Ushered in to a darkened room in a single line, as if to enter a ride at a theme park, the audience is seated on cushions laid in a wide circle. I lay back and rest my head against the soft backing. I’m breathing out the week, legs stretched and enjoying the bestowed gift of anonymity in the dark. The room falls silent, I feel relaxed, alone, even though I am surrounded. I am comfortable, I feel gentle in my body; I stop.
Projected on to a floating backdrop I am taken in to the tunnel of my thoughts, I’m lead to thoughts about death, the anxiety I have held on to fades and I am thinking that perhaps this is the space I am in when it happens. Should one be so lucky to know that they are dead and they could get to wander through a landscape of sunrise and sunset calmly until they understand ‘death’! Thoughts alternate and perhaps this is some type of hell? Am I stuck? The realising that you have passed in between the living and the dying without any more days to wake to. I think, did I appreciate my life, did I spend each day eating the landscape, or experiencing ‘happy’? The discord that runs between the parallel landscapes that is night and day. The wondering ‘where am I’?
en masse is part concert, part film, part installation and the creation of renowned recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey and filmmaker Marc Silver. I hardly want to write too much lest I say too much! It is an experiential piece, by which I mean – you really need to go, and sit, and watch, and listen, and go on your own trip. We can be amongst many and watch, but you won’t feel or think what I feel or think. In some ways it is like koyaanisqatsi translating as ‘Life out of Balance’ a 1982 film directed by Godfrey Reggio with music composed by Phillip Glass and cinematography by Ron Fricke.
en masse is a performance piece that came about from experiences and ideas based within nature. Silver says ‘We wanted to make a world that would hold you, yet one that also gives you space’. The music began as a series of improvisations and was responded to by six sound artists. Musical collaborators include John Rodgers Christian Fennesz, DJ Olive, Nico Muhly, Ben Frost, Steve Adam and Taylor Deupree. Each with a variety of experience, some working alongside Phillip Glass and Bjork, classical composers and others with the experimental fusion of sound, photography and architecture. The combination of Lacey, whose repertoire spans ten centuries, and the computer generated sounds creates an atmosphere of altering transformations that are unique to each performance. Redefining it as ‘electrocoustic’ they are able to wrap the audience in sound and movement.
This is a sensual experience and without being overt, en masse addresses themes like the impact of globalisation, individualism and consumerism. The subtle message of order in chaos is alluded to through the projected imagery of birds. The piece is as much about space as it is about the sound and the image, as well as, the collaborators and audience working together en masse. I don’t want to say anymore, because I really think it deserves what can only come from first hand experience. A refreshing piece that although is perfect at 30 minutes long, I wanted to indulge in the space for longer, as if returning to the mother’s womb – I did not want to leave to face the chaos that is life.
We’ve entered an open funding challenge with the Knight Foundation in the US. It’s ‘open’ in that it can be critiqued and enhanced ahead of the deadline, Dec 15th. If you have a few minutes and would like to support our project in East London, please have a read and comment here.
Having received hundreds of stories of resistance from all over the world, we’ve spent the last few months focusing on the Wall that is being built along the entire USA border with Mexico.
It is one of the greatest symbols of the divisions between rich and poor, and inspires a major investigation into the systemic causes of poverty and migration.
We’ve followed the death of one migrant and are currently seeking funding to expand the film to expose a global network of new Walls and the divisive impact they will have on all of our futures.
(Shot on the Canon EOS 7d with the Canon EF 50 mm F1.2L USM lens & Canon EF 14 mm F2.8 L II USM lens).
For the last few weeks I’ve been researching the impact of the Wall that is being built at the border between the USA & Mexico, and how it is leading to the deaths of migrants in the Sonora desert in Arizona.
‘There Are No Others, There Is Only Us’ is being shown as part of the Systems exhibition which explores the idea of borders and political, sociological and cultural systems, including the legacy of communism. It is about transition, change, positive forms of globalisation and rebellion - especially in terms of how they relate to music and culture. (19>25th October). The film can be experienced with the 9-minute film soundtrack made by Ben Frost, or with one of three commissioned alternate soundtracks made by Jacaszek (PL), Tomasz Bednarczyk (PL) and Denis Kolokol (UA).
Here’s a link to photos of the launch night.
Jamie Cullum ‘Pursuit Podcasts’ are live on iTunes from today. Subscribe here http://tiny.cc/9VQP7 for a unique insight into the album recording.
