By Diane Montz
North Adams Transcript
NORTH ADAMS - An ambitious multi-media installation created to encompass
the music, art, architecture, drama, dance, performance and human
achievement of the past 2000 years opened with an understated intensity
Wednesday morning at MASS MoCA.
The huge performance space, draped and darkened, provides a powerful sound
board for the premiere of Barton and Priscilla McLean's "Ultimate
Symphonius 2000." Commissioned by Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts as
part of its Smith House Concert Series, the vast installation was two years
in the making.
Eight instrumental, vocal, video and dance stations designed for audience
interaction, one visitor at a time, share the floor space. The dark hall
issues a strong visual statement even before the big video screens catch
the eye and the cacophony of music the ear.
In the dark and large space, the equipment loses its potential to
intimidate and instead draws the visitor in. Volunteers at each station
encourage participation and show you how to get started. For most of the
stations, you don't even have to know how to read music.
Each music station has its own speakers, so that what a visitor "performs"
there becomes the dominant sound, with a subtle yet obvious background
created by sounds from the other stations.
Unlike a concert hall, where the acoustics are virtually the same from each
seat, this installation creates a totally different sound at any spot in
the hall, in part because the music is ever-changing and constantly unique.
Seating arranged at several observation/audio points lets observers
experience the video and audio work in totally different ways. It's best to
move around; sitting in front of the video screens for too long has a
hypnotic effect.
And although this is an audience-interactive work that depends on
participation, the composers notes at the entrance caution that 90 percent
of a participant's time is best be spent listening to what is being
composed - and 10 percent in composing it.
This is a sophisticated work of art - not the interactive fare museums
offer up to entice children. Instructions posted at each station are easy
to read and understand, and key to the full experience.
"The Ultimate Symphonius 2000" is comprised of dozens of excerpts of music
- both recorded and the spontaneous offerings of visitors to some of the
stations - and hundreds more visual images, again, many prepared by
Priscilla McLean for the two video screens, and those created by dancers to
the backdrop of one of the video screens. The number of possible
combinations is incomprehensible to anyone but a mathematician - and may be
infinite.
That doesn't matter. In the end, the exotic stew of sight and sound does
what the McLeans set out to do. It ravishes the senses and leaves the
visitor overwhelmed with the diverse and magnificent cultural
accomplishments of the world in 2000 years.
These days the label "ultimate" graces everything from athletic shoes to
Caribbean cruise. Still it takes a certain confidence to attach it to art -
but the McLeans may not be far off in their presumption.
If this is your first experience with an interactive multi-media
installation, you're in for a treat. If you've been to others, this one is
certain to be better.
Your reporter had an opportunity this week to preview some pieces of the multi-media extravaganza being put on by Bart and Priscilla McLean of Petersburgh at MassMoCA in North Adams on February 9 and 10. It's an
awesome collection of sound and images, both intriguing and a bit
overwhelming. There are many components to it, which are at the same time
part of a whole and independent experiences.
The visual part of the show has two parts - a video shown on a large screen,
and a slide show in which you can dance. Priscilla McLean calls the video
an ìoverview of life for the last two thousand years from the eyes of a
performer. There are images from primitive tribes to modern high-tech
stuff, giving the viewer a sense of the tremendously diverse range of human
experience during this millenium. The focus is on performanceóthere are a
lot of images of musicians and dancers. Overlay techniques are used to
create unusual, intriguing images combining different video clips.
The slide show also gives a procession of images, but your reporter was not
able to view them, so youíll have to go to the show to see them. The
interesting thing here is that you will be able to walk into the slide
images. A camera taking video of you will be superimposed over the
background of the slide image. In this way the audience, posing or dancing,
become part of the exhibit on the wall.
The musical component of the show has even more facets than the visual one.
There are stations where the visitor contributes something to an overall
sound collage. The stations are both separate, in the sense that you can
hear from a small speaker right next to you what you are doing at that
station, and parts of a whole, in the sense that visitors walking through
the space will hear sound from several stations at once. There will be
guides at each of the stations to help participants to explore the
possiblities of that station. The guides are Williams College music majors,
and local people from all over the Taconic Valley.
The thing that binds it all together is a station that McLean calls ìThe
Glue. It is a keyboard that provides drone sounds and overlay orchestras
that create a continuous sound over which the other stations add
specificity. There is a keyboard where a visitor can play bits of melody.
This station uses various echoes and delays to create an effect similar to a
round. In this way, simple melodic lines or even simple chords that you
play are transformed into something richer and more complicated. Near this
station is another one that does similar things with your voice. You sing
into a microphone, using pieces of music that are there to inspire you, or
singing songs that you already know. Then there is the keyboard which is
probably the centerpiece of the whole show, which McLean calls ìThe
Millennium Mixer. This keyboard has short selections of music ranging
from very early music on the left side of the keyboard to 20th century music
on the right side. Each key plays a different piece of music, and you can
play several of them simultaneously. As you can imagine, the possibilities
are pretty wild - playing Bach and Beethoven on top of african drumming, or
even just Bach on top of Beethoven. Trying out a few of these combinations,
I was surprised that they were not as dischordant as one might expect. Some
combinations are distasteful, others are surprisingly pleasing.
What the whole experience will be like when all of these things are
happening simultaneously in one room is hard to imagine. The combined
sounds of these stations are rich - perhaps too rich. One tries to make
sense of the multiplicity of sounds, and is either delighted with the
complexity or gives up and calls it chaotic. McLean has used all his
musical ability to find ways to have these disparate elements blend in a
pleasing way - through the drones and overlay orchestras, and through the
artful arrangement of the pieces on the Millennium Mixer. The suspense
here is to experience the mix and see if the combination of 1000 years of
music, the McLeans' formatting, and the audience input will create art or
chaos. But you have to come and experience it, participate in it, to find
out.
The show is commissioned primarily by the Mass. College of Liberal Arts in
North Adams, with additional support from Missouri Western State College,
Hamilton College, and MassMoCA. After its debut at MassMoCA, the Symphonius
2000 will be put on at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North
Carolina, at Missouri Western State College in St. Joseph, Mississippi, and
at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY.
The average field trip, taken by college students, consists of observing paintings or watching movies: the one we took on Wednesday was not of this sort. A hands - on experience with visual and audio art possess a new idea of culture in which many people do not realize its potential. One person can make a difference as we proved by changing the pace, the mood, and the thrill of life through art. All of these changes were done with the touch of a finger, the movement of the entire body and the expression of our voices. Everything we did had an impact on what we experienced.
Our eyes that were accustomed to light shuddered as we entered the exhibit. Lights dimmed in a sun-setting blue light expressed a feeling of warmth and calmness. immediately, our eyes ceased normal function and our souls guided us through the exhibit.
We were guided over to the exhibit entitled "The Millennium Mixer" where we could create our own variety of music with four different tracks of diverse music. The music of rhythmic heart beating from the pounding on African Drums was the first of our creations. From there, we created complete chaos with the combinations of the African drums, banjos and fiddles. This mixture placed us in a time when African tribesmen attacked the Confederates of the Civil War. Even though this never took place in history, we created one moment in time that it existed through our music. Anything is possible with music.
Venturing off from that station, a small spotlight appeared to our left. The pinhole sized views of ancient Rome and Athens grazed across an opaque wall. These visions briefly outlined the vast pillars of ancient buildings that existed during Ceasar's reign. Ceasar's powerful presence struck us with a great chill trickling down our spines. These chills brought us into agreement to move on and away from that location to the "MILLing in the ENNIUM."
At the "MILLing in the ENNIUM," bright, full moon light shown over a digital carpet with a black, curtained - off area. Across from the curtains was a screen in which images of temples, cathedrals and other images from across the globe. Curiously, I slid my right shoe off, then followed with my left. I ventured out into the light with a blindingly bright, quilted blanket and began to create my own rhythmic dancing ritual. My performance was transformed onto the screen in a bloody pigment. However, I was not alone. A kind-hearted lady with insane actions performed at my side. She and her red blanket danced gaily as I let myself become indulged in the art of the matter. The easiness of this station was proved by an elementary schoolgirl operating the computer that controlled the images on the screen. Anyone could operate these ideas and images of art.
After playing, childishly at the last exhibit, Tom and I strolled over to the exhibit entitled "Textures and Styles" to experiment with more music. We stood at attention in front of a keyboard that had the numbers from 1 to 53 across the top of the keys. Each key played music from a different time period. This timeline of music varied from ancient Greek music to the 20th century. Tom, the master of music, took the controls and combined classical music with short bursts of other classical pieces. When combined, they created a jungle atmosphere to liven up our souls with irresistible dancing. My hands flowed like the high tide at the beach with the rhythm of the beat. Uncontrollable movements filled me as I began to glide across the icy floor. Nothing was stopping me. I was able to escape back to my childhood days when I created my own sense of freedom. Free as a bird, I was in my own world that I belonged to.
We came back to reality to hear angelic voices singing at the next station. The title explains itself ("Sing Your Art Out"). At this exhibit, a program that echoed sounds distorted the texture of their voices. This vibration mirrored strings from a violin in an orchestra designed to allure lustful men without intentions. Our intentions were only to observe and possibly create our own sensual music. Tom did not participate in the singing, but I joined in on a round of "Row, Row Row Your Boat" with these angels. It was actually difficult for me to concentrate on my part due to the voices surrounding me. I was lost in their mesmerizing waves of righteousness. I could never return to normal now.
Our time at the McLean Mix was up and all of our faces dropped. This timeless experience was over and it was time to return to reality. We were forced to leave the world we created and journey back to school. What could we do now except remember the few moments that we were everything we wished to be. We changed in response to our time together experiencing life through art.
Other McLean Mix Links