IDEAS Performance: Soldier |
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DESCRIPTION/ABSTRACT: "Soldier" is a collaborative duo between Porter and Jackson, who together create immersive cinema that encourages audiences to reexamine their positions within contemporary society. The work is an evolving installation that juxtaposes warfare and popular culture while exploiting the unique attributes of the Calit2 Theater to demonstrate innovative use of the space to new audiences. The dynamic audio reaches back to warrior chants of the past, while simultaneously evoking present popular culture. Video will appear on every wall of the space, creating an immersive environment in which viewers find themselves in the midst of battle immediately upon entry. Visitors will experience different phases of the theater of war. Both artists draw from their own personal cultural identities to communicate their messages to the public. Jackson and Porter aim to push the boundaries of new cinema, while instigating relationships between audio and video to engage audiences in a provocative way. SPEAKER BIO: Yvette Jackson has worked in theatre, radio drama, film, and other media for over 13 years. She earned a BA in Music from Columbia University, an MA in ’13 from UC San Diego, and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Music-Integrative Studies, also at UCSD (expected in 2016). Her current projects bridge her experience in sound design and composition with her academic interests in critical musicology and ethnomusicology. The result is the creation of long-form compositions that draw from history and examine relevant social issues. This was exemplified in two performances in the Conrad Prebys Music Center Concert Hall: Vernaculus I, performed by the Mark Dresser Bass Ensemble in Winter 2012 and Vernaculus II, performed by the Improvisation Ensemble of Anthony Davis during Spring 2012. Both works are sonic expressions of the catastrophic Middle Passage of Africans to the Americas. In 2013, these concepts were expanded with text-sound composition, musique concrete, and electronic techniques and performed-as-tape pieces in a complete blackout in the CPMC Experimental Theater. These were early prototypes of Invisible People (A Radio Opera), and the final UCSD performance integrated video and live trumpet. |