Department of Geography and Planning“I like being inside the barrel and hearing what’s in the sink.” -Lindsey
“The objects all have spirits: some are animal, some are human.” -Ashaya
“What I like best is that each object is a found object: each one had a life before being here – it has a story.” -Jeff
If I was asked for any reflections on the experience of helping to co-create David Tudor’s Rainforest IV, I think I would have to start by highlighting the involvement of the H’art Centre, a place that fosters “Inclusive Arts for All Abilities.” The first half of the two week intensive was held at “The Mix” in the H’art Centre; H’art participants came to visit us and offer feedback and insights as we experimented with software and built relationships with ‘things,’ most of them in the category of ‘discards’ from around Kingston (a bathtub, a mangled shopping cart pulled out of the Orchard Street marsh, a rusty Goodlife barbell bar…) while doing our best to make sounds for each of them. The group from the H’art returned for the exhibition at the Baby Grand (14th – 22nd July) and spent a good long time reconnecting: you can glimpse some of what they shared with us in the quotes above.
Not all the objects were exactly in the “found” category. Dr. Laura Thomson generously offered some Arctic field gear items and vintage science equipment for us to experiment with. Three items ended up in the final exhibition and I had the honour of working with her ice drill (and discovering the surprising importance of styrofoam to open up its voice). Laura immediately understood the gesture of the piece: “it’s like asking an object, ‘What sound resonates with you?’” which is exactly right. The objects are the focus and after a lot of working and reworking with them, their performance is what Village Voice music critic Tom Johnson said of Rainforest IV’s debut fifty years ago: “instead of using loudspeakers, [the sounds] are fed into various objects, which resonate in their own ways.”
Two days after the live performance on 13th July in Kingston’s Baby Grand with all thirty objects and twelve co-performers (including undergrad geographer and artist Sarah Jihae Kaye), Dan School music professor, Dr. Matt Rogalsky, workshop co-leader and expert on the work of composer David Tudor, hosted an international online discussion on Rainforest as a “space of generosity”. The theme (chosen in part because in 1973 Tudor decided to “give the piece away” to his young workshop participants, who went on to perform it internationally) was surely resonant for everyone who participated in the caring process of the workshop where guest listening was valued and everything was done collectively. In GPPL, thanks to all of you who came out to listen and touch things, especially the little ones Amira, Juniper, and Henry! You knew what to do! A special thanks to our first installation docent, graduate student Sandra Yaacoub, who has been enthusiastic about things sonic since GPHY 101 many moons ago, and to undergrad Erin Rendell, currently with the team on Axel Heiberg Island, for sending us field recordings. The sound of the twin otter that left her there for 5 weeks became part of the vibrational mix pouring into the watering can (and therein lies a tale for another day….).
-Laura Jean Cameron
Cymbal with Juniper
Ice drill with Amira and Gen
Milk jug with co-performer Sarah Jihae Kaye
Workshop group shot with Sarah center front: suitcase with Matt and parabola/watering can with LJC in back
Door, postal box, barrel and shopping cart with Michelle, Kristina, John, and Laura Jean