thirteen ways

Late Friday morning we chose our mode of transport (half enjoying the gritty New York-ness of the subway, half preferring the frenetic intensity of a cab ride through morning traffic) and headed uptown to the upper west side apartment of husband-and-wife team Tamar Muskal (composer) and Danny Rozin (visual artist).

The meeting was to go over preliminary details of an ambitious new multimedia work for our 2007/08 season. Tentatively pre-titled Sound Mirror (which will morph into something else, but probably still use the word “mirror”), all we knew about the project before the meeting was that it would hinge on the use of some of Danny’s movement-triggered computer-generated art installations.

I was a little nervous, thinking back to video/computer/music/movement multimedia performances that were both pretentious and profoundly dull.

The piece is to be in three main sections, linked musically by instrumental interludes. For each section, a different computerized “filter” distorts the image coming through a video camera. The first, referred by Tamar as “snow”, was in black and white. The image was like looking at TV static, and only when figures remained still did they gradually emerge from the “snow”.

Danny had a laptop computer set up of the kitchen counter, connected to a video camera which was pointed towards us. A bright light pointed in our direction. One after another, we all moved around in front of the camera: gyrating, stealthily creeping, striking various poses. There were lots of intelligent comments from 8bb members: “wow”; “cool”; “how awesome”; “bloody amazing”.

The second section is to be a slow, lyrical love duet between clarinet and violin. Here the “filter” turns the video image into a colorful spiraling vortex; like looking through the windshield of a car going through a car wash. The final section was to be a dance, mostly in 7/8 time. Piles and piles of colored blocks quickly built up only to be town down moments later – turning the video image into a lego city.

Tamar then played us some of her sketches in the next room – always a fascinating insight into a composer’s thought process. She seemed to have much of the music for the slow love duet already in her mind – the two solo voices gradually soar more and more passionately over an accompaniment of oscillating chords, climaxing in a tumultuous breakdown. The dance, mostly in F, explored simple, uncluttered harmonies.

What an exciting project!

The Kap, in front of the video camera, creating a cool computer-filtered image.

L to R: Tamar, the Phot, the Duv, the Kap, Danny.

Tamar playing us some sketches from the piece.