This past Friday I went to see Astral Converted at the Park Avenue Armory, my favorite art venue in the city. The choreography is by Trisha Brown, set design by Robert Rauschenberg, and music by John Cage. Quite a combination!
"...eight metal towers, two each in heights of 2, 4, 6, and 8 feet. They would be self contained and house all our theatrical gear, most of it from the auto industry: car batteries, headlights, stereo systems and sensors. The sensors were pointed to trigger the lights and sound to turn on or off when a dancer passed. Small control boards were added to achieve a degree of randomness to the dancer/sensor relationship."
"The costumes are shiny silver and white skintight unitards marked by white reflector stripes that augment visibility in the piercing striated lighting of the headlights. The women have a white triangular piece of fabric attached to the inseam of their costumes suggesting a skirt. Bob always differentiates between women and men. In this case they look like a species, both genders present, and out there somewhere in deep space."
Excerts from "Collaboration: Life and Death in the Aesthetic Zone," by Trisha Brown, an essay that appears in Robert Rauschenberg: A Retrospective (1997)
