Power of Powers

Submited by

Jasmine Pasquill

Start

10/12/2010

End

09/07/2011

Title

Power of Powers

Location

St. Cecilia's Convent

Further information

Symbol of Symbols is a performative piece conceptualized by Jasmine Pasquill for the show Lost Symbols at the Convent of St. Cecilia.

A 20 minute performance piece set inside of a chapel within a convent; the piece consists of actions within actions, done in three's with a 15 minute drone piece, an opening + closing sermon and an accompanying triad of live-painting dancers. The tri-tone musical interval will be the cradle for the piece, this interval came to be heard in Western cultural convention as suggesting an "evil" connotative meaningin music and was chosen for the Lost Symbols show because of it's original symbolic association with the devil and its avoidance in medieval ecclesiastical singing because of its dissonant quality. The name diabolus in musica ("the Devil in music") has been applied to the interval from at least the early 18th century. Although this layer of the ominous sounding tri-tone scale will be omni-present, the musical system used will take the listener through various other journeys. This system, coined "Gestural Improvisation," by the composer/musician David First is defined as a set of procedures that isolates those musical elements traditionally considered ornamentation or aspects of expression and elevates them to the level of most significant extrapolative detail. Examples of fundamental gestural improvisation techniques would be the implementation of glissando/pitchbend/vibrato in the area of frequency, active filtering/overtone isolation inthe area of timbre, and tempo modulation/syncopation/rubato in the area of rhythm. This detail, however, is only one set of co-ordinates in a field of continuous energy.

Lost Symbols brings together the work of contemporary artists who investigate, dissect, appropriate, and translate mystic occult ritual, alchemy, mythology, and symbolism. The artists represented have each uniquely contributed their own individual interpretations of the theme through a diversity of mediums and artistic methodologies including, but not limited to: film, painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, performance, and sound-in site-specific installations. Programs include screenings and live performances involving ontology, fantasma, and phatasmagoria. Sound programs reference ritual, phenomenology, and transcendence.