|
Desert(s)
(2005)
Desert(s)
is an abstraction of my experience surrounding the life and death of an amazing
woman, Mary Louise Knoles. The piece is in several continuous sections, notably
in the second section the pitches are derived from the letters in her name, a
later section includes the sweet and funny last voice message that I received
from her which I transformed to reveal the strength of a 5’10”, 170 Lb woman
who worked in the locked ward of a county mental institution instructing art,
played cards and French horn, drank beer, ate cheese and sausage and spoke
Latin. The dancer is the lovely d.
Sabela grimes. Amy Knoles
---------------------
Pretty
In Pink (2004)
Pretty in Pink was
originally written for a performance I had in Tashkent, UZ. Before the trip, in the news was word
of a terrorist bombing. I did some research and actually found that the
“terrorist bombers” were in fact an elderly woman and her daughters. The woman’s husband (the girl’s father)
had been murdered by the police for apparently no good reason. Having no chance
of survival as single women in their society they decided to arm themselves
with bombs, go into a large square and make a disturbance. When several police surrounded them
they blew themselves and the police up.
The dancer in the video is
Ceci Kirkpatrick (video was shot by Richard Hines).
Amy Knoles ---------------------
Sacred
Cow (2006)
Sacred
Cow was choreographed by Michael Sakamoto and is performed tonight by the
incredible d. Sabela grimes. The piece explores the historic, socio-cultural,
and personal issues underlying numerous sacred and profane forms of music and
dance from both Western and Eastern societies. Sacred Cow was commissioned by
the Meet the Composers’ “Composer’s Commissioning Music/USA 2006”.
Amy Knoles ---------------------
Wasteland (2005...essentially)
This piece came about as a sort of accident, or circumstance. I've always loved T.S. Elliot for his ability to bring
light to what I call the attractiveness of ugliness. Not in the sense of fetish or lust for the bizarre but finding beauty
in less than attractive forms, not unlike Charles Bukowski. The Wasteland and other poems had been sitting on my nightstand
for about a year, I picked it up around the same time that I was gathering source material for a VJ gig Richard and I had
with sound poet Boris D. Hegenbart, who had asked for some images of downtown LA, Richard had shot some for our "2x10" project,
I was also writing an interactive sonic environment/score for Collage Dance Theaters' version of Beowulf. I'm not entirely
sure what happened next but somewhere around 2 am it all became one piece.
Amy Knoles
---------------------
Follow Me (2004)
Is based on samples of the travertine walls at the new Getty Center in Los Angeles that suggested to me a Gamelan
tonality. While recording the walls many people passed by, this fit so well with the lyric written by Merrydawn Duckler for
the feeling of being alone in a crowded room in Sleeping with the Ambassador my collaboration with Heidi Ducker's Collage
Dance Theater, that I decided to combine the two for this piece.
Amy Knoles
---------------
Tricomatic (2002) Clay Chaplin
"Tricomatic" is a structured improvisation in three short movements.
The piece is freely based on the notion that human color vision involves three types of retinal sensory receptors.
In each movement, a rhythmic map, predetermined by edit points in the video, creates a "score" or structure for the soloist.
The rhythmic map connects the soloist with the temporal aspect of the video images while leaving plenty of space for improvisation.
The video images are not intended to provide meaning or a narrative, but are used to create the energy, mood, and space for
improvisation.
BIO
Clay Chaplin is a thirty year old composer and improvisor living in Los Angeles. He has collaborated on many projects
throughout the US and Europe involving contemporary sound and music, live video, improvisation, and technology. His recent
works explore improvisation with video in tandem with computer processed sounds and samples. Chaplin has taught in the Composition
New Media and Integrated Media programs at CalArts and was recently nominated for a Rockefeller Grant in Experimental Video.
Chaplin was recently a Composer in Residence at the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College, where he created, directed,
and performed with a six member video improvisation ensemble.
* I will be performing movements one and two tonight, AK
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Men in the Cities (1990/2003)
I was asked to perform a computer/ electronic percussion realization of the work of artist Robert Longo at the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art in 1990. I was instantly drawn to a series of pieces entitled "Men In The Cities" on a purely
instinctive level and after a closer look found that there were many ways to interpret each work. In this series, the figures
typify young urbanites, which seem to be simultaneously animated and vital or struggling for survival. Although no context
is presented to explain their twisted, contorted, and defensive moves, it is evident that they are subject to unseen and potentially
violent forces that determine their actions. Longo has described these young men and women as "doomed souls" and "fallen
angels". In deliberately omitting clear-cut causes for the figure's behavior, Longo provokes the viewers desire to know or
understand what is transpiring in these compelling pictures; we find ourselves wanting to supply missing details so we can
understand the larger forces that control these figures.
The piece was originally created on a Macintosh computer using the program "UP-BEAT", using slides of the images...now
I've programmed in "ISADORA" an interactive video version. When I play the mallet KAT, I can control what images you see
and how they are manipulated.
Amy Knoles
--------------------
Fear of Heights/Lying to Birds (2001-NOW)
Fear of Heights and Lying to Birds are the first two pieces in an on going series that Richard Hines (video) and I
are working on that explore the relationships of ambient sound to nature and nature to ambient sound...with some electronics
thrown into the mix.
Amy Knoles
-----------------
Immobiles Re-Mix (2003)
Mel Powell referred to his piece Immobiles as "Wallpaper Music" since it was for Mel unusually continuous. I wanted
to show how beautiful his wallpaper is, taking a virtual microscope to it. The piece has an electronic "Tape" part the score
is a circle of notes that any number of musicians can play starting anywhere in the circle but continuing clockwise only.
The EAR Unit recently recorded Immobiles on an all Mel Powell CD entitled SETTINGS, for New World Records as homage to our
dear late friend and mentor. Richard Hines photographed a water color/acrylic painting that Mel created in 1974, we put it
on the cover; it is a gorgeous example of Mel's breadth as an artist. This Re-Mix is an exploration of both the image and
the piece of music. I created it in the programming environment Isadora (by Mark Coniglio) where in the opening I traverse
the image with the mouse on my computer. So, for instance, When I move the mouse to the right the sound of the electronics
travel to the right (I should say right-ish since I have put it in 5.1 surround) and we see a view of the right side of the
painting, I can create loops of fragments and vary the length by mouse position as well, resting on visual and musical fragments.
Later in the piece I let the level and pitch of the ensemble change the view of the painting. Each performance is different
and dedicated to all the wonderful memories that I have of Mel and his music.
Amy Knoles
|
|
|
|
|