Saturday, June 14, 2008

Day (6) - K (2) or Workshop Space

Trying to be engaged at multiple levels with the space I ventured a quick peak at the Berlin Biennale, I already had a long conversation with Lillibeth, who already went there, and she told me it was very disappointing and filled with "reenactments"!
This sounded funny enough from the master of reenactments, but I understood what Lillibeth's point when I went there myself.
In the schizophrenic weather of Berlin, I rushed to the HKW, to find that plans were underway to pick a place to "perform". After little debate, it was decided it would be K (2).
In a seconds the space was transformed in a workshop with everyone "setting the stage" in a way.
The idea was, on Sunday, when the lab is opened for public, K (2) would be a "stage" where a certain kind of process will take place.
The process entailed simultaneous vocal improvisation along with moving clothes from Erin's piece. Erin describes it as the "chorus" for the vocal improvisation. Yet we were wondering, how will color translate into Shawn's system. Since Shawn does not deal with color, he deals with image in black or white scale.
However, the moment Erin took out her pieces, accessories and magnets, endless possibilities of interactions ("engagements") with the medium sprang up!
Eleonora constructed a magnet-studded mic, which she called "allergic mic". Thomas followed, and then a vocal warm-up took place.
Shawn's setting up his system took a while, meanwhile, everyone plugged their music in. There was Eleonora's Samba, and Hooman classic Persian music. While Thomas provided background sounds of magnet play.
Then Erin started scattering little rare earth magnets, sphere in shapes, Erin diligently started scattering them, then she started moving them with a metal rod, till all they gathered up, Brian then picked them up and started throwing them at Thomas who tired to catch them with his mic.
Hooman then suggested to choreograph a little routine of throwing cushions and "fornicating" with them.
And before anyone knew it, three actual processes were created. Each with its own rhythm and aesthetic content.
Yet Shawn found it too problematic to integrate Erin's pieces into his system, it would take too much time to start working with color on such a short notice. The decision was then set that Erin's pieces will have to be dismantled, as their existence at this point will only be decorative, which was not their intended function.
The "process" was timed at 30 mins, people would enter the space and set their mobile phones at 30 mins, put them in the center and once the alarm sounds off, the process ends!

No comments: