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From Span to Memory Trace

Gentle Gazzetta Readers,

As I write this, I’m listening to the audio documentation of the March premiere of SPAN, my recent collaboration with video artist Carole Kim. It’s nice to see and hear the work now that there is a bit of distance. Carole and I are busily editing and mixing the video from the live performance and hope to be able to post some of it soon. But I have to pull away from that task now and turn my focus to working on my new performance Memory Trace. I presented a work-in-progress version of this piece early this year at New Music New College in Florida, and I’m now developing it further to mount an intimate version at Royce Gallery (San Francisco) at the end of July in preparation for the full scale production at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in 2016.

On the heels of galavanting in Paris, London, Istanbul, Ankara, and Venice, I’m looking at a very full Bay Area summer with a fast approaching Luggage Store Gallery appearance, the annual Garden of Memory solstice event, and the Memory Trace performance run. After that, I’ll be off for an American Composers Forum/McKnight residency in Minnesota. Scroll down for details on these upcoming activities. Meanwhile, allow me to fill you in on my recent extensive art-making and traveling...

France, England and Turkey (Oh my)

I just spent nearly a month overseas in April and May. The “anchor” gig for that trip was a project funded by CEC Artslink that took me to Istanbul and Ankara to create a collaborative concert called Ses + Ses with Turkish singer Nihan Devecioglu. Before going to Turkey, I spent a week in Paris cavorting with my Francophile pal, filmmaker Sandra Davis. I ate lots of duck, drank lots of wine, and saw as much art as I could squeeze into the week. This included attending an evening of Brakhage and Brakhage-inspired films (curated by Sandra), a day at Le Lourve, and visits to Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain and Le Centre Pompidou.

I was also lucky enough to catch a performance by Laurie Anderson with Kronos Quartet at the Philharmonie de Paris. Laurie’s work was inspired by her experience following Hurricane Sandy, and she made use of a really nice piece of software that translated the notes Kronos played into rapidfire snatches of printed text on a large projection above. I also learned, when visiting with them backstage, that they had just been in Ankara – where I would be heading a few days later. It was great chatting with Laurie, members of Kronos and fabulously, Marc Ribot who was also in attendance. Sandra and I ran into him again on the Metro afterwards, and continued conversing in what felt like a scene from a Woody Allen film where unlikely people just keep randomly appearing.

Le Lourve was a joy, and I felt that I already had my money’s worth when we came upon the glorious newly restored Winged Victory. Meticulously cleaned and now gleaming white, the marble statue is truly arresting to behold. We spent a long time gazing upon her and then shamelessly trying to take artful selfies with her. I must say, we got in a couple of good ones!

One day that week, we made a day trip to London–taking an early morning train from Paris Nord and returning on a late train. We visited the Tate Modern, and then met up with another San Francisco-based pal – composer/instrument builder Peter Whitehead, who was in England for a school reunion. He graciously showed us around the town and then we had tea (with scones and clotted cream) at the tea room in the National Gallery.

Back in Paris, I was greeted by a charming surprise at Fondation Cartier where there was a Bruce Nauman retrospective. All the works were outstanding, but the most thrilling was an installation on the lower level. As I descended the stairs, I could hear a familiar tenor voice bellowing “Feed me! Eat me! Anthropology!” Just as I was thinking to myself “Sounds like Rinde,” I entered a room where I was surrounded by floor-ceiling projections of enormous Rinde Eckert heads – displayed upside down and right-side up on three walls, and on several smaller stacked CRT monitors –all chanting in full voice “Help Me! Hurt Me! Sociology! Feed me! Help me! Hurt me! Eat me!” It was an incredibly powerful work that I'd never seen before, though apparently Nauman made it in the early 1990s. Such a perfect crowning moment for my last day in Paris!

My first several days in Istanbul were spent sequestered in a tiny practice room at MIAM ITU University working up a suite of pieces (including a new work called Mind Mist) to perform with Nihan at the end of the week in Istanbul and then at Bilkent University in Ankara a few days later. It was strange to be in Turkey for almost a week before really getting to see anything, but we made up for lost time in the few days we had free toward the end of my visit. Nihan showed me a great time eating out, drinking raki at a cafe in a bohemian quarter, going to the Bazaar, visiting a beautiful Mosque, and getting steamed, bathed, scrubbed, and massaged at a hammam.

Venice Biennale Vernissage 2015

The final leg of my journey was a joyful visit to Venice to see this year’s Biennale offereings. It was the first time I’d ever been there at the time of the opening, and things were really hopping. The two main sites (Giardini and Arsenale) were just lousy with journalists and art-world people, as were all the vaporetti (water buses) and the little cobblestone streets of the city. I never saw so many people in Venice dressed (like me) in black with avant coifs and smart art-world shoes. For the first 2 days, I was surrounded by them, and then things settled down to more of the usual spectrum of people when the openings were done and the sites opened to the general public. One evening, on a vaporetto as packed as a rush hour A-Train, and I caught site of fimmaker/media artist Kathy Brew. I squeezed over to where she and her friends were assembled, and wound up spending the rest of the evening hopping with them from one Biennale party to the next–zipping up and down the Grand Canal in water taxis, drinking prosecco and cocktails, and laughing the night away.

There were so many great exhibitions. Some of the stand-outs for me were Camille Norment’s installation in the Nordic Pavilion, an amazing work of red string and brass keys in the Japanese Pavilion, Joan Jonas’ work (USA), a curious work with live moving trees (France), and Nina Katchadourian's installation in the Armenian exhibition on San Lazzaro. But there were many other exiting works all over the grounds and some very nice off-site exhibitions peppered throughout the city. I spent my entire stay looking at art and eating.

Back Home, Back to Work

When I finally returned to San Francisco, it took longer than usual to get over my jet-lag, but I've launched back into my work here – tying up loose ends of SPAN by editing and mixing the documentation, and hunkering down to create the new performance work Memory Trace.
Still from Memory Trace

And, as this writing comes full circle, I must leave you here, because I have way too much work to do. But, read on for the specifics of my upcoming summer performances...

Love,

PZ

PZ (Still from Mind Mist)

Nihan Devecioglu (Mind Mist)

Sandra & Winged Victory at le Louvre

Peter Whitehead having tea.

PZ & Joëlle Léandre at a
Montmartre café. (Les lunettes fous!)

Rinde in Bruce Nauman Installation

Camille Norment's Rapture in the Nordic Pavillion

Camille Norment and David Toop

PZ outside the Peggy Guggenheim

Kathy Brew & PZ with a friend in Venice

A graffito near Arsenale

I lucchetti dell'amore sul ponte dell'accademia

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