The Show Must Go On
ImageMovmentSound 2006 Festival
Visual Studies Workshop
April 22, 2006
Collaboration is a tough thing. How do you work with someone collectively with out having one person take control of the wheel? ImageMovementSound is a collaboration of artists working to join these three words together. I was excited to be involved with a group of people who were all interested in putting powerful sounds with dance and performance, and mixing it with video and film. Last night, IMS put on a show at the Visual Studies Workshop. With this festival show, IMS brought in a solid crowd of 175 plus people, earning some needed exposure for VSW's facilities and venues. VSW needs to more happenings like this, more life breathing through our school's art community.
However, being the host for IMS at VSW was an exhaustive task—16 hours straight. They could not find anything they needed and were appalled by the lack of equipment and cleanliness such as our backstage and lighting system. It reinforced to me how brainwashed one behaves when everything is provided to you in perfect condition and in place--lack of problem solving skills. In addition, VSW's crazy door security became another sticky situation to solve too. Having a show in the front and a random performance/installation in the back seemed slightly backwards. But I was willing to go with the whole fluxus thing. All in all, the show must go on, and it did. For in the end it all worked out.
As an overall assessment I was not pleased with the results of the show's direction. It might have something to do with the fact that the filmmakers, technical and animation people mostly came from mainly the same program--RIT. I felt that each performance of the festival show was very homogenous, everything was the same with not much variety and way too long! You can only take so much abstract art in one sitting. My eyes felt like they were going to pop out after awhile. The videographers and animators got lost in manipulating stunning imagery and forgot about the purpose or meaning. And meaning is so important! The dancers know that! Honestly, they should put the camera in a dancer's hand and they would intuitively know exactly what to do with it. The best piece was the “Excess” performance. For the dancers knew how to build a story up through conceptualism and abstract movements. Their interaction with multiple chairs created a spontaneous dynamic. The composed sound element, by Abby Arresty, of women's low-anal voice repetitively complaining about how much stuff she had added a great undertone to the whole piece. The video imagery behind the dancers added a soft background to the performance, but remained a minor detail to the dancers' roles.
Video stills from "A Woman Hanging On"
For the most part the performance "A Woman Hanging On," held my emotional attention and curiosity. The beginning elements of the video imagery behind them were too stagnant and uncoordinated with the dramatic elements of the performances. The introduction of the video graphic was too literal and too basic as a backdrop, no synergy between the performer and the media. However, the video finale with the shirts hanging on the clothesline blowing in the wind began to blend with the dynamics of the singer’s despair and depression. The media and the performance slowly started working together, becoming synchronized. The clothes fell to the ground just as the singer’s heart fell.
There is so much to sift through, and that could be one of the problems. ImageMovementSound is experimental, but then its not. They have created a bubble, a show to make these interdisciplinary performances. But restrictions with time, the weight of who is behind it and in it, and the lack of cohesive vision hurts the idea behind the show. A cohesive vision does not mean having all visions the same just visions that create great synergy and dynamics. Each year IMS is bound to have a few flops but the idea of the show still proves to be worthy of attention because of the tiny steps its taking into the realm of interdisciplinary arts.
Visual Studies Workshop
April 22, 2006
Collaboration is a tough thing. How do you work with someone collectively with out having one person take control of the wheel? ImageMovementSound is a collaboration of artists working to join these three words together. I was excited to be involved with a group of people who were all interested in putting powerful sounds with dance and performance, and mixing it with video and film. Last night, IMS put on a show at the Visual Studies Workshop. With this festival show, IMS brought in a solid crowd of 175 plus people, earning some needed exposure for VSW's facilities and venues. VSW needs to more happenings like this, more life breathing through our school's art community.
However, being the host for IMS at VSW was an exhaustive task—16 hours straight. They could not find anything they needed and were appalled by the lack of equipment and cleanliness such as our backstage and lighting system. It reinforced to me how brainwashed one behaves when everything is provided to you in perfect condition and in place--lack of problem solving skills. In addition, VSW's crazy door security became another sticky situation to solve too. Having a show in the front and a random performance/installation in the back seemed slightly backwards. But I was willing to go with the whole fluxus thing. All in all, the show must go on, and it did. For in the end it all worked out.
As an overall assessment I was not pleased with the results of the show's direction. It might have something to do with the fact that the filmmakers, technical and animation people mostly came from mainly the same program--RIT. I felt that each performance of the festival show was very homogenous, everything was the same with not much variety and way too long! You can only take so much abstract art in one sitting. My eyes felt like they were going to pop out after awhile. The videographers and animators got lost in manipulating stunning imagery and forgot about the purpose or meaning. And meaning is so important! The dancers know that! Honestly, they should put the camera in a dancer's hand and they would intuitively know exactly what to do with it. The best piece was the “Excess” performance. For the dancers knew how to build a story up through conceptualism and abstract movements. Their interaction with multiple chairs created a spontaneous dynamic. The composed sound element, by Abby Arresty, of women's low-anal voice repetitively complaining about how much stuff she had added a great undertone to the whole piece. The video imagery behind the dancers added a soft background to the performance, but remained a minor detail to the dancers' roles.
Video stills from "A Woman Hanging On"
For the most part the performance "A Woman Hanging On," held my emotional attention and curiosity. The beginning elements of the video imagery behind them were too stagnant and uncoordinated with the dramatic elements of the performances. The introduction of the video graphic was too literal and too basic as a backdrop, no synergy between the performer and the media. However, the video finale with the shirts hanging on the clothesline blowing in the wind began to blend with the dynamics of the singer’s despair and depression. The media and the performance slowly started working together, becoming synchronized. The clothes fell to the ground just as the singer’s heart fell.
There is so much to sift through, and that could be one of the problems. ImageMovementSound is experimental, but then its not. They have created a bubble, a show to make these interdisciplinary performances. But restrictions with time, the weight of who is behind it and in it, and the lack of cohesive vision hurts the idea behind the show. A cohesive vision does not mean having all visions the same just visions that create great synergy and dynamics. Each year IMS is bound to have a few flops but the idea of the show still proves to be worthy of attention because of the tiny steps its taking into the realm of interdisciplinary arts.
posted by Daphne at 1:03 PM
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