It is difficult to write a full review on Star Room by Maryanne Amacher since what we experienced this afternoon was an interpretation of her work by two close collaborators, Sergei Tcherepnin and Micah Silver. Another important piece of information is that the sonic material was planned to be accompanied by a projection/animation that was not completed due to Ms. Amacher death in October 2009. In short, this is not a review but rather my impressions on this amazing and unfinished work.
Star Room was a very intense an powerful experience. At moments I felt like the sonic material was treated as pure energy trying to lift up the theater with us in it. It was almost like a sculptural gesture - also important is to know that Ms. Amacher performs part of her work live - giving shape to massive bodies by moving them around, in all directions, through vasts distances. Listening was expanded until all my body felt the resonating physiognomy of the building contracting as a living being. Maryanne Amacher placed speakers in a room beneath were the audience was sitting, she named that space "the star room". The stars were literally underneath my feet.
We were told after that Maryanne Amacher was trying to create an experience were sound could be perceived as if we were in zero gravity, it is my humble opinion that she achieved her goal with great mastery.
Star Room was a very intense an powerful experience. At moments I felt like the sonic material was treated as pure energy trying to lift up the theater with us in it. It was almost like a sculptural gesture - also important is to know that Ms. Amacher performs part of her work live - giving shape to massive bodies by moving them around, in all directions, through vasts distances. Listening was expanded until all my body felt the resonating physiognomy of the building contracting as a living being. Maryanne Amacher placed speakers in a room beneath were the audience was sitting, she named that space "the star room". The stars were literally underneath my feet.
We were told after that Maryanne Amacher was trying to create an experience were sound could be perceived as if we were in zero gravity, it is my humble opinion that she achieved her goal with great mastery.
I agree that this piece certainly achieved it's goal of a zero-gravity feeling. What's more is that I became a bit... well, not quite frightened, but confused in a concerned way about what was happening inside my head throughout the piece. From the noises emitted from all of the speakers, I began to hear distinct tones and shapes that seemed to be coming from inside my head rather than outside of it. Some of these tones continued through the silences of the piece, and at one point I literally felt like my head was being physically lifted, just due to pressure differences, or some strange sonic event that was occurring.
ReplyDeleteUpon my return, I looked up Amacher's work and I think the tones I was hearing were results of a phenomenon known as otoacoustic emission.
On the point about the video - I actually think that any sort of visuals in this piece would have entirely ruined it. I felt that this piece itself (along with the two multi-channel double feature works) was actually a very "visual" sonic piece. The work was at such a level of mastery sonically that it allowed for each audience member to create their own personally meaningful imagery and to derive their own metaphors and conclusions from the piece. Discussions with others after Star Room and after the Multi-Channel... works confirm this.
Gustavo Matamoros, a composer and artistic director of the Subtropics Festival in Florida mentioned something to me the night before I went to Star Room which I thought was interesting and relevant to the piece. He talked about how sound was used by the church to convey the idea of omnipresence - imagine the sound of a chorus in a large reverberant cathedral, echoing all around you. That is omnipresence. In this same way, I felt like Amacher's piece conveyed this idea, or perhaps extended it, in that the sound did not only seem to come from everywhere around you, but also from within you; perhaps a more total omnipresence -- that is, if it's possible to be more complete than absolute completeness!