Rochester Knocking
The middle class home at the turn of the century includes numerous technological devices with which Americans developed strange relationships. As if trying to coax the phantom phenomenal specter from the mechanisms, surfaces, and wirings of the parlor piano, the living room radio, Kodak Brownie cameras, door hinges, and table tops, 19th/20th century American lifestyle cultivated a repertoire of gestures and sounds that transcend pure object-hood. Via psychoanalytic experiments with hysterics, human radio antennae, and vibration therapy, Rochester Knocking conjures the spirit of the silent film star, Louise Brooks, in order to lead a vaudevillian tour of real and imagined historical homes.
An Exercise Towards Rochester Knocking is a 50-minute musical prelude to the three-part multimedia project. The performance was mounted on May 16th, 2011 at California State University, San Marcos.
An Exercise Towards Rochester Knocking – Video Documentation
CREDITS:
Artistic Director: Monica Duncan
Associate Art Director and Music Programming: Ross Karre
Associate Stage and Technical Director: Neil Fried
MUSIC:
Ben Johnston: Knocking Piece (1962)
Eric Derr and Dustin Donahue, percussion
John Cage: Sonatas IV, V, IIIV (1946-1948)
Jeff Treviño, piano
James Tenney: Deus Ex Machina (1982)
Justin DeHart, percussion
Henry Cowell: The Banshee (1925)
Bonnie Whiting Smith, percussion
Martin Hiendl: to be the bell and then to fall (2011) premiere
Meghann Welsh, voice
DANCE:
Human Chain Acting As Radio Antenna
Christine Herde
The Door
Emily Aust
Performers on Video
Eric Derr, Eric Geiger, Karen Schaffman, Bonnie Whiting Smith
Lighting Operator: Andrew Reed
Audio Assitant: Matt Unwin
Technical Assistance: Chad Huggins and Albert Rascon
Video Documentation: Anna Chiaretta Lavatelli and Matt Unwin
Audio Documentation: Martin Hiendl