One of the great perks of working in the arts at Wesleyan is the music—music unlike any I’d ever heard before, music by Alvin Lucier, who can pick up a pencil box or a tape recorder and change the way you think about sound.
In a recent Art Agenda interview, choreographer Anne Carlson defined dance as “intentional movement.” Alvin Lucier first blew my mind with a piece called “I am sitting in a room”—a landmark electro-acoustic work of the 21st century—performed at a Sol Lewitt installation in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, that included un-intentional sound, or at least unpredictable sound.
I was reminded of this performance last week, due to several media stories about David Byrne and his new project for Creative Time. Byrne’s project also involves a room and music, used to dramatic effect. He has combined an antique pump organ and a 9,000 sq ft space within a historic ferry terminal to create a giant, music-making instrument unlike any other.
My favorite part about it? Is that anyone can play. The erratic sound also means that virtuosos and novices have equal opportunity to sound good (or bad).
Just in case there is a room in your house that would be better served as a musical instrument, Design news, a publication for engineers, gets technical in their description of “Playing the Building,” and has lots of good pics.
One of my Emerging Leader Council colleagues at Americans for the Arts, Jason Schupbach, was just appointed by Massachusetts Gov. Patrick Devall as the state’s creative economy director. Schupbach is making history in his new role, which carries a statewide high-level status that is being hailed as a big step in the right direction by arts advocates.
As a relatively recent Massachusetts transplant, I have been impressed by the ability of state arts leaders to express the value of the arts, generate discourse, and successfully lobby for arts funding. Not everyone agrees that this new post is a good one, and future debates are alluded to in today’s Boston Globe, alongside accusations of “pandering to fads.” This job would be a challenge for anyone, but also an opportunity for exciting change and growth. I look forward to seeing what Massachusetts (and Jason) think of next.
(Thank you to Rebecca Borden at Americans for the Arts for the tip!)
Back in the year 2000, I was asked to produce an event called the Hygienic Cabaret, an off-shoot of the Hygienic Art Show in New London. A group called the Guerilla Poets wrote me and said they were interested in performing. The Hygienic Cabaret is mostly local, and these guys were from Boston, but they seemed interesting so I offered them free beer and a couch to sleep on.
Many beers, a few broken plates, one drawn-and-quartered babydoll, and two standing ovations later, Janaka (who is an undertaker, in addition to being a poet) told me about his plan to revolutionize the American grieving process. A line from his poem elegy pretty much sums it up:
“The Leopard People of Sierra Leone carry their dead in a bag; whenever they feel sorrow, they cut off a piece and eat it.”
Eight years later, Janaka is still making waves with Black Ocean, a literary/multidisciplinary movement that is hard to define. Black Ocean just released Holy Land, a book of poetry by Rauan Klassnik. If it is half as good as Dear Al Qaeda, it’s worth a look.
Since this is my first non-audio blog entry, I thought it fitting to highlight the first blogger I knew personally, Douglas Wolk. Douglas has been blogging at lacunae.com since circa 1999. He was the first friend I made on the internet, which was a little intimidating back then!
Douglas knows a zillion people, is very curious about a lot of things, and makes all kinds of quirky connections that he writes about to share with others. Through his blog and his friendship, he has directly or indirectly inspired me to: read comics, cook, write, and take pictures. His latest blog, Mincing Up the Morning, will no doubt introduce me to some new music and hopefully inspire me to be better about remembering birthdays (sorry, Bill!).
Lex Leifheit is the Executive Director of SOMArts Cultural Center, co-host of Feast of Words: Literary Potluck, and has an insatiable appetite for art. She lives in San Francisco.
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