Bands, Warming World," utilizes pitch as a medium to output recorded temperatures since 1880. Each note in this piece represents a year, and in this case; each member of the string quartet represents a region in the Northern Hemisphere. On top of that each instrument is tuned to the average temperature of their respective regions. In relation to our group project we have been primarily using rhythm and timbre as an emotional appeal to the content. 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/this-song-composed-from-133-years-climate-change-data-180956225/

"Dead Reckoning" is a dance piece that uses the kinesthetic movement as well as color to evoke an emotional connection to climate change. The choreography is meant to show how we have interacted with the Earth; and that our actions will have consequences. I honestly wanted to watch and research dance pieces to see how I as a musician can communicate better with dancers for collaboration. 

 

Week 4 (Sky Christoph)

This first collection of pieces relates more to how we want to approach our concept, specifically with the ideas of layering and burying info among other info until it's all distorted into something we can't understand. This video has some interesting ways that that could be done, and is a great example of losing the body in lots more information.


This next video isn't thematically related to our issues regarding environmentalism, but the way that ideas were communicated with layers of projections and highlighting certain layers is related to what we are discussing. Included is a diagram explaining how it was set up. It won't let me embed the video, but I've linked it. The poem was written and performed by Thylias Moth, from the point of view of a young slave girl who has been taught to read and sees a specific page of a book in her master's room relating to moths. She uses the moth as a metaphor in a very interesting way.
https://vimeo.com/7797154


Also, not a video, but related to rising sea levels and things (in this case, cities and populated areas) being buried, this article has some visualizations for what could happen to some areas around the world by 2050 if sea levels continue to rise.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/29/climate/coastal-cities-underwater.html

Week 4- Hannah M

My group is interested in exploring a sonic build that begins with natural, atmospheric sounds and morphs into something more artificial, synthetic-sounding. We're looking at climate change and humans' exploitation of the environment. An image we're thinking about are glaciers melting and the cracking of ice, which will potentially uncover a dirtier/glassier sound further along in our piece. This track is pretty open and reflects how we may set the space up.

I think much of my group's approach is to make people feel a bit unsettled and uncomfortable. Part of this will come through in our deliberate staging and spatial configurations of the audience. We think putting people in the round will force everyone to see each other, which will in a way increase discomfort by emphasizing an accountability factor. We're also interested in bringing about this uneasy feeling through a constant rumble that becomes more noticeable and enveloping as time goes on. This piece between the 9.5 min and 14.5 min mark demonstrates something along those lines.

Art and the Alt-Right [Nicolas Hopkin]

We've decided to focus our energy against the Alt-Right, a complicated and multifaceted identity based in hate, ignorance, and fragile entitlement. At our current point in time we're focusing on how their rhetoric polarizes the right and left even more, making progress more and more difficult.

Both of the examples of art revolving around similar subjects I've found here take a very grunge-punk aesthetic, as well as ridiculing their leaders/symbols. I think this informs our process as the goal we're seeking is to not continue to push the alt right deeper into their dens of hate. We're trying to find a way to make a piece that doesn't forgive or sympathize with alt-right ideas, but that asks the question of how can we change their mind, and if we can't then how do we address the spread of their message? We know that's a bit of a large ask, but we're continually refining our ideas. I suppose its the rehabilitate over punishment method of thinking we're trying to foster.