photo by the artists 
photo by the artists | Worldwide (1985-1989) |
|
Bow Gamelan Ensemble In several locations including Japan, Mexico, the island of Melbu in Norway and New York, Bow Gamelan Ensemble created new orchestras working with the detritus that each culture discarded. A scrap yard in Japan had multitudes of metal ladders which galvanised a performance that happened on many levels as well as huge containers which, when cut, became resonating chambers and megaphones that blended with the shipping at Ogi Port, Sado Island.Melbu had a redundant 20m high steel fishmeal storage tank which we used inside and out to explore eerie acoustics and the rare sense of working in pitch darkness. When the audience were inside the tank we drilled a hole from outside at the exact point the sun hit the top to allow a thick beam of light to shoot into the darkness inside. The harsh drilling gave way to a long silence for contemplating this concentrated beam in blackness. The huge height of the footing of Brooklyn Bridge in New York stimulated ideas including placing electric fans in the ceiling which whirled luminescent liquids in a spiral into the space covering us as we played metal and glass pyrophones. Mexico presented myriads of opportunity including finding a horde of brightly resonant pitch forks and the highly volatile varying mixtures of chemicals created by El Diablo, the shaman of fire, to whizz, whirr, crackle, sizzle, whistle, fizz, hiss and bang throughout the performance. Their performances boast a rare magic; scary, hilarious, alarming and also quite beautiful… Huge horn gramophones play four-foot records, littered with crushed glass. Squadrons of hoovers patrol the ceiling, plastic tubes writhing and manipulated into sound by the performers. Devices fixed to walls around the space activate, click, whirr, flash. Trees of electric kettles fixed with sax reeds, boil and start soloing. Huge pinwheels describe blinding coronas that fill the stage. Handfuls of tiny toy explosives are hurled against walls to crackle and sparkle. Weird constructions attack each other and themselves. Snow falls. Time Out Finishing with a coda that would have done Raymond Roussel proud. The Village Voice, New York Through a masterful alternation of mood and scale, Bow Gamelan creates a changing landscape of great beauty, surprise and sophistication. Gallery Magazine, Japan Back to the Bow Gamelan Ensemble main page. |