Linked Verse

This residency supported a collaborative project featuring music by composer Jaroslaw Kapuściński and projections by The OpenEnded Group. The resulting work, Linked Verse, premiered at Stanford Live and was an evening-length concerto for cello (Maya Beiser), Japanese shõ (Ko Ishikawa), voice and surround sound from 24 speakers, and live 3D stereoscopic visual projection. A multimedia evocation of otherness and union that builds on tensions and accords between Japanese and Western cultures, Linked Verse explores ancient and contemporary eras and sensory modalities, both visual and aural. The work’s structure is derived from the ancient Japanese poetic practice of renga (“linked verse”) in which two or more poets take turns adding interlocking links to form a chain of unexpected associations. In Linked Verse, 3D scenes (captured on location in Tokyo, Kyoto, New York City, and the Bay Area) are linked and presented in counterpoint to the music