Michael Masucci: Rage to Know
Artist(s):
Collaborators:
Title:
- Rage to Know
Exhibition:
Creation Year:
- 2007
Category:
Artist Statement:
Rage to Know is a living art installation consisting of dancers, sound, and 2D, 3D, and digital video projection. Current concepts in contemporary physics, including quantum mechanics and string theory, are bombarding humankind’s understanding of time, space, and spirituality. How do artists interpret these concepts and serve as both translators and commentators in reaction to ideas that few can actually ponder? How do these concepts intersect with day-to-day living and the socio-political problems facing the world?
This project is an experiment through modern dance and digital art to create a living expressionistic environment upon which to reflect and ponder the nature of existence itself. The very process of collaboration is experimentation in itself, and in a way shows the similarity between the creative processes of art and science.
Technical Information:
For this performance, in addition to one static projector, which serves as contextual landscape, EZTV uses two modified camera-support systems that allow video projectors to follow and move more smoothly with the four dancers, who are used as projection surfaces. This technique, called LightCrane by Masucci, has been evolving since his collaborations in the mid-1980s with multimedia dance pioneer Zina Bethune. No lighting design other than video projection is used to light the dancers, who are enclosed in several prototypes of mesh fabric costumes/sets, which change shape and therefore change the shape and size of the projection surfaces. This Butoh-like performance, created especially for SIGGRAPH 2007, features digital music created by Masucci, Johnson, and Sternberg.
