Intermedia is information {comma} expression {comma} building.
Reflecting back on my first lab, I feel that I was very stunned by the ability to create and the tools at my fingertips. I had never worked in the medium before and was not very knowledgeable about what it necessarily was. I had seen a few Intermedia performances from students in department and was completely amazed by the ability to create a fully dimensional and immersive performance and by the many composition possibilities. I do not consider myself a choreographer – I find it so hard to express ideas through movement and adding infinite layers of possibility through multimedia seemed overwhelming. However, I was intrigued by this course, and I am very excited to learn how to create in different ways this semester. There is interest in seeing what I am able to do when bringing in aspects of digital technology and visual media to dance composition and seeing what channel opens for expression. Already, I have seen exponential growth with my knowledge in use of technology and artistry in correlation.
One of the ideas presented to me in this class was the idea of digital doubles and portraits. I viewed reference videos of significant intermedia works relating to the idea of a digital double, and one that stood out to me the most was Lucinda Childs’ 1979 collaboration with Sol Lewitt and Philip Glass “DANCE”.
I think that I found this work a great example of using dance to portray memory and history. Current dancers were juxtaposed against projections of past dancers in the work, and it created a world where both past and present could exist in the same environment. A universe was created where the dance was immortalized and celebrated. I think that the use of projection, large scale, and repetition of movement on different bodies helped to create that world. These ideas were what I mulled over in creating my collaborative study in creating an exciting and engaging space for the dancer and audience.
In my first study, I focused on portraits. To me, a portrait represents the subject and their identity through the creator’s vision. A self-portrait is personal and takes a certain amount of generosity. There is an openness and awareness to sharing information about the subject – sharing glimpses of the self. An exercise that was practiced in class was directing and being directed to display portraits of us. My partner Laura directed me in a phrase derived from my own improvisation and created something that I felt was truly authentic to who I was. This phrase was used to develop my portrait in my study. Later, I shared some visual references in a gathering that were used to shape the intermedia elements of my portrait in the study. A common theme is most of my references is light (specifically sunlight), nature, and pinks. Laura helped in designing the lighting for the scene, using pinks and creating shadows; using things that I have shared to better create a frame for my portrait to live in.
In lab, my group focused on taking from interesting elements discovered in our first lecture. One of the main foci for our study was working with our digital double through projectors, live-feed, and feedback loops. We used what was at hand to us: projectors and cameras, Isadora, the lighting board, gathered videos and images, a microphone for a sound score, and a white sheet as a projection screen for the top-down projector.
Marissa Thomas 