Above, exploring sound with When There Were Birds i
WHEN THERE WERE BIRDS began as a sculptural installation for the April 2019 inauguration of Jane Street Art Space, NY. Six months later it developed into a collaborative performance with three musicians - Iva Bittova, Steve Gorn, and Timothy Hill. The initial installation and sonic explorations are captured in the video above and also in the short film After the Birds . Our collaboration ultimately wove the trio's improvisational music, my own choreography, and several poems by Jane Hirshfield and Eileen Myles spoken by myself with the thirteen suspended forms into When There Were Birds (ii), a single sold out performance at Broken Wing Barn. We made use of the late afternoon November light that shafted through the clerestory and skylights. The feeling of the 280 year old barn and the farm to table meal that followed brought an intimacy to the project I hadn't imagined. I am especially grateful to Greg Cornell at Broken Wing Barn for his support of this project. When There Were Birds (i) and (ii) were supported by an Emergency Grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts and an Individual Artist grant from New York State Council on the Arts/Arts MidHudson.
