IMPACT 2011: Exploring Slices of Time

Urban Jungles (All Photos by Dr. Chianan Yen, All Rights Reserved.)

IMPACT 2011 at New York University was an exciting panorama of collaborative invention from July 25 through August 12. The production of "works in process" was performed in Frederick Loewe Theatre August 11 and was streamed live on the Internet. Interdisciplinary production teams collaborated and collected their work under the title Creating New Worlds. A breakdown of the scenes may be seen at IMPACT 2011: Creating New Worlds.
The opening Urban Jungles was derived from daily movement and visual arts activities, beginning with texting, and reflecting the process by which many individuals intersected to form interlocking groups working together.

The focus of IMPACT (Interactive Multimedia Performing Arts Collaborative Technology) is about collaborative process. Interdisciplinary production teams of international participants explore ideas in various media which are shaped into structures of media, theatre, with elements of all the arts permeating each scene conceptually powered by some paradigm or theme developed through interactive process. For convenience, eight interdisciplinary production teams were established to create and shape time and scene as a collaborative artistic entity.  Material was derived from daily experiences, including warm ups, focused or specialized workshops, and combined arts workshops.

The striking images here are from the camera and artistry of Dr. Chianan Yen.  These are "snapshots" of dynamic moments in scenes of movement and media interaction.  This documenting of moments transforms the essence of the content. What emerges from this is an essay in visual content with description and explanation that creates new material from the old content. We begin to realize from these images how multimedia can transform the scale of the experience.

 Suddenly performers are the content of the eye peering out from the screen. We glimpse them in an unexpected moment. Unexpected because they are in the flow of the moment, in the transformative action that segues into successive moments in a steady flow, but the camera enables us to trap time, to freeze it for our scrutiny. We gain insight into the moment.  The moment is performed again in a transfixed texture where we can see each detail. Structure and form leap out at us because we are not distracted by the motion.

The power of camera is to slice Time at a particular moment. The fixed image often contains dynamic kinesthetic power like a spring tightly wound about to be released. We sense the energy and imagine what the release will unleash. Proportion changes the relationship of objects and we can experience parallel movement in different dimensions and different scales. The still image releases the imagination to speculate on what will unfold in the next few instances. The still image communicates the power inherent in the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas and images. In the differences we discover the similarities. It doesn't matter if you have actually witnessed the movement inherent in the single frame. Still images engage the imagination in ways quite different than moving images. Still images allow us to look at the details embedded in that single instance. We submerge ourselves in the details of the moment, the isolation and implied connections.
Although the photographer has chosen a fixed position to snap the action in quick succession, the actual moments captured are a random guess that something significant is happening or about to happen. In some ways it doesn't matter which particular instance of time is captured, we have the luxury to review the results and to edit by selecting or discarding specific instances of Time. That editing goes on at very subtle levels, often not consciously derived, but with an instinctive perception that something significant is revealed about the whole in this particular session.  

Even as we concentrate on the visual elements, each image is a window into the moment with implications of what happened before and what is about to happen.  In video terminology it is a frame that we have chosen to isolate and its very existence defines it and gives it shape and meaning, an inadvertent relationship to the whole, and at some point might be viewed as an embodiment of the process. 

We are mistaken if we consider that the images are merely the visual representations of the moment. They are a window into time, a window for the imagination to build a context of all that is implied. The visual content contains context, but it

is also highly mysterious, evocative, and kinesthetic.  This remains true even if we have viewed the work performed or have access to a video representation.  It is possible to consider the still image as more powerful than the video record. Even the video is an edited instance of the event captured by specific lenses and camera operators.  Video is less evocative than the still image because it is controlling the our view of the context. Still images release us from the confinement of the succession of moments to focus on a particular moment where energy is compressed and imagination is challenged to create the context.

There is a natural tendency of the mind to insert meaning and context, even where none is intended.  Perhaps this is why still images are so profoundly interesting and arresting.  We seize the moment to enter into the context, to shape what we see and to make meaning, to experience a revelation that leads us to creating something new. So we celebrate these not so random moments from the camera of Dr. Yen. Embedded in these images is his years of experience capturing live moments and his countless hours of processing, where he is editing and refining each single image into an instrument for the imagination. In some ways the moments he captures are accidents, but if they are, they are happy accidents, and we are all the better for his efforts. But there is a point of view that nothing is accidental, which helps us distinguish that Dr. Yen provides a sense of excellence and meaning to the moments he has chosen to share with us.

But we also need to honor those participants creating content in time, of unraveling the essence of an idea into an iteration that is packed with so much meaning and information that we will never decipher it completely.  That is the wonder and mystery of it all, with still images providing us glimpses of that infinite continuum. Bravo to the IMPACTORS of 2011 for creating such moments of artistic discovery, and Bravo to Chianan Yen for his experience and practiced eye, and his instinctive sense of capturing the moment as it is about to happen.

A Walk on The Street of Dreams

It is so delicious to be utterly vacant. To have no thought that you should be any particular place at any particular moment...to be severed from schedules, time, and appointments...to wander freely.  So I permitted myself to wander down one of my streets of dreams... to mingle with so many walking along the street and to indulge myself in the fantasies of the past and the moment. To take snapshots of the mind and explore without any sense of accountability.

So I started toward Houston Street.  On the way, I came upon one of my favorite haunts, The Mercer Street Bookstore. It is a haven of quiet discovery. There is always something that catches my eye. On the shelves are so many possibilities that beckon like beacons.  Currently the most attractive section for me is the poetry section.  Here I discover poets with rich imagination... I stumble upon them in a much more meaningful search than Google could ever hope to deliver. I touch the covers,  leaf through pages, my eyes wandering over words and lines in random paths.

Today, as I walked into the store, sitting on a prominent display shelf was a book on American minimal music that I had never known. It was an electrifying moment of discovery.  Then I explored the books of poems and found many gems, but two caught my eye and ear right away. Celia Gilbert's voice in Bonfire was strong and sensuous with a clear sense of poetic rhythm and shaping metaphors that were inspired and insightful. I often like to read the poems aloud, and these seemed so so rich with possibilities.

In addition there was classic rough news, a profoundly erudite poetic voice of Kenneth Fields, who seemed to echo the tone and sensibility of Robert Graves. I always have loved Graves, and here I thought was a new found friend.
Both of these volumes reached out to me. I had gone in with the intention of just securing one new book to keep me occupied for an afternoon, but I left with three books. Even so, the cost for these is minimal compared to buying as new books, but they are usually mint condition, for the fate of poetry is that many poets publish, but few of us really listen to our poets. So these books have never been opened, never been read. Somehow poetry was something we learned to avoid in our classroom encounters in public school. I never understood this since so many of my high school friends "secretly" wrote poems that were expressive of the anguish that most of us go through as teenagers.


 I left with three books that are always a rich resource for my thinking and planning, for dreaming about the realities that lay ahead, for hoping to discover something of myself in these new voices, these new singers for a 21st century. How can one not succumb to the mystery of a a used bookstore, the filled shelves of books that have already taken a journey to end up on those shelves, lying like explosives ready to be ignited by the some incandescent insight triggered by the power of language.

My journey had barely begun and already so much was discovered and uncovered. I headed east on Houston Street, crossing Broadway and migrating to haunts that were once part of my younger days... most of them gone now, and most of the friends that inhabited these east village streets are gone. Crossing Mott street, the Rodgers and Hart tune of We'll Have Manhattan sounded in my head and I found myself singing "and tell me what street... compares with Mott Street..."

Not far from Mott street, on Elizabeth street, a dear friend had a serious struggle with drugs that removed her from my life for a while. We finally renewed contact and she had developed a promising career as a site specific composer... and then she disappeared and I have not heard from her again.

Crossing Chystie Street, I see the Sarah Delano Roosevelt Park which connects with Canal Street at the other end, an oasis amidst the brick and cement.  The trees are verdant green and the afternoon is punctuated by basketball players and people strolling almost aimlessly. The afternoon sun is bright, but the air is fresh and pleasant from the rainstorm the night before.

I continue east and soon I come to a poster for Another World, a film about Earth II possibly from a parallel dimension.  The film is about synchronicity and dual existences, a subject that has caught my attention and imagination.  It even figured into the idea of Creating New Worlds recently performed by 2011 IMPACTORS. As I look at the poster, I begin to realize that maybe there was a subconscious destination of the Landmark Sunshine Theatre, an Indie House that I haven't visited in a long while.  It really isn't so far away, but psychologically, across the great divide of Broadway, it seems remote and inaccessible.

I check the time and the film will start in about ten minutes, so I decide this will be a deviation from the journey.  Another World is metaphoric, for it is clear as the film begins that this is an investigation of alternative paths, of parallel lives where something creates a rift and a new possibility.  The film is focused on the narrative.  All though the film, I couldn't help wondering why such a large planet so near to us would not create extensive flooding and earthquakes, but that would be more the sci-fi element and not an examination of parallel possibilities.

The sun is starting to slant toward the western horizon as I emerge from the Sunshine Movie House.  I start back west along the the same path, now reversed, eerily aware through the movie that this route has been altered by Time.  I come upon the Puck Building, which once figured prominently in fundraising efforts for the Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Center. It also was to be  a major asset in the plans for creating a new commuter university, The East West University of Art, Science and Culture. It was to be the second acquisition of a bold new venture in higher education, a venture of the spirit of Donghwa, the blooming and exchange between East and West.

A few yards further is the building that would be the first building acquired for the new university, a perfect location where subways converge.  The Addidas Building would lend itself to conversion with classrooms, a technology center, and the beginnings of the library. It would be the primary building that would become a first class commuting university where students would find an alternative through collaboration to the current competitive paradigm of higher education.  But it would also offer the world's best collection of Asian culture, literature, art, and science in the midst of the mecca of the West.  It would be a true meeting of East and West defined in new terms for a new era.

I found myself at the Angelika, another Indie film house.  I realized my journey of dreams  had film palaces at each end like book ends.  Not long ago, Woody Allen's Paris at Midnight opened in this theatre and helped me understand how the past erupts in the present and always colors our experience.  We all long for the greatness of times past, to be part of it. But I realized that today my journey was a mixture of past and future.

Inside the crowd was intent on the latest openings, and Paris at Midnight had no line. I could have walked right in to that showing.  But I was busy watching people and feeling the rhythm of the universe in the random collisions of people vying for position in the lobby. Over the entrance to the theatres, Angelika loomed as radiant as ever, a harbinger of dreams created with light and shadow on the screen... a dim reflection of reality like Plato's shadows in the cave in The Republic. Plato's allegory of watching the shadows in the cave has become a reality in our universe. We go into our caves and watch the shadows on the wall, more convincing and commanding than whatever we once understood as reality.

As I left the Angelika and continued toward the falling night, I passed Picasso's Bust of Sylvette as cryptic and alluring as ever.  She had sprung from the imagination of Picasso and had been rendered and enlarged, executed by Norwegian sculptor Carl Nesjär from a smaller original sculpture by Picasso. I realized that we seek to create permanence as best we can.  Stone survives the ages much better than film in canisters. Picasso's Sylvette is poised to survive wind and weather, even earthquakes. But we have outwitted the physical world through our reduction of the world to binary code. Films now exist as code transferable to various media until the end of time. Somewhere in the dreams of this afternoon's journey, reality flirts with imagination within the structure of awareness.  It is a Donghwa, a flowering of the essence of a new spirit, with new generations uncovering a world that has been waiting for us beyond our dreams.

Crises: Our Co-Existence with Dark Energy and Dark Matter

Almost everyone I know is going through some personal crisis.  And we are all aware that culturally and metaphysically we are engaged in a global crisis that has prompted visions of Mayan doom in 2012.  The basis for these crises is our perception of our lives, the universe, and experience as undergoing immense acceleration.  Newton had prophesied that everything would gradually slow down until the universe was out of energy. This was the so-called dismal law of thermodynamics.  Now the Hubble eye on the universe has detected that indeed, everything is speeding up. We also have become aware that there must be matter and energy that cannot be seen, and that this mass accounts for almost 95% of the substance of the universe (dark energy or dark matter).  It is this accelerating gravitational force that appears to be pulling the universe apart and our lives as well.  We are not immune from the force that created us.  You and I are part of the Big Bang or whatever it was that ignited conscious awareness.

Several of my friends are depressed after their great achievements and success. I know that feeling well.  I know what it is to ride the roller coaster of highs and lows as you engage in creating new work.  It is a cycle of success where the intensity of the moment is suddenly extinguished and you are left lost and empty, feeling that everyone has deserted you.  And they have.  No one can continue that intensity indefinitely. Inevitably the super nova burns out, and space is dark and empty. But the emptiness is an illusion. In riding the wave, you must inevitably pass through zero, to the silence. We all come from the silence.

In the silence is the birth of everything new. It all comes from the nothingness between the zenith and the nadir...that moment between the plus and minus, that nothingness that always precedes the "Big Bang." Probably these eruptions are continuous and infinite.  That is why we are beginning to perceive that there are parallel universes that completely redefine our concepts of dimension and time.  It is a reality that is both singular and plural. Gradually we have come to understand that what we call Space is just another word for Time.  For the moment we appear to be trapped in Time, irreversibly caught in the endless expansion whose only direction is outward or forward,  Even when we seemingly reverse directions, it is never the same space.  Einstein glimpsed the reality for a moment, but never really understood it. Perhaps that is why his attempts to unify two opposing theories failed.  Some think they have solved the riddle, shredded the Gordian Knot, since finally experts concluded it could not be untied because it wasn't really a knot.

Some imagine that the dark energy is consuming matter and storing it as dark matter.  Although Black Holes have been thought of as the creator of new stars and solar systems, they are also being studied as converters of substance into the hidden dimension of existence. Somewhere in this equation is the secret of ourselves, is the secret of conscious awareness.  Without the awareness, the universe is an empty charade.

IMPACT 2011: Creating New Worlds

 What is IMPACT?  It is an acronym for Interactive Multimedia Performing Arts Collaborative Technology that describes a workshop designed to promote collaboration and creative expression among international participants. It originated in the Steinhardt School of New York University and has now completed its fifth year.  Every year the workshop changes, grows, and develops, and IMPACT has come to mean a process of collaborative experience that is evolving. Each year the faculty, staff, and participants come away with an understanding that has built upon the past but added new layers of meaning and interaction. Most recently IMPACT has added the layer of social networking, using FaceBook as a means of communicating all aspects of the workshop as it evolves pragmatically and conceptually.

The posters above represent three planning stages for 2011. The first poster represents the collaborative and international nature of the workshop through the hands of different cultural backgrounds working together through technology, artistic expression, and multimedia to change our perceptions of the world and bring us closer together. The second stage represents a thematic process by which the participants agree upon a theme to explore for a realization on stage combining technologies and expressive artistry in collaborative production teams. Each production team took the name of a planet and the organization of each team had as its goal to establish an interdisciplinary group that worked together to develop concepts and materials that would eventually be expressed through media and stage craft. The final poster was designed by 2011 participants giving credit and reflecting on the nature of collaboration with a focus on collaborative process.

Though the description above attempts to answer the question of "What is IMPACT?" on a basic, descriptive level, it is clear that its meaning is deeper and continues to resonate long after the workshop is completed. Many new energies and visions interlocked and worked together intensely.  New personal insights came from this collaborative process, and the embryos of new ideas are still emerging and growing.  We continue to interrogate the process, because at the heart of this process is the idea of artist as researcher and collaborator. At the heart of this work is how we generate new ideas and new content. Ultimately the mentors are reciprocally mentored by the participants creating a cycle of interaction where the meaning deepens with each new coming together as collaborateurs. Activity becomes active engagement generating material through documenting the action and transforming it into various iterations across media. Documenting becomes a way of capturing process and gives meaning and structure to activity as a means of exploring and developing content.

On August 11, the participants collaborated on the "works in process" for an audience in NYU's Frederick Loewe Theatre while also streaming their work on the Internet as a live performance.The material was generated through actions designed to explore movement, images, moving images, sounds, and music using digital and stage craft techniques as well as exploring visual arts as expressive performance. Emerging was a spontaneous process of collaboration and interaction. This interactive energy enabled these young participants to engage the moment as dynamic, emergent content.

CREATING NEW WORLDS

Multimedia Works in Process

Prelude: URBAN JUNGLES

Every day, we create and recreate our environments through technology, architecture and human interaction.

FULL COMPANY

Scene 1: Inner Voice
 VENUS
       (Ji Eun Kim, Yeji Kim, Hsuanyu I, Yoo Jeong Nam)
 

Freedom is neither white nor black, but the possibility of painting our canvas of whatever color we choose. No matter our origins or upbringing, we are free to know and to experience, to mingle and to party, to expand ourselves and to forge who we really want to be.

Music and Movie: Ji Eun Kim Cello: Hsuanyu I         Dancers: Yoo Jeong Nam, Yeji Kim,

Scene 2: IMPACT around US

EARTH

(Sun-Mi Kim, Hyun Mi Jung, Chae-Won Song)

Having a trouble with artistic expression? Searching for something creative? Our video might suggest the answer for your concerns to just look around and fulfill your needs.

Music: Sun-Mi Kim, Chae-Won Song, Hyun Mi Jung     Video: Chae-Won Song

Dancers: Hyun Mi Jung, Kyung-In Kim, Su Min Jung, Seo Youn Lee, YooJeong Nam, Yeji Kim

Scene 3: Exploring Myself

JUPITER

HyeYeun Lee, Kyung-In Kim, Perla Vargas)

Where am I? I am a stranger. Everything is going different and makes me confused. But I try not to lose myself and stick with the strange path. Then I finally meet someone else familiar. Is that an alter ego?

Background Music: "Klavierwerke" & "I Mind" by James Blake

Art Directing & Video: HyeYeun Lee Choreography & Dance: Kyung-In Kim

Actors & Dancers: YooJeong Nam, Seo Youn Lee, Su Min Jung, YeJi Kim, Hyun Mi Jung, Hwan Soo Ok Lyrics & Singing: Perla Vargas

Scene 4: Birthday Girl

SATURN

(Yulimer Almonte, Eunsong Noh, YooJin Choi)

This comedy will make you laugh and have a nice time together with the birthday girl and her friends. The Birthday girl is at a restaurant to celebrate her birthday, but nothing goes out as planned. What will happen?

Video: Yulimer Almonte, Eunsong Noh Costume: YooJin Choi Music: Yulimer Almonte

Actors & Dancers: Yulimer Almonte, Eunsong Noh, Youngmi Ha, Seo Yeon Lee, Hwan Soo Ok, Youngin Ko, Heejung Nam, YooJin Choi, Mariam Chebly

Scene 5:  S.O.S. (Side-Effect Of Social-Network)

URANUS

(Kahyun Lee, Yunjin Cho, Jeemin Ha)

We can express our feelings and happenings without restriction of space by social network. However, it sometimes make people exposed to others unintendedly too much. Also people feel the sense of inferiority and isolation by watching other's privacy. "S.O.S" sheds new light on the effect of social network!

Video: Kahyun Lee, Yunjin Cho Actors: Kahyun Lee, Yunjin Cho, Jeemin Ha

Costume: Kahyun Lee, Yunjin Cho, Jeemin Ha

INTERLUDE

(YoungMi Ha, Perla Vargas, Deanna Jackson, Hsuanyu I)

Title: Pingu, Bouncy Fun

Music Making Penguins

Scene 6: A Chat with Cunningham

 GUEST ARTISTS: SPACETIME

(Chingwen Yeh, Yea-Chen Wu, Sunyoung Park)

Touching your spirit I move. Watching your work I touch. Feeling your aura surround me.

Art Direction & Video: Chingwen Yeh, Yea-Chen Wu, Sunyoung Park

Choreography & Dance: Chingwen Yeh Live Music & Composer: Sunyoung Park

Scene 7: Dream Your Reality

MARS

(Deanna Jackson, Yoo Jung Shin, Hwan Soo Ok)

Imagine, you’ re who you want to be; doing what you want to do. Believe in the impossible and explore the incredible potential. Take one step and hold on to your dream.

Performed by: Deanna Jackson, Yoo Jung Shin, Hwan Soo Ok, Jee Yun Hung, Yeji Kim, Seo Youn Lee, Su Min Jung           Music: Hwan Soo Ok        Video and Lyrics: Deanna Jackson

Scene 8: Neptune Avenue

NEPTUNE

(Ebru Yetiskin, Seo Yeon Lee, Youngin Ko)

One flees and creates a path to become a part of a different world. We will show aquarium video. Enjoy our beautiful blue scene!

Video: Ebru Yetiskin, Youngin Ko        Dancers: Seoyoun Lee, Youngin Ko, Yeji Kim, Sumin Jung, Kyung-In Kim, Hyun Mi Jung, YooJeong Nam

Scene 9: One World

MERCURY

(Whanee Choi, Su Min Jung, Mariam Chebly, Yea-Chen Wu)

The end of society as we know it has arrived. After a nuclear warfare a few survivors from different cultures take shelter in the last "Eden". How will they interact and communicate with each other?

Video: Yea-Chen Wu    Audio: Mariam Chebly, Whanee Choi      Choreography: Su Min Jung

Actors & Dancers: Perla Vargas, Deana Jackson, Yulimer Almonte, Mariam Chebly, Whanee Choi, Su Min Jung, Sharon I, Hyun Mi Jung, Kyung-In Kim, Yeji Kim, Seo Yeon Lee, YooJeong Nam, Yoo Jung Shin, Hwan Soo Ok, Jeemin Ha, Kahyun Lee    

Music: Mozart Requiem Lacrimosa          Original Music : Mariam Chebly, Whanee Choi

BOWS

FULL COMPANY

IMPACT 2011 Faculty, Staff, Guest Artists

Dr. John V. Gilbert, Director

Dr. Youngmi Ha, Music Director

Tom Beyer, Tech Director

Dr. Chianan Yen, Digital Imaging & Photography Director

Julie Song, Administrative Director

Dr. Carleton Palmer, Visual Arts Director

Jee Yun Hong, Dance Director

Kevin Pease, Theatre & Stage Director

Joellen Dolan, Assistant Tech Director

Yea-Chen Wu, Lighting Designer

Sunmin Kim, Stage Manager, Researcher

Nicholas Marchese, Tech Assistant

Yeejung Nam, Production and Administrative Assistant

Dr. Chingwen Yeh, Impact Guest Artist, Educator

Ebru Yetiskin, Guest Researcher In Sociology & Media

Sunyoung Park, Guest Artist

 

Restless Nights

So I have struggled to rest this weekend, and I am still waiting for sleep which somehow eludes me. Thoughts of the summer, of IMPACT, of Prayer, of Korea, of A Song for Second Avenue,  urgent business, of classes, of friends, of music and beauty, all flood my mind at once...  Images and sounds... Thoughts of Blogs and Logs... and songs and poems... And .... all the dilemmas secret and public that tease the human spirit ... All the temptations and fantasies... all that confounds us and conspires to sleepless nights...

But even so ... I will go in and try to transform this desperate state into something productive. There are those in my life that inspire me to transcend the way of all flesh...

Summer has been an avalanche of ideas and activity... all of it positive and promising.  I have been buried in the debris of summer, a rich composite of lives and conscious awareness that now call for a reflective production of new material... some of it waiting... urgently in need of expression. 

I have been absent from myself for so long... and there are thoughts and ideas waiting for words... these words started as an email and started to take on a larger life... one can get so busy that he stumbles through the night forgetting all that really matters, caught up in the dancing trivialities of virtual realities.