Torben, Angelina, Beth and Molly (taking the photo) enjoying a cup of Philz coffee.
This past December and January Angelina Baldoz and I (Beth Graczyk) traveled down to work with Torben Ulrich in San Francisco for an enriching four days of developing our work together and continuing the research for Cacophony for 8 Players.
Amongst the many voices of inspiration that Torben brought forth to discuss was french philosopher Henry Corbin (1903-1978) and his work MUNDUS IMAGINALIS (1964). You can access the full writing at a website devoted to Henry Corbin: here.
One aspect of many that I find inspiring about this work is the proposal of an intermediate space between the intellect and the sensual world, a space in-between the tangible and intangible. In an image saturating time, the proposal of the imaginal inspires me to play with the disintegration of a visual image into a feeling, sensation, sonic and kinetic embodiment. It also relates to the sensation of reading texts out loud, somehow lifting the textual image off the paper and digesting through the vocal cords, the body, allowing the words to vivify, potentially creating a momentary space where the the words loosen from static meaning and co-mingle with the sensual confines of a specific body in a particular place.
"For it is not necessary to strut about like a conqueror and want to give a name to things, to everything; it is they who will tell you who they are, if you listen, yielding like a lover; for suddenly for you, in the untroubled peace of this forest of the North, the Earth has come to Thou, visible as an Angel that would perhaps be a woman, and in this apparition, this greatly green and thronging solitude, yes, the Angel too is robed in green, the green of dusk, of silence and of truth. Then there is within you all the sweetness present in surrender to an embrace that triumphs over you." - Henry Corbin, excerpt of Theology by the Lakeside, 1932
At Vashon Island, one month later, Angelina and I enjoyed a residency with Peggy and Allie at a gorgeous location immersed in nature - both the woods and the water.
We continued with the idea of the imaginal with solo walks in nature, unleashing the possibility of observing by loosening the definitive borders of observer and observed. Opening up our bodies to sensual empathy for other bodies, be it a knob in a tree, a dirt corridor, a collection of pebbles, a chaotic intersection of branches, or the rippling of water over a rock. At the end of these observations we took some time to reflect on how these bodies "affect other bodies, or is affected by other bodies" (Deleuze on Spinoza (1970). We then generated simple written phrases to define these bodies in terms of affects or affections which we used as scores in the studio.
Here are some of the scores. To be used individually or paired.
To remain.
To drench.
Transparent yet cloaked.
Navigation, corrosion.
Gentle, persistant.
To tie together.
Illuminate shadows.
Follow the path repeatedly, but each time anew.
Shutter the air.
Enter as you leave.
Contours of stones, carving away at sediment.
Empty on the surface.
To change the speed of air.
Inevitably going, taking with and re-depositing.
To invite.
What is solid?
The outside reflecting what is inside. The bone as branch.
To curl & curl & curl & curl.
To change temperature.
Hardening skin, heavy, set solid.
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There are many more aspects of the residencies to share, but it is good to share in small nuggets.
As always, we are so grateful for the time to research and spend generative time together exploring these ideas.
A special thank you to Molly Martin, Joan Hanna and Karen Nelson for participation and generosity.
In other news, we recently became an associated program of Shunpike, a 501(c)(3), and were named the 2013 Visiting Artists for Performance Works Northwest in Portland, OR.
Amongst the many voices of inspiration that Torben brought forth to discuss was french philosopher Henry Corbin (1903-1978) and his work MUNDUS IMAGINALIS (1964). You can access the full writing at a website devoted to Henry Corbin: here.
One aspect of many that I find inspiring about this work is the proposal of an intermediate space between the intellect and the sensual world, a space in-between the tangible and intangible. In an image saturating time, the proposal of the imaginal inspires me to play with the disintegration of a visual image into a feeling, sensation, sonic and kinetic embodiment. It also relates to the sensation of reading texts out loud, somehow lifting the textual image off the paper and digesting through the vocal cords, the body, allowing the words to vivify, potentially creating a momentary space where the the words loosen from static meaning and co-mingle with the sensual confines of a specific body in a particular place.
"For it is not necessary to strut about like a conqueror and want to give a name to things, to everything; it is they who will tell you who they are, if you listen, yielding like a lover; for suddenly for you, in the untroubled peace of this forest of the North, the Earth has come to Thou, visible as an Angel that would perhaps be a woman, and in this apparition, this greatly green and thronging solitude, yes, the Angel too is robed in green, the green of dusk, of silence and of truth. Then there is within you all the sweetness present in surrender to an embrace that triumphs over you." - Henry Corbin, excerpt of Theology by the Lakeside, 1932
At Vashon Island, one month later, Angelina and I enjoyed a residency with Peggy and Allie at a gorgeous location immersed in nature - both the woods and the water.
We continued with the idea of the imaginal with solo walks in nature, unleashing the possibility of observing by loosening the definitive borders of observer and observed. Opening up our bodies to sensual empathy for other bodies, be it a knob in a tree, a dirt corridor, a collection of pebbles, a chaotic intersection of branches, or the rippling of water over a rock. At the end of these observations we took some time to reflect on how these bodies "affect other bodies, or is affected by other bodies" (Deleuze on Spinoza (1970). We then generated simple written phrases to define these bodies in terms of affects or affections which we used as scores in the studio.
Here are some of the scores. To be used individually or paired.
To remain.
To drench.
Transparent yet cloaked.
Navigation, corrosion.
Gentle, persistant.
To tie together.
Illuminate shadows.
Follow the path repeatedly, but each time anew.
Shutter the air.
Enter as you leave.
Contours of stones, carving away at sediment.
Empty on the surface.
To change the speed of air.
Inevitably going, taking with and re-depositing.
To invite.
What is solid?
The outside reflecting what is inside. The bone as branch.
To curl & curl & curl & curl.
To change temperature.
Hardening skin, heavy, set solid.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are many more aspects of the residencies to share, but it is good to share in small nuggets.
As always, we are so grateful for the time to research and spend generative time together exploring these ideas.
A special thank you to Molly Martin, Joan Hanna and Karen Nelson for participation and generosity.
In other news, we recently became an associated program of Shunpike, a 501(c)(3), and were named the 2013 Visiting Artists for Performance Works Northwest in Portland, OR.
We have our second residency, April 4-7th at PWNW. Thank you to Linda Austin and Jeff Forbes of Performance Works Northwest, and a big congrats to them for receiving a prestigious Seed Grant from the Rauschenberg Foundation.
Dancer Allie Hankins. Vashon Island Residency.
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