Back in March, NS 2021 Residents located in various parts of the world (US, Canada, Japan, Thailand, Tasmania, etc.) were presented with the theme prompt “Fragile States”.
On Sunday September 12th @ 6pm PDT they will come together to premiere their first projects on the Nomadic Soundsters YouTube Channel. Click here to access the premiere.
All projects are a product of 100% virtual collaboration.
Program Notes
‘Beyond the Curtain’
This work emerged from our investigation of fragile states within and beyond our own lived experiences. We wrote a series of poems and short stories, weaving the characters and ideas into a narrative that relates both to us and to something greater. The spoken words in the work were written by Aine E. Nakamura. This text was inspired by the seasonal and temporal changes experienced in a body in recovery; the poetry acts as a translation of the essential solitude in life; the dream of attaining success and the realization through everyday errands and some pauses. Nakamura, along with Claire Igawa and Christian Preski, created audiovisual material that was edited and arranged by F. C. Zuke. Through this method, we constructed a narrative comprised of our individual stories and ideas. The photographs, videos, music, and sounds used in the work were recorded by group members in Japan and the United States, and their fluidity in travels. The visual aspect of the story is told through a web of branches, abstracted indoor settings, and Nakamura’s performance. An eclectic soundscape of vocal, electric, and acoustic sounds paint the complexity and ambiguity of a dreamstate.
What I wish to attain is
not footsteps
but the slightly red
light
that’s on my feet
I wish to say so
but I can’t
Will the journey itself save me?
The end of the journey
is
here.
Slightly red color
is one of my dreams
I wear my clothes of
red branches
and collect each of the sparkles
and give them to ants
Was it a laboring Nightmare?
I wonder, and
I clean the house.
The sparkles disappeared
or they are today’s
Meal
We would like to thank the Nomadic Soundsters staff for their work in organizing this exhibition and the residency at large. Christian Preski, songwriter for this work, would like to thank his dear friend from Taiwan, Shao Hui, and his late grandmother, “Me-Mom”, for their inspiration and guidance.
“Scrapbook Between Mind and Body”
We have spent the past several months forging connections, building a space of creative play together. Initially setting a collective intention to honor the slowness of process, this intention has taken a more precise shape as a reverence for the wisdom of the child’s mind.
When children play with blocks, they are not bound by visions or expectations of the final results. They simply immerse themselves in the joy of process and potential for constant assembly and reassembly. The following is a gathering of our creations from this time, our blocks, interwoven with recordings of intimate conversations and thoughts about fear, doubt, judgment, vulnerability, unraveling, recovering and healing. These are the common threads that weave through the conversations and creations, but each part may be in itself whole and an encounter leading to wonder.
We present this “scrapbook between mind and body” as a snapshot of the group’s process, one stage of unlearning and reassembly in the process of being Nomadic Soundsters.
Credits:
Braeden Doane, Olenka Kmak, Yifeng Yvonne Yuan, Ben Zucker
Spheres of Grieving: 3 vignettes
In Spheres of Grieving, we explored the concept of grief as an intimate emotional process, unique to the situation and the mourner.
Each sphere explores an emotional response to grief: the hard, the soft, and the rough.
In the final iteration of this work, we will encourage viewers to explore each of the forthcoming “spheres” in any order, facilitating their own unique experience of this artwork.
“Ocean”
“Ocean” represents the Blue Team's first long distance collaboration and response to the writing prompt of “fragile states”.
The first music segment of the piece features Yunfei as primary composer, with additional elements added by Tang and Jeremy. The second music segment started with a generative composition provided by Jeremy, and was embellished by Yunfei. The third musical segment features the piece “Lost Letters” by Tang.
The choreographic elements of the piece were inspired primarily by the movement of the ocean, and was created through a series of improvisational explorations. The music inspired and influenced the speed and quality of the movement in the final piece, in addition to the desire to produce three properly distinct experiences for the viewer.
The dance footage and the majority of the ocean footage came courtesy of Sammy, shot on an iPhone. The short transition ocean shot and audio came from Yunfei (also via cell phone). Jeremy combined these with additional original footage of Pennsylvania streams. Video processing, done in Touchdesigner, includes audio reactive elements that determine how/when video clips appear, using an element of randomness (another reflection of fragility).
“(Un)Umbrella the Sky”
“(Un)Umbrella the Sky” Is a video, dance, and fixed audio project by the Orange Group. The work, based on an original song by Christian Preski, explores themes of social justice, ecology, and the loss of indigenous persons' heritage and identity. The video realization of this work includes the manipulation and processing of the choreography and dance of Sammy Gerraty.