Graveyards and Gardens
With this work, Vanessa Goodman and Caroline Shaw offer many pleasures, but two are of special note. Firstly, there is the chance to see a visual and sonic album emerge before one’s eyes: what these two artists make will live on, and this live-streamed genesis is, among other things, a powerful display of the creative process.
The second pleasure is a unique, revelatory melding of movement and sound. In Graveyards and Gardens, what is heard and what is seen do not merely complement each other, as they might in a more conventional dance performance; instead, they are fused in such a way as to make their effects seem indistinguishable.
The performance takes place among 400 feet of orange sound cables and an arrangement of plants—nature and technology being another synthesis the artists explore. Things begin with a long passage featuring an array of sounds—some come from tape decks, some from a record player, some from old Edison wax recordings.
This auditory wash slowly diminishes until only one part is left; the energy then shifts, and dance mixes with music until they become one. Entrancing, enveloping, and ultimately liberating in its innovations, this is experiential art at its best.
Main Image: Graveyards and Gardens, 2020. Photo: David Cooper.
Graveyards and Gardens Trailer
Dates + Tickets
THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2021 & FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 2021
| LIVESTREAM | 4:30 PM & 7:30PM (PST)
EMPAC Spring 2021
Season
Co-produced by Vanessa Goodman & Caroline Shaw
Presented by Music on Main and PuSh Festival.
Co-commissioning partners Music on Main and The Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (EMPAC).
Created with the generous support from The Canada Council for the Arts, British Columbia Arts Council, Lēna, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Action at a Distance, SFU Woodwards, The Scotiabank Dance Centre, and CCOV.
This co-presentation has received generous support from the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association.
This co-presentation has been generously supported by Jim and Lisa Peers and an anonymous sponsor.
EMPAC Spring 2021 presentations, residencies, and commissions are made possible by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, with additional support from the Jaffe Fund for Experimental Media and Performing Arts; National Endowment for the Arts; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts; and Vlaamse Gemeenschap, department of Culture, Youth, and Media. Additional project support by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; New Music USA; CCS Bard; National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund; Creative Capital; the Graham Foundation; and the National Culture and Arts Foundation, Taiwan; Music on Main and PuSh Festival (with support from the Canada Council for the Arts, British Columbia Arts Council, Lēna, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Action at a Distance, SFU Woodwards, The Scotiabank Dance Centre, and CCOV, as well as the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, Jim and Lisa Peers and an anonymous sponsor.)