NIGHT
(Molly Sturges and Chris Jonas)
PROPOSAL
INDEX Short
description of NIGHT Project
Philosophical
Foundations of NIGHT A place/domain can be defined by its perimeters, boundaries, and distinctions from other places/domains. NIGHT will explore the nighttime spaces outside as viewed from inside - the domains of houses, cities, countries, cultures and individual people - and the resulting assumptions one's imagination creates from that perspective. Conversely, NIGHT will explore the inside as viewed from outside and the qualities that the imagination assumes reside therein - protection, intimate, solipsistic, immune and closed. NIGHT will therefore take a dual perspective: Inside vs Outside:
Night is also a metaphor for today's fear-based climate in The United States and many other societies wherein a pervasive protectionism grows in the face of the feared 'other' who is reduced to a mono-dimensional characature (hiding, unseen in the darkness outside). Here the darkness of night highlights precarious notions of security, personal, cultural and national identity, and the fear of the other side. Finally, NIGHT delves into the common tissues that link the human and natural worlds (plants, animals and landscapes) through common needs, actions and shared environment in the context of night and darkness -- utilizing imagery that explores the complex beauty of the natural world at night. Utilizing a hybrid of new creative tools for performance (new media, projected video, strategic improvisation and composition for the live mixture of image and sound) we seek to develop this project in an international forum where a wide range of perspectives can provide new approaches and angles as we navigate this both deeply familiar and unfamiliar subject. Scope
of Work
click here to see example of NIGHT PROJECT SECTIONS Work
plan:
2004/05 – While in residence
Result of Residency
Resources needed
Resources artists will bring to residency
Resources Artists will find over the course of the residency
DIGITAL
IMAGERY FOR NIGHT 1) NEIGHBORHOODS IN NIGHT
2) NATURE/HUMANITY AT NIGHT
3) PASSAGE
4) ABSTRACT
MUSIC/SOUND FOR NIGHT Much of the musical structure will be open-form. A set of pre-recorded"pools" of sound and musical material will be created and will last anywhere between 30" and 10' each consisting of 10-30 musical and sound elements. The pools will then be placed in a linear order according to performance sections. These "pools" will be accessed and manipulated during performance by triggers. Each performer’s musical and sound decisions can be made independently from the other or can be synchronized via prearranged and targeted sections. At times the music will not follow or respond to the video imagery allowing the elements of the two performers and the prerecorded sound and the video imagery to interact in a completely unplanned and open-ended ways, without intentional synchronizations. Throughout, the musical material used in NIGHT will range from the very simple, quiet, with many instances of total silence (allowing one instrument to be heard alone, or when both instruments are quiet, to allow the sound-silence of the videos to be experienced alone) to sections that are extremely dense, loud and complex. PERFORMANCE SET [see images: SETS 1/2, SETS 3/4] Consisting of screens made from various materials of a range of transparencies and reflective qualities (including opaque white Tyvek, semi-reflective mylar, porch-screen material, ‘milky’ semi-opaque polyurethane, and other materials). The screens will be attached (via magnetic strips and/or Velcro) onto a bendable and mutable framework of ultralight carbon poles (like those used for tents) and/or 1/4" PVC tubing so that the performance set will be made so that it can be assembled and reconfigured on stage by the performers over the course of a performance. The sets will be reset for various uses – as screens for projection, opaque enclosures, wrappings, etc. Another strategy that will be explored will be the integration of the sets and the stage attire worn by the performers – essentially creating components of the sets to have ‘sleeves’ so that the performers can wear the projection sets such that the sets can move with the performers. TRIGGERS/LIGHT WANDS Retrofitted flashlights (torches) will be rebuilt to both be secondary sources of light (using various attachments to project the beams of light through for a variety of colors and textures used in the performance) and MIDI trigger wands/controllers, to interact with the laptops running LiSa and Image/ine – jumping through elements within each "Pool" (banks of video and sound material) and from each new macro "Pool" section. STAGE ATTIRE
VENUE REQUIREMENTS A performance of NIGHT will require the venue to provide the following:
Molly Sturges Bio Molly Sturges is a composer/vocalist, performance artist, and director. She has performed widely as an improvisational vocalist specializing in extended vocal techniques. Her new musical project entitled, "Prayers from the Underbelly" explores the human voice as instrument. Based upon ideas of vocal resonance within the body Sturges presents improvisational structures utilizing vocal sound groupings generated from various interactions with both internal and external forces such as environment, posture, and nonsensical text. The result moves within a range of essential emotional elements found in voice/body though belonging to none. In the fall of 2003 Sturges will release a new recording of this project with her ensemble "mJane" which includes turntables, sampler, oud, percussion and harmonium. Other current projects include a recent composition commission in 2002 for an original score and performance to Buster Keaton's 1929 silent film Steamboat Bill, Jr.. Upcoming in November 2003 Sturges will co-create and perform an original score of music for a large scale circus project debuting in New Mexico, conduct her ensemble in the upcoming High Mayhem Festival, and will be a guest artist on a new improvisational recording project with JA Deane. Currently, Sturges is in the early development of developing the music for NIGHT, a multimedia performance piece. In the recent past Sturges was a composer for The Pedro Alejandro Dance Company, and a member of the Lisa Sokolov Vocal Ensemble. She holds an MA in composition from Wesleyan University where she was a student of Anthony Braxton and Alvin Lucier. Sturges is a member of the local improvisational ensemble "Out of Context" and the co-founder of the new ensemble BING with Chris Jonas. Recent performances include projects with renowned improvisors Anthony Braxton and Malcolm Goldstein. For the past five years Sturges has also been teaching sound and movement improvisation in private workshops and to groups and individuals at centers providing support for people with cancer. She is an affiliate teacher with Lioness Roars Productions (www.lionessroars.org/artists.html) and will be co-teaching "Core Sound", an improvisational sound and movement intensive in December 2003 in Boulder, Colorado. Sturges has been a guest artistic director with The Creative Center for People with Cancer in NYC for several years where she creates intermedia performance with people living with cancer and will be artistic director for a large-scale project with elders as a part of the many projects surrounding the 2005 Cork (Ireland) European Union City of Culture celebration. For the past eight years as a yoga and meditation instructor, Sturges has also developed and taught several workshops on yogic sound and chanting in Connecticut, Colorado, California and New York City. She is on the staff of the Mount Madonna Center Yoga Teacher Training Program. Molly Sturges is currently the interim executive director and was formerly the Director of Education (GreenRoom) at the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico (www.ccasantafe.org). More Info on Molly Sturges at www.mollysturges.com [See below for examples of recent polymedia projects] Chris Jonas Bio Composer, visual artist and soprano/tenor saxophone player Chris Jonas has gained recent international attention for his work leading the ensemble The Sun Spits Cherries (The Vermilion, 2001 Hopscotch Records; Sun Spits Cherries,1999 Hopscotch Records) which features Jonas on soprano saxophone, Myra Melford on piano, Joe Fiedler on tenor trombone, Christopher Washburne on bass trombone and Andrew Barker on percussion. Additionally, Jonas is co-leader of amitosis (NYC), the ARC Ensemble (New Mexico) and the neo-Ethiopian pop groove band BING (Santa Fe, NM). Jonas has also become well known for his work guest-conducting ensembles in cities all over the US and Europe. Jonas has also been a long-time installation artist, combining music, performance, video and new media into structures for performance. [See below for examples of recent polymedia projects] As a side man, Jonas is best known for his long-time collaborations with MacArthur recipient and composer Anthony Braxton (Two Compositions Trio 1998, 2003 Leo Records; Composition 169 + Ghost Trance (Ljubljana) with The Slovenia National Radio Orchestra, 2001 Leo; Four Compositions (Washington DC), 1999 Braxton House; Trillium R: Shala Fears for the Poor (Opera), 1999 Braxton House, and others) and as a side man in William Parker’s “Little Huey” Creative Orchestra (Mayor of Punkville, 2000 Aum; Sunrise on the Tone World, 1997 Aum and others), Cecil Taylor’s New York ensemble (1995-97) (Light of Corona 2003 FMP Records), The Brooklyn Sax Quartet (The Way of the Saxophone 2000 Innova Records), the Great Circle Saxophone Quartet (Child King Dictator Fool 1997 New World Records), Butch Morris' conduction ensembles (Vision Vol. I: Vision Fest. ‘97 Compiled, "Conduction #72", 1998 Aum), Assif Tsahar’s Brass Reeds ensemble (The Hollow World, 1999 Hopscotch Records) and as a member of the composer’s collective CIC. [see Jonas Discography for more] Among his recent composition projects this year, he has written music (along with Molly Sturges) for Buster Keaton's 1929 silent film Steamboat Bill, Jr., is working on music for The Circus Different and is early in the development of the music for NIGHT, a multimedia performance piece. He has also written for orchestras, string quartets, electro-acoustic music ensembles and jazz/new music ensembles from a broad range of sizes and instrumental configurations. As Curator and Director of Installation and Performance Arts at the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico (www.ccasantafe.org) Chris created a variety of music series and events including the HAT Improvisation Series (an improvisational 'roulette' - for all performance disciplines), Global Sonics Series (New Music, Improvisation and World Music concerts) the Open Process Series and various festivals. More Info on Chris Jonas www.chrisjonas.com Examples of Other Polymedia Projects (Jonas/Sturges) The
Big Shirt (Sturges/Jonas)
2002 CCC
Circus (Jonas) 2001 (sub)merge
(Sturges/Jonas)
2001, Installation/Performance Duet
(Jonas with video artist Aaron Davidson) 2000 One
and Many (Sturges) 2002-2003 (co-directed by
Molly Sturges and Melissa Dubbin with guest collaborator Myra Melford) Crossings
(directed by Molly Sturges with collaborating artists) 2001 Stripes
(Jonas with Judy Dunaway) 1999-2000 Duet/Night 1 (Jonas) 1998 (for two wind instruments and two video projectors). Middletown, CT. Line
Duets (Jonas with Dan Plonsey) 1995-2000 Live large-scale drawings on stage in performance (Jonas) 1989-98. NYC, CA. The
Lucky Grapefruit (Jonas) 1984
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