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Gateway to Washington Art
Entering the dimly lit theater the audience sees the image of a nocturnal cityscape projected across the top of the stage. Apartment windows pulsing with blue television light, the outline of a satellite dish on a rooftop. Faint sounds of crickets blend with distant car horns. Below, and separated from the audience by a scrim, the silouetted performers move as if doing mundane activities in their rooms at night. As the sounds increase it becomes apparent that they are being created live on stage. Suddenly an animated figure interupts the city scene, video pirate-style. He is answered by a different character on another screen. They seem to be stand-ins for the performers, digital puppets, interacting in a virtual world on-line. We launch into "Cathode Ray Tribe" in which samples from the TV world and the real world are elements to be played and played with. The performers remain behind the screen during this movement, at times appearing as live manipulated video images to give the sense of the anonymity and disguise afforded by the internet.
"Aria" is a composition by John Cage, sung here by soprano Mary Myers. The musicians play Cages' "Fontana Mix" as accompaniment. The text of "Aria" employs words from five languages, as well as vowels, consonants, and a variety of unmusical human sounds. Myers performs the piece using a variety of vocal techniques, and a costume change (from a lion tamer with top hat, to green chiffon). A video projection by Dibble features old cartoon and newsreel imagery which is manipulated live using a video synthesizer. At times the synthesizer is reacting directly to the sounds coming from the musicians: pitch affecting color, and tempo affecting the frame rate of the imagery. On another screen an image of John Cage appears, created by Woodman using Mandala virtual reality software. The percussionist, Mike Wingo, reaches up into the image to "play" the eyes and ears like a drum set (sounds are emitted via MIDI triggers).
"American Values" features more use of the Mandala system programmed by Woodman and Wingo. Wingo navigates through a wide variety of images on screen using his bare hands in thin air. Cowboys emit gunfire sounds, a line of men sound like cowbells. Meanwhile slogans from toy, car and political ads form a chorus in sync with images appearing on screen. American themes are depicted ending with a "station sign-off" featuring the U.S. flag, blending with a TV test pattern.
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Contact & Pricing Information
Gateway to Washington Art