About ANICCA: Impermanence of Light, Space & Self
CURRENTLY IN DEVELOPMENT. TO BE PERFORMED 2012/2013.
My goal is to research and create a video based installation performance titled ANICCA: Impermanence of Light, Space and Self. The multi-channel video projections will be part of an installation performance with motion sensing, dance and new music which will be performed in the Darling Foundry in Montréal.
Anicca (pronounced ‘aneecha’), the Pali word meaning ‘impermanent’ or the absence of permanence and continuity, is a term that expresses the Buddhist notion that all of existence is in a constant state of flux. Buddhist thought states that through our lives we experience suffering due to the attachment to all things impermanent, which leads to the idea that all beings are empty of a fixed, intrinsic self. To gain deeper insight into impermanence, many Buddhist practitioners will meditate on the mandala, most often an elaborate circular pattern created with paint and sand over the course of many days or weeks, which is eventually destroyed, effectively highlighting that nothing is ever permanent.
These concepts are the foundation for the project. The performance space will be comprised of 7 screens surrounding the musicians and audience. There will be 6 screens on either side of the space and 1 translucent screen on the ceiling, where the projection will be looped as a night sky/milky way to immerse the audience and allow them to enter a reflective and ever-changing space.
The music – a live trio of violin, cello and piano – is minimalist and directly inspired by impermanence, meditation and the cadence of breath. Dance, interwoven with the motion sensing effects, are the ideal mediums – both intrinsically temporary – for this performance. The dancers’ presence will remain understated, and the choreography will draw on the ephemeral aspects of light, space and self. Light, a symbol of the mind and its suffering, but also its wisdom; Space, drawing on the impermanent aspects of our environment and surroundings; and Self, which actually refers to a ‘non-self’, empty and consisting of various layers of illusory realities.
The 7-channel video projections will consist of images of dancers and treated footage that will manifest themselves as patterns in a video mandala. The mandala will slowly be created throughout the course of the video/performance, and then dismantled. Once completed, the video mandala will fill the 6-screens with multiple images, as if each screen is cut up into, say, 48 or 96 images (in turn creating 288 or 576 video boxes of image content on all 6 screens), which in turn will create the patterns of the mandala.
The content of the mandala will be based on 2 main elements: choreographed dance both with and without motion sensing (to be recorded in studio and among the public), and treated footage of inherently impermanent spaces such as motel lobbies, large plazas with lots of people, bus and train stations, along with shooting spaces and objects with particular colours (for the mandala patterns) and circular themes, as mandala in Sanskrit means ‘mystic circle’.
Dance will have a minimal yet charged presence during the performance. The live dancers will act as transitions between the projections, appearing and disappearing as the performance progresses. The performance will act as a microcosm of impermanence, intensifying the ephemeral quality of the experience for the audience.
The recorded motion sensing effects on the body through glow, line patterns and clouds of letters appearing to extend and interact with the body, will enhance the sensation of impermanence evoked by the choreography. These effects will continue to be considered during the research and creation period to see both how feasible and affordable they would be to use during the performance. If motion sensing becomes live as opposed to only recorded, the effects will be triggered by the dancer’s movements, and projected onto the screens.
The musicians will be amplified with 5.1 surround sound and ‘3-D’ microphones that reinforce the sound using a special arrangement to deepen the sensation of being immersed in the experience.
The composer will have written 7 pieces for violin, cello and piano – commissioned by Trio Fibonacci from Montréal. The order of performance/video projections (times approximated):
1 – Duo I, for violin and cello 20 min
2 – Solo I, for piano 15 min
3 – Solo II, for violin 12 min
4 – Duo II, for cello and piano 20 min
5 – Trio, for violin, cello and piano 30 min
6 – Duo III, for violin and piano 20 min
7 – Solo III, for cello 12 min
The 7 pieces of music that the video projections are based on are minimalist, with each piece divided into 16 gestures or ‘breaths’, with the space between each ‘breath’ becoming longer and more evolved as you move from solo to trio. The order of pieces for the performance reflect the non-linearity and circular aspect of human experience. The pieces are arranged into 3 solos, 3 duos and 1 trio. The solos reveal one layer of reality; the duos, the evolution of that reality; and the trio, an even deeper exploration into these realities combined.
Each solo has been paired with an aspect of impermanence. The violin solo has been paired with impermanence of light, the piano solo with impermanence of space, and the cello solo with impermanence of self. Each duo, musically and conceptually, is made up of the elements from the 2 solos, then finally the trio is comprised of the violin, piano and cello, thus incorporating all themes: light, space and self.
This project is supported by The Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, through the Film & Media department. I have been invited by the centre for a 7-week self-directed residency divided up into 2 parts. I will stay at the centre for 6 weeks from May – June 2012 with the goal of completing the edit for the multi-channel projections with Watch Out software on an Avid editing system. Then I will return for 1 week early October 2012 for final colour correction. There is a possibility there will be a performance / dress rehearsal of the show during this time. The official premiere of the performance would then take place at the Darling Foundry in Montréal end of October 2012.