OUTSIDE THE BOX

modalities for creating site-specific and immersive art and performance

  1. exquisite corpse perfromance

a group piece exploring multiple sites and unique interpretations of the same creative directions

Caption: A collaborative effort with Alexandra Palocz.

Inspiration: And So Say All of Us - 52 choreographers & 1 dance, a performance commissioned by Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Lessons: In this performance I’ve learned to think of what it means to create within a site responsive setting, which refers to the idea of artists responding to the space in which they’re choosing the create their work. It is primarily the space that inspires the artist’s work and when the work is in dialogue with the narrative. Link to inspiration video: And So Say All of Us,  Mitchell Rose BAM commission.

Creative Direction:

Each artist choose your own excellent site-specific location with natural light in which to place a solo performance. Create a solo performance that lasts for 4 counts of 8. Include these ingredients:

  • this MUSIC as underscore:

  • a first moment that directly responds to the previous artist’s final moment (except for the 1st artist in the chain!)

  • your body moving in space (can be as pedestrian or stylized as you like)

  • a surprising entrance

  • a moment exploring a strong visual composition that frames yourself within the architecture of your site

  • an unexpected moment that reveals a bold color choice

  • an oversized, repeated gesture of love or welcoming

  • a chaotic moment of “letting go” followed by a grounded moment of stillness

Record yourself performing your solo performance onsite, taking full advantage of your chosen site’s composition captured in frame on your camera.

Pass your video on to the next artist in your group, so they can start their piece in direct response to your final moment. They will then add their piece to the chain before passing it on to the next artist.

2. SPACE BECOMES PLACE

an installation bringing storytelling to new sites - a curated journey for one person

Caption: Brooklyn Borough Hall Experience Design

Lessons: In this performance I’ve learned to seek a found Space and transform it into a Place. I’ve learned about a site, learned how to feel a space, not to think too deeply what I’ll do within the space but let space and the objects existing in the space direct my curiosity and creativity; the space is the seed.

I’ve identified 4 stations within the space and directed Joyce to pay attention at the things I wanted her to notice within the environment: the writing on a monument, the light, the architecture, the people and her own presence / direct experience of the space. With the entry / exit points of the experience, the “stations”, the background sound and directions, I invited Joyce into my world and into this space through a new window of interpretation thus turning an otherwise familiar place as a passerby, into a personal place intentionally designed to become a lived experience.

Creative Direction:

SCOUT. Seek evocative atmosphere & narrative potentiality- sites ripe with possibility for response or interrogation. Choose Spaces that conjure a sense of Place.

TAKE TIME TO WITNESS YOUR SITES. Take field notes.

  1. What do you see? what story does the space tell you? What is its dialect?

  2. Note any found objects, human tagging, energetic residue. Let them to talk back to you about their secret life in this place.

IDENTIFY NARRATIVE POTENTIALITY. For each site document: Snap 4 raw documentation photos of 4 compelling found compositions you see that already exist without your intervention (for ex: amidst architecture, object, figure, light, image)


CREATE YOUR INSTALLATION. STAGE 4 TABLEAUS. 

  • Style/Fabricate these 4 compositions using only what is found onsite + whatever you have on your person. Explore scale & proximity/distance. Document. 

CURATE A JOURNEY for an intended viewer

  • Feature your 4 tableaus on this journey

  • Define a beginning & ending to curate a clear and compelling "entry" & "exit".

  • Let music underscore this journey

  • Feature recorded sound of you speaking any favorite excerpt(s) from your field notes, treating as "found" text as you artfully repurpose your language.

The whole journey experienced should be 2 minutes in length.

These projects are results of examining the work of artists who challenge the limitations of the physical, psychological and transactional spaces that have come to define conventional production models. The sites and practices explored in these projects de-center script/text as spine, institutional space as gathering place, linear storytelling as narrative, and separation between audience and artist as social contract. Through group performance projects and presentations, we investigated how Site evokes Narrative and Event differently in brick & mortar, virtual, historic, liminal, dead, found, contested, democratized and community spaces. Our work unpacked the challenges and opportunities presented when we relinquish creative control of such unfixed elements as serendipity, impermanence, improvisation, audience agency, public space, weather, and pandemic. It is creativity outside-the-box.

Experience Includes: Audio for sound walk (recording on music of Andi describing the stations and what to pay attention to), a flashlight (to give to Joyce), and headphones.

Entry: Land Acknowledgment

Moment of silence to acknowledge we stand on the land of the Lenape people.

“We acknowledge the Lenape people, the first inhabitants and caretakers of the unceded land of present day New York City, on which the Brooklyn Borough Hall is situated and where many of us live and work.

We acknowledge the Lenape people’s painful history of genocide and forced removal, honor their ancestors, and pay respects to their continued present and emerging presence.”

The Four Stations

Station 1: Statue Support

Joyce, imagine you are entering a temple where you are going to learn something about you… We’ll walk up to the statue and stop in front of it.

Station 2: The Statue

The words accompanying this statue are Dr. King’s words: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do; Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do.” This face is your face looking up into the light, you are becoming one with it.

We’ll continue our walk towards the top of the stairs and stop in the middle of the stage overlooking the plaza.

As you walk pay attention at the traces people leave behind, things they left intentionally or perhaps forgot…

Station 3: Top Staircase

[turn of the light of the mind, take a deep breath, and relax…]

Now that you are here, look all around you, take in all the expanse in front of you, let it fill you. Feel how big you become, how spacious.

Look at your feet and see all the writings, feel how people want to be remembered and seen, as if a call to us that they matter.

We’ll continue our walk by going down the steps to the side of the building and stop in front of it.

As you walk feel how you too leave a trail behind with each step you imprint on the ground. Make it your intention.

Station 4: Front Court House

Look up at the incredible architecture in front of you. Reflect on what it takes to elevate a building like that: the labor, the creativity, the community, and the gift it became to us.

Feel how little we can be too. Yet, know that your light is never dimmed because of it.

We’ll return to the place you began your journey, to step back onto the cornerstone that is there for you!

Closing [the circle]: Statue Support

We’ll express our gratitude to this land, to all who came before us and those who are yet to come.

Joyce dear, you just made this space into a place by your mere light of awareness, of presence, and being.

Thank You!

3. dream dramaturgy

Sam’s Dream World Recreated

Caption: AI generated images/short videos (3 sec snippets) through Runway ML and edited in Premiere Pro. For a presentation with sound see below.

Creative Direction:

As an interpreter of your partner’s dream world, answer:

What is the nature/essence of the dream world your partner described?

What are the most important elements you must communicate to us so we understand

the rules, look, feel, sound, smell, taste, energy, mood of this world?

Create a 4-image inspo character/world building Dream World Mood Board for your partner’s dream.

Images to include:

  1. Architecture-what would be an appropriate site for this dream?

  2. abstract/strong color-what is the palette?

  3. a central figure-whose POV is this from?

  4. visual art-brain candy!

Caption: Sample of images and color pallete.

Caption: Inspiration - Glenn Kaino Forest Installation

Caption: Sam’s Dream Map Installation

Caption: Researching Sam’s dream from a script of our interview and drawing on inspiration.

Summary and Keywords:

  • early morning, crisp air, forest, path streaming down, a trail in front of me, some indication that there was a destination, there was a ‘hole’ or something, a sense of moving on but could never reach the destination.

  • seeing trees go up to no end, looking down couldn’t see my feet, yet a sense of “moving forward”.

  • mystical, misty, foggy, dust floating in the air, fireflies; there was an indication that “something was going on”; tried to grab / touch the trees around me but it was like grabbing on to thin air.

  • sound of steps through the rocks and dirt yet visually blurry, can’t see my feet.

  • the dream was conscious and aware of me being in the dream, curious to linger to explore the world

  • dream was linear, can’t go back yet not go too fast forward either, it was going with a certain speed, “continuous and very stable”, “forward moving”;

  • it was “very calming”;

  • it was foggy, very mystical - that enhanced my curiosity, yet “I could see things around very clearly”, and i know “there was something going on”;

  • after the dream the state of mind shifted from overthinking to “i’m just going to see how everything goes with the flow” and I would see “my life experience as an adventurer”, “let’s see where it goes”.

Taylor Swift “Willow” Song Summary:

she emerges from a hole in the tree walking downstream towards a body of water, forest, magical world, water, reflection in the water, night time, mist/fog, mystery, a golden thread linking worlds and timelines, circus, house, snow, mountain, people with capes, moonlight, end she’s walking out the house with ‘her man’ into the forest and into the light (backlit).

Step Two - Interpretation:

CONTEXT: Sam was going through a time of transition where important decisions had to be made, things that would decide the trajectory of her life. Those kind of moments can be debilitating and ridden with anxiety.

When her father came to visit, she felt the support and the release of her tension as there were two of them holding the load of this crossroads decision. She was able to sleep again and allow her subconscious relax and process those emotions giving Sam a sense of direction and insight.

Her ritual of listening to music as a relaxation and meditative practice provided the perfect entry into the dream where she could resolve the conflict and find insights into what to do next. The song provided the perfect archetypal imagery and journey allowed for a child like exploration (curious) and for better (easier) integration of insights into Sam’s conscious mind. Sam’s dream played on the visuals from Swift’s music video and provided that magic in which Sam could be curious and explore this difficult milestone of her life as (1) ‘an adventurer’ and (2) without overthinking it.

THE DREAM: The dream speaks about a forest, misty and mysterious atmosphere filed with dusty particles floating in the air and fireflies indicating that “something was going on”, meaning the dream was alive for Sam, her reality was real and important.

There was “a hole” somewhere in front of Sam, i take it as a kind of an opening or doorway into a different world where things are resolved, akin to Swift’s shifting through worlds where she is seeing ‘her man’ only in reflections on water, touching him through glass, dancing around him only to walk away bc he was wearing a mask, yet by following the golden thread “moving forward”, she did find ‘her man’, and in the end of the song she’s walking out of the house with him holding hands into the light. Sam is “moving forward” in her dream but “at a certain speed”, “a linear journey where there is no way back”. In Sam’s life that translates as she is on the journey to the next thing in her life, looking for cues / following her dream (whatever that is) by following the “the golden thread” on “a trail, streaming down”, that will lead her ‘into the light’ - the accomplishment of her dream.

Image

Sam can see upwards, the trees growing tall to a point where she couldn’t see the end, pointing perhaps to the grandiosity and possibility surrounding her, making her feel both (1) uncertain [anxiety, fear, overwhelm] but also in (2) awe - the atmosphere around her of crisp morning air, mist, fireflies and dust was “mystical”. Looking down, Sam cannot see her feet, it’s “blurry” but she has a sense of “moving forward” and stable. It’s the perennial human journey from an archtypal and symoblistic point of view, where we can’t decipher the path, we don’t know what we are ‘stepping into’ yet we are ‘moving’. She hears the sounds of steps “through mud and stones” - pointing to the difficulty and the messiness of the journey. She cannot touch or grab onto anything because it’s evanescent, “it felt uncontrollable, like a very confusing feeling” - pointing to the state of Sam’s mind at the moment, where she couldn’t find her grounding and secure attachment to anything in her world, confused. Everything was uncertain and evading.

Image

Point of view was personal, “I was myself” - clear that it’s Sam’s journey. Sam was conscious and aware during the dream, she was exploring with curiosity, “there was a point where i could even decide the drill”, “i tried to linger in the world to see what happens next and what else i can see in that world.” Sam was in charge of her life even in this uncertain world she found herself in, her sense of curiosity and play awoke. The dream allowed her to step into her child like view of the world where everything was magical and possible. The dream was calming, continuous and forward moving - leading to a resolution, walking Sam into the light, the opening. Only now she was not rushing forward but was curious to explore the surroundings just where she was, trusting the way. The atmosphere was misty but she “could see things around her very clearly” - pointing that she was gaining clarity and steadiness with handling it all more confidently.

INSIGHT: Sam emerged from the dream, just like Swift walked into the light with her beloved, with a renewed sense of curiosity, where she no longer felt the need to overthink a lot of things (prior being an over thinker) - (1) “I’m just going to see how everything goes, with the flow”, and (2) “I’m viewing my life, or my experience more as an adventurer, let’s see where it goes.”

And now Sam is a graduate student at ITP Tisch School of the Arts living her dream, literally and metaphorically, and we get to witness the power of the dream world and our own psyche.

Caption: The sound from Sam's dream, Willow by T. Swift.

Caption: Willow tree. An internet sourced image.

Caption: Sketch of my interpretation of Sam’s dream.

Step Three - Look up definitions and metaphorical appropriations to the dream.

Definition of Willow

Willow - a tree or shrub of temperate climates that typically has narrow leaves, bears catkins, and grows near water. Its pliant branches yield osiers for basketry, and its wood has various uses.

What does willow symbolize?

Many, therefore, see it as inspiring and symbolic of humans' capability to withstand hardship, loss, and difficult emotions. Thanks to its long life and the ease with which new trees can be rooted from cuttings, the willow tree is also seen as a survivor and a symbol of rebirth.

What is willow the goddess of?

Hecate was a powerful Greek goddess of the Underworld. She was linked to the Moon and willow, and taught sorcery and witchcraft. Helice (meaning 'willow') was Zeus's nurse, and was also associated with water. Her priestesses used willow in their water magic and witchcraft.

What does the Bible say about the willows?

A willow is found by streams of water, and Psalm 1:3 says it “yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.” Our lives are a type of thirsty land that needs the strength of a willow near free-flowing streams.

Step Four - Include my presentation on Sam’s dream according to assignment.

What is the nature/essence of the dream world your partner described?

Mystical, hero’s journey, archetypal and symbolistic [the psyche resolved a riddle in Sam’s real life]. The dream is also somewhat conscious, as Sam could navigate it with awareness and choice.

What are the most important elements you must communicate to us so we understand the rules, look, feel, sound, smell, taste, energy, mood of this world?

The feel and mood of the world is magical, dream like [dream within a dream], sound of steps through rocks and mud, smell of crisp early morning in the woods, the energy is playful and curious.

Create a 4-image inspo character/worldbuilding Dream World Mood Board for your partner’s dream.

Caption: In Sam’s dream she is the central figure. Yet I imagine Sam in a position of a girl or a fairy.

Caption: Inspiration Superblue Miami Team Lab

Caption: Ballroom installation sketch, setting the stage for Sam’s dream in real life.

Caption: Sam experiencing her dream in real life. Imagery created with Runway ML. Projected video on the wall. Ambient scent, Palo Santo.

Step Six - Dream Map for Sam’s Installation

How do you conjure up the feeling of that entry, experience (in an associative fashion), and exit from the space? A lot of this is how you treat time function in this space.

diagetic sound (vs abstract sound) - a sound that conjures the feeling, maybe doesn’t have anything to do with thee dream… to trigger the essence of the sensory experience.

maybe scent, or visuals, or the weather… maybe the mist… maybe through another way too conjure up the feelings other than literal.

give it time it deserves - to the key moments. time, duration of the moment - v important

Step Five - Execution

location: either ballroom or outside park in the evening

indoors: for the ballroom experience have maybe stable diffusion projecting evolving images onto the screen - on the black drapes

lights: white light or green hue lights from the ceiling and dark otherwise

sound: footsteps on soundscape background to experience the world, not sure if I have to give any directions or guidance or reflection

mist/fog: i might not be able to recreate that

light: what can i have as lights in the park?

smell: diffuser with eucalyptus and / or palo santo

the door: a white light in the distance - how to recreate that in the park?

detail: golden thread on the floor or tied to trees

A cultural heritage immersion and multi sensory experience that invites the audience into the liminal space between man and nature, past and now, myth and real, appropriating the Great Wall as the spiritual power of the Chinese nation and therefore a symbol of how man can govern intention, interplay with nature, and manifest prowess into the physical realm.

Upon entering the audience is invited to take a pause. Then they write with a calligraphy brush on a paper that dries out a poem that speaks to the relationship between man and nature in Chinese culture. The audience can then pin their writings on the wall.

The second station is to watch a double sided projection (one side - images with the Great Wall of China, on the reverse - images on the art of calligraphy and symbols).

The third station is the ritual of tea drinking, engaging with the stones and sharing the tea with the ancestors and the elements of nature (rocks and the figurines symbolizing the creatures that are venerated in Chinese culture);

The fourth station is an invitation to sit on cushions and do a small meditation to integrate the experience and reflect.

The exit is a bow in recognition of each one’s presence and gratitude.

Each room had a light shift to create a mood specific to the emotion we wanted to elicit in the audience during the activities.

Team: A beautiful collaborative effort with Samantha Cui

4. History and the Now

a spiritual approach to the Great Wall of China

Creative Direction on the History & The Now.

  • Choose a SITE: In a country of choice, “scout” from afar a public location with a rich history.

  • Envision: a concept for staging a site-specific, immersive work there that embodies your vision for a transformed future for this place.

  • Identify: How is your piece in conversation with this site’s history?

  • Conceptualize: an immersive, site-specific performance or installation featuring:

    • found text

    • music

    • large scale imagery

    • multiple bodies in public space

    • landscape (think about horizontals, verticals, depth, distance, height)

Final presentations must include a real time proof of concept mockup interactive “moment” from the imagined piece, offering a teaser of what the experience might be like on location.

Process:

experience elements:

  1. water

    i. as the ephemeral element (past flowing into present and also future)

    ii. as a time stamp -leaving an imprint in the memory of the physical / environment

    iii. tea ceremony - a wedding between nature elements and man linked by water as container of the exchange

  2. stones as keepsakes - connecting to water as a physical symbol of the female energy (Yin) and the stone as the male energy (Yang), i.e. water is soft but strong that can cut through stone;

  3. incense - atmosphere

  4. sound/chanting - flute and poem

entry: intention / reflection / stone /

exit: tea ceremony

calligraphy of a word as a mark they both take with from the exp. and embed in the paper as a symbol to take with themm

mythological theory:


Harmony between man and nature 天人合一

The human body and nature are interdependent and interactive

  • (the veins?) of the mountain and Earth‘s atmosphere 

山川脉络与地气

  • li ji yue ling《礼记·月令》：“﹝孟春之月﹞天气下降，地气上腾，天地和同，草木萌动。”

  • Tai Chi：The endless life energy of the earth

  • Theory from Traditional Chinese Medicine：

This energy flows from the mountains and rivers, superimposes and interacts with each other through the veins of the human body, forming a noble spirit.

research theory:


Harmony between man and nature 天人合一 

  • Mountains are hard for others to attack

  • Mountains often provide wider views

  • Mountainous areas usually have abundant water and forest resources, which are very important for long-term defense and defenseNowadays it’s a symbol of the spiritual power of the Chinese nation

  • Reading different poems and books throughout history that have mentioned the Great Wall, people’s emotion and impression towards it has shifted.b

    brainstorming ideas:

    mythological vs real

    past vs now

    meandering pattern

    poems and texts: calligraphy style poems - ai generated, past and the context of now

    how would NOW fit into this?

    water as a medium of memory, flow of the construction, passing of time and the stone as a symbol of past connecting to now…

    harmony between man and nature - mountain and rivers

    man and nature - spiritual | man and nature - physical (man made vs nature)

    what emotions do we want to evoke?

    silk road - fluidity, spreading, exchange, enrichment, becoming something else (past and now)

    water yielding nature but strong in cutting through stone

    river (water) - connecting past to now. — the wall architecture (use as a symbol of durability, timeline, shape)

    common themes:

    harmony

    flow

    public location with a rich history

    staging immersive work

    looking towards future… transformed future for this place

    how do we reclaim the space (a contested space) how do we make it more harmonious

    history is baggage

    stories - potential for dissonance and conflict but also maybe harmonious and layered

Final"Installation for One" Presentation:

Curate a bespoke ghost of the dream “installation for one”, to be presented to your partner for them to experience in the middle of the night sometime before next week’s class.

How to create this “Installation for One”:

∙      Define the where of this dream world.

∙      Choose and curate a site.

Curate a dream site installation for your dream partner that will guide them from “location to location” on a tour inside their dream world.

∙      include 3 different locations, these do not have to be ‘realistic’.

∙      Curate invitation, beginning, middle and end, and entry/exit.

PROCESS:

Step One - Transcribe Sam’s dream and deconstruct:

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