Radiohole: Inflatable Frankenstein

My dear friend and talented costume designer, Kate Fry, took me to see Inflatable Frankenstein, by the anti theater theater company, Radiohole.  I've never seen theater like this before - messy, with no narrative, giant inflatable body parts, and messy gooey brains being flung towards you as the actors recite stories of Frankenstein and control the light and sound from the iphones they wear around their wrists. All in all, it was completely nonsensical, and I loved it. 

This image taken from the NY Times review of the show, found here. 

Astral Converted

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)

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale

On our class trip to New Haven last week, we stopped by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.  Its a building I have known for a while and studied in school, but this was my first time seeing it in person.  Seeing a building like this is a reminder to me of how important it is to actually go and visit these buildings we spend so much time talking about.  Looking at photos of a building versus walking around it, in it, getting a sense of the scale, smell, sound and temperature...there's no comparison.  I'm always interested in the fact that some buildings look OK in photos but amazing in person, and then there are some buildings that are really photogenic, but in person aren't that interesting.  (Other examples here and here.)  I was completely taken by surprise upon visiting the Beinecke Library.  Its simply beautiful.  The photos will never capture its full magical properties.   

It was designed by Gordon Bunshaft of SOM, and was a gift of the Beinecke family to Yale in 1963.  The large slices of marble you see in the photo above are actually so thin that they allow a small amount of light to pass through them, providing some natural illumination to the library and still protecting the ancient books inside.

See the light coming through the marble?

Looking at: Philip Beesley

My professor at school recommended I look at the work of Philip Beesley as a reference for a project we are doing in our advanced computing/digital fabrication/parametric design class, which you can read more about here.  He is an architect working in Toronto, but more interesting to me are his sculptures and installations, which are large scale interactive environments that incorporate programming and lighting to react to their surroundings.  (see video at bottom)  Philip, I'm coming to work for you!

 These first few images are of one of my favorite projects, entitled Endothelium, which is described as

"an automated geotextile, a lightweight sculptural field housing arrays of organic batteries housed within a lattice system that might reinforce new growth...The sculpture acts in the tradition of the marginalized mid-century American medical doctorWilhelm Reich, who said, 'all plasmatic matter perceives, with or without sensory nerves.  The amoeba has no sensory nerves, and still it perceives...The terror of the total convulsion, of involuntary movement, and spontaneous excitation is joined to the splitting up of organs and organ sensations. This terror is the real stumbling block.'"

Read more here.

Ryoji Ikeda: The Transfinite!

I went to see Ryoji Ikeda's show at one of my most favorite places to see art in New York City, the Park Avenue Armory.   The artist uses data, sound, rhythm, scale, light, and shadow to overwhelm the senses and create a complete environment - a world you are drawn into upon entering the space, in which it seems that nothing else outside of it exists.  I absolutely loved this show, and hope to see more of Ikeda's work soon!

Jazz At Lincoln Center: Lighting Part II

These photos are the counterpart to a previous post about an analysis of lighting in the Jazz at Lincoln Center complex. Click here to read part i. 

I've been studying the lighting design of this space as a case study for my lighting class in school.  These photos were taken in the Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame and the Atrium.

Fabulous Idea for Pendant Lighting

Click Here!

Jazz At Lincoln Center: Lighting

This is part 2 of my post about Jazz At Lincoln Center, my case study for my architectural lighting class.  Here are some sketches of the space - specifically the Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame - and how the lighting works with the architecture.

Columbus Circle Self Portrait

  

I look pretty angry in this photo, but I think its just because the sun was in my eyes. 

Jazz At Lincoln Center

I'm writing about Jazz at Lincoln Center for an architectural lighting class I'm taking right now.

Jazz At Lincoln Center

Architect: Raphael Vinoly

Lighting Designer: Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design

Open since 2004, Jazz At Lincoln Center is a complex that includes three spaces for Jazz performances, an education center, a Jazz Hall of fame, as well as flexible event space.  It is located at 33 West 60th Street, on the 11th floor of the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle, New York City.  While each of the three performance venues in the complex were designed to accommodate different performance and event needs, each venue in its own right possesses a level of flexibility as well.  

The Allen Room’s design is based on that of a Greek amphitheater and features a 50’x90’ glass window that provides views of Central Park and Manhattan’s skyline.  The movable structure and removable stage give the Allen Room the ability to host many different events.  The largest of the three venues, Frederick P. Rose Hall is considered one of the best places to hear Jazz music in the world.  It features movable seating towers as well as a stage who’s dimensions can be adjusted. The sound quality can be regulated to suit a variety of needs due to it retractable ceiling and acoustical banner and curtain system.  Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, the third venue, is the most intimate and designed specifically for live jazz performances while still being able to accommodate a variety of seating arrangements.  

One of the greatest challenges in designing the complex was to ensure that in a venue larger than most places one goes to hear jazz, that the feeling of intimacy and the connection between audience and musician would not be lost.  The lighting plays a crucial role in this achievement.  In Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, the venue I visited, I think that the lighting is very successful in achieving this goal.  The lighting is controlled in the warm cave-like space so that just enough is emitted to illuminate the musicians without making one feel as though they were surrounded by others.  It allows for a seemingly direct connection between oneself and the music.

Lighting Inspiration

In researching different lighting options for a project I'm currently working on, I came across some light art and installations that I like: