Experimentation is the sending before the presenting. Pre...before, or occurring before in time...experimenting is the sending before the before sending...do a little algebra and sending equals sending. There proven, put a fork in it. We're done here. Where is that avocado with the beer in it?!?
Experimentation is also the setting up, the creation of known conditions, knowing what elements you have in play and setting them free. Improvisation is experimentation, the only real form of experimental work. If someone has set/created/ossified something, they are not experimenting in their work. Unless of course they are forcing the experiment into/upon the viewer. Create something known, a choreography, for lack of a better word send it before an audience or present it to an audience, a somewhat known entity (No, you say...really...don't you keep seeing the same people at shows and everyone is pretty much dressed alike...). The experiment is then what happens between those two entities. The problem with many choreographers who call their work experimental is that they don't realize that their work isn't, it's just trendy and using the adjective du jour. It would actually be experimental if they were thinking of their relationship to the audience.
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10.05.2011
9.22.2011
Contact Improvisation gets big!
In the not so distant future, within 5 years I'd say, a contact improvisation duet will happen on a stage. It will receive great accolades and fanfare. Critics and arty folks with indeterminate European accents and thick black framed glasses will talk about the brilliance of the choreographer, how cutting edge and brilliant she or he is. The choreographer will be praised for discovering new ways of movement, and entering uncharted waters of aesthetics challenging what people think of as dance.
But, the piece will not be labeled as contact. Improvised, yes, as that is becoming more the trend here in Europe on the big money stages. And the choreographer will personally not have done contact improvisation. The dancers, maybe. Probably a few classes. I doubt that a really famous and funded choreographer would know any people who are really good at contact improvisation, that bastard child of the dance art world, and would have to use ballet-gone-release dancers who can partner.
Using language riddled with isms and dead French thinkers names, this choreographer will bring the tools of CI into the brighter wider better funded stage. Using words ending with "icity" and words with "post", "pre", and "neo" suffixes, the choreographer will dazzle us and amaze us with a new dance frontier.
Will it be Forsythe, or Le Roy? Bel, maybe. How about Wade? Sehgal?
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But, the piece will not be labeled as contact. Improvised, yes, as that is becoming more the trend here in Europe on the big money stages. And the choreographer will personally not have done contact improvisation. The dancers, maybe. Probably a few classes. I doubt that a really famous and funded choreographer would know any people who are really good at contact improvisation, that bastard child of the dance art world, and would have to use ballet-gone-release dancers who can partner.
Using language riddled with isms and dead French thinkers names, this choreographer will bring the tools of CI into the brighter wider better funded stage. Using words ending with "icity" and words with "post", "pre", and "neo" suffixes, the choreographer will dazzle us and amaze us with a new dance frontier.
Will it be Forsythe, or Le Roy? Bel, maybe. How about Wade? Sehgal?
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9.13.2011
National Debts
The population of Germany according to the CIA is 81,471,834 (July 2011 est.)
The national debt of Germany is € 1,895,561,620,931 according to nationaldebtclocks.com
The population of the United States according to the CIA is 313,232,044 (July 2011 est.)
The national debt of the United States is $ 15,091,192,666,470, also according to national debt clocks.com.
Dividing the debt by the population gives us a €23,266.47/German debt and a $48,178.96/American debt. Converting the Euros to dollars with an exchange rate of €1=$1.36, gives us $31,642.40.
This gives us a difference of $16,536.56, that each American owes MORE to whomever than each German owes.
What have you gotten for your $16,536.56?
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The national debt of Germany is € 1,895,561,620,931 according to nationaldebtclocks.com
The population of the United States according to the CIA is 313,232,044 (July 2011 est.)
The national debt of the United States is $ 15,091,192,666,470, also according to national debt clocks.com.
Dividing the debt by the population gives us a €23,266.47/German debt and a $48,178.96/American debt. Converting the Euros to dollars with an exchange rate of €1=$1.36, gives us $31,642.40.
This gives us a difference of $16,536.56, that each American owes MORE to whomever than each German owes.
What have you gotten for your $16,536.56?
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9.11.2011
Fiddling
Currently fiddling with getting twitter and FB share links to be in every blog posting without having to insert the code every time. I think I have the twitter code in, but not the FB one yet. Let's see.
Also realizing that the iPad kinda sucks for content creation.
Also realizing that the iPad kinda sucks for content creation.
9.09.2011
Not post anything only pre
From an email to a friend - (with some additions)
I think that we are not "post" anything, only "pre" what is coming down the pike. I think that "post" implies that whatever we are past, what tools, logics, and aesthetics we explored in the past are over and no longer relevant. But love stories are not gone. Dances about the human condition are still being made. They are not being created with Graham technique, but with release, CI influenced deconstructed ballet choreography. So why if the logic(topic) of the piece is basically the same, but the tool used is post - or contemporary we do not call the piece modern? What criteria are we using to define work - the tools used, the logic expressed, or the aesthetic used?
Every age, -ism, and ide[a]logy that is created doesn't die out but becomes part of the available pallate(sp?) palette, incorporated in to what people have and can use, expanding the reified world.
We all get hung up in the details as opposed to viewing the relationships among the details. Heidegger, after all, said that existence is defined by relationship to.
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I think that we are not "post" anything, only "pre" what is coming down the pike. I think that "post" implies that whatever we are past, what tools, logics, and aesthetics we explored in the past are over and no longer relevant. But love stories are not gone. Dances about the human condition are still being made. They are not being created with Graham technique, but with release, CI influenced deconstructed ballet choreography. So why if the logic(topic) of the piece is basically the same, but the tool used is post - or contemporary we do not call the piece modern? What criteria are we using to define work - the tools used, the logic expressed, or the aesthetic used?
Every age, -ism, and ide[a]logy that is created doesn't die out but becomes part of the available pallate(sp?) palette, incorporated in to what people have and can use, expanding the reified world.
We all get hung up in the details as opposed to viewing the relationships among the details. Heidegger, after all, said that existence is defined by relationship to.
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The Conservative Rhetoric
Republicans have historically borrowed more than Democrats.
Who cares...Gay people shouldn't marry.
Our bridges, roads and other infrastructure are crumbling.
Who cares...Marriage is for only a man and a woman.
Our schools are crap and America is losing its competitive edge.
Who cares...Gay people are ruining marriage.
The polar ice caps are melting and the Earth is heating up.
Who cares...Gay people are brainwashing our children.
The so called "death tax" only affects people who actually have money.
Who cares...Gay people are causing the breakdown of the American family.
The politicians you keep voting for keep screwing you.
Who cares...Gay people shouldn't adopt.
We are running out of antibiotics.
Who cares...Gay people shouldn't be able to visit their partners in a hospital.
Our oceans are overfished.
Who cares...Gay people invented AIDS.
Solar, wind, and wave energy sources could be completely viable if we invested in them.
Who cares...Gay people ruined marriage.
Why are we still subsidizing the profitable oil companies?
Who cares...Gay people ruined marriage.
etc.
Who cares...Gay people shouldn't marry.
Our bridges, roads and other infrastructure are crumbling.
Who cares...Marriage is for only a man and a woman.
Our schools are crap and America is losing its competitive edge.
Who cares...Gay people are ruining marriage.
The polar ice caps are melting and the Earth is heating up.
Who cares...Gay people are brainwashing our children.
The so called "death tax" only affects people who actually have money.
Who cares...Gay people are causing the breakdown of the American family.
The politicians you keep voting for keep screwing you.
Who cares...Gay people shouldn't adopt.
We are running out of antibiotics.
Who cares...Gay people shouldn't be able to visit their partners in a hospital.
Our oceans are overfished.
Who cares...Gay people invented AIDS.
Solar, wind, and wave energy sources could be completely viable if we invested in them.
Who cares...Gay people ruined marriage.
Why are we still subsidizing the profitable oil companies?
Who cares...Gay people ruined marriage.
etc.
9.08.2011
The fear of being Understood
"As soon as someone says to me that they understood my performance, I become instantly discouraged." —Kazuo Ohno
This quote to me exemplifies what is wrong with most dance. Once it, the dance, the art is understood, the artist fears that it is destroyed. Why does understanding something destroy it? I remember once hearing a friend say that she didn't want to know too much. How can we ever know too much? The more we learn the more we learn how much we do not know. The more we learn about astronomy, the more we learn that there is an almost number of stars, nebula, planets out there to investigate. The more words we learn, the more questions we can formulate.
Ohno's quote makes me thing of the post I wrote recently about formulaic vs. poetic. It also reminds me of a quote I heard once but can't find anywhere about philosophers. Something like the greatest fear philosophers have is that they will be understood.
I think people fear being understood because they themselves are actually hiding behind a mask, a curtain. Like the Wizard of Oz. Yes, they can do what they do and do it well. But they want a bigger more grandiose image of themselves for people to see so that others will be impressed and so that they do not have to explain themselves, because that can be arduous and (cynically) they really can not articulate what they are doing/thinking/feeling. The next time you hear someone say that something was good or bad ask him or her to articulate why. Dollars to donuts, s/he will not be able to do so.
Why should we laboriously articulate our thoughts, when we can just express them emotionally (wrapped and bundled in signs, signifiers, etc) in a shorthand that leaves room for interpretation? If expressed clearly, we might find out clearly, that there isn't as much there as we would like there to be.
The imagination after all is more powerful, than...
This quote to me exemplifies what is wrong with most dance. Once it, the dance, the art is understood, the artist fears that it is destroyed. Why does understanding something destroy it? I remember once hearing a friend say that she didn't want to know too much. How can we ever know too much? The more we learn the more we learn how much we do not know. The more we learn about astronomy, the more we learn that there is an almost number of stars, nebula, planets out there to investigate. The more words we learn, the more questions we can formulate.
Ohno's quote makes me thing of the post I wrote recently about formulaic vs. poetic. It also reminds me of a quote I heard once but can't find anywhere about philosophers. Something like the greatest fear philosophers have is that they will be understood.
I think people fear being understood because they themselves are actually hiding behind a mask, a curtain. Like the Wizard of Oz. Yes, they can do what they do and do it well. But they want a bigger more grandiose image of themselves for people to see so that others will be impressed and so that they do not have to explain themselves, because that can be arduous and (cynically) they really can not articulate what they are doing/thinking/feeling. The next time you hear someone say that something was good or bad ask him or her to articulate why. Dollars to donuts, s/he will not be able to do so.
Why should we laboriously articulate our thoughts, when we can just express them emotionally (wrapped and bundled in signs, signifiers, etc) in a shorthand that leaves room for interpretation? If expressed clearly, we might find out clearly, that there isn't as much there as we would like there to be.
The imagination after all is more powerful, than...
9.02.2011
Formulaic vs. Poetic
The difference between the poetic and the formulaic is that you haven't figured out the formula for the poetic yet.
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Abstract Industrialism
Watching my 6 month old daughter and how busy she is when she is awake made me think of the term abstract industrialism. Similar to abstract expressionism, abstract. Is there an abstract realism? Anyways. M. is usually quite busy, moving herself, vocalizing, grabbing things, putting her limbs and other objects in her mouth. Very industrious she is as babies if her age are.
Industrious - working energetically and devotedly; hard-working; diligent: an industrious person.
Wha she is trying to do, what her intentions are. I see that she has the book and is banging it. Is that all she is doing? Maybe that is all she is doing and I shouldn't be trying to read more into her actions. (see post about seeing vs. imagining)
Maybe what she is doing is realistic industrialism, and my confusion about her intentions makes it abstract. Hitting a book while shouting "babababababab" isn't abstract. It is hitting a book while shouting "babababababab". Nothing unclear there.
Which then makes me unsure about my original idea for this post. Which was - most improvisational performances are good examples of abstract industrialism. A lot is going on but no one really knows why. But maybe the abstraction comes from wanting to see more than there is
Hmmm must think about this more.
Industrious - working energetically and devotedly; hard-working; diligent: an industrious person.
Wha she is trying to do, what her intentions are. I see that she has the book and is banging it. Is that all she is doing? Maybe that is all she is doing and I shouldn't be trying to read more into her actions. (see post about seeing vs. imagining)
Maybe what she is doing is realistic industrialism, and my confusion about her intentions makes it abstract. Hitting a book while shouting "babababababab" isn't abstract. It is hitting a book while shouting "babababababab". Nothing unclear there.
Which then makes me unsure about my original idea for this post. Which was - most improvisational performances are good examples of abstract industrialism. A lot is going on but no one really knows why. But maybe the abstraction comes from wanting to see more than there is
Hmmm must think about this more.
8.30.2011
Emotional Improvisation
From an article on the movie "The Rise of the Planet of the Apes" in the most recent New Yorker:
"If invention, wild and free, yet tied to emotion and philosophical speculation, is given a chance, digital filmmaking could have a more brilliant future than any we can now imagine."
Replace the word invention with improvisation and digital filmmaking with performance:
If improvisation, wild and free, yet tied to emotion and philosophical speculation, is given a chance, performance could have a more brilliant future than any we can now imagine.
Taking the form of one idea and replacing some of it's parts can lead to interesting thoughts. Improvisation, as it is mostly taught and perceived, is about being wild and free. Emotion, as I read it here, is not the happy or sad generic reading of it, but the faster processing aspect of the human mind. An emotion is really a bundling of thoughts into one package. For some people, such as myself, those packages take a while to unpack. But I digress.
Ensemble Thinking is an improvisation based modality that uses the conscious mind to train the emotional mind. When on stage, a performer trained in E.T. doesn't have to think about where the hotspot is, but feels it allowing him or her to more quickly respond. E.T. allows the improvising performer to be more emotional about the performance.
Improvisation can benefit from more philosophical speculation - why are we improvising, when are we setting the number of performers, the costumes, the performance space and time, but not setting the spatial and kinespheric movements? What are we trying to convey, reveal to the audience? What do we want them to walk away with? Why should they give a damn? Is improvisation the means or an end?
"If invention, wild and free, yet tied to emotion and philosophical speculation, is given a chance, digital filmmaking could have a more brilliant future than any we can now imagine."
Replace the word invention with improvisation and digital filmmaking with performance:
If improvisation, wild and free, yet tied to emotion and philosophical speculation, is given a chance, performance could have a more brilliant future than any we can now imagine.
Taking the form of one idea and replacing some of it's parts can lead to interesting thoughts. Improvisation, as it is mostly taught and perceived, is about being wild and free. Emotion, as I read it here, is not the happy or sad generic reading of it, but the faster processing aspect of the human mind. An emotion is really a bundling of thoughts into one package. For some people, such as myself, those packages take a while to unpack. But I digress.
Ensemble Thinking is an improvisation based modality that uses the conscious mind to train the emotional mind. When on stage, a performer trained in E.T. doesn't have to think about where the hotspot is, but feels it allowing him or her to more quickly respond. E.T. allows the improvising performer to be more emotional about the performance.
Improvisation can benefit from more philosophical speculation - why are we improvising, when are we setting the number of performers, the costumes, the performance space and time, but not setting the spatial and kinespheric movements? What are we trying to convey, reveal to the audience? What do we want them to walk away with? Why should they give a damn? Is improvisation the means or an end?
8.28.2011
The DODOcase
I got a DODOcase for our iPad2. The thing is beautiful. It holds the Pad well, covers it completely and provides more impact protection than the tighter rubber/plastic cases available at the Apple stores and kiosks in malls. I have not done a test, but that is my guess.
When we first had the iPad2, I dropped it as I had gotten used to the magnetic flip cover and was using it as a grip to hold the pad while filming my daughter in my mother's lap. A quick move later and the pad was face down on the edge of the carpet between the dining room and kitchen, the upper left corner cracked and shedding glass. Don't get that cover from the Apple store. But go there if you drop you iPad. They might replace it for free!!
So three days and $65 later, my iPad2 is in a DODOcase. I try to take a picture...no go. Have to use the camera on the front side or pop out the pad. Also to change to volume, flip the mute switch, or turn off the Pad is not so easy. The curves in the bamboo are not generous enough and I have a not easy time accessing those buttons.
I wrote to DODOcase about the camera issue and button issue: Hi Dodo,
Was I accidentally sent an iPod 1 case? There is no hole or window for the camera on the back of the case and I have a hard time changing the volume or flipping the switch on the left side. The case looks good and protects my pad well, but I am surprised that there is no camera hole and that the side buttons are hard to access. Guess I should have read the description better before purchasing.
Andrew
This is their response: Hi Andrew,
After much deliberation the DODOcase design team decided that we did not want to compromise the simple and classic design of the DODOcase by poking holes in it. The DODOcase for iPad 2 does NOT have a cut out so that you can use the rear facing camera while in the case.
We think that in general the rear camera will be best used outside the case. The DODOcase is an easy in easy out case and on the occasion that you would want to use the rear facing camera it is easy enough to remove the iPad from the case. Folio style cases (i.e. the DODOcase) do not easily lend themselves to rear camera use because the front cover is designed to flip all the way back and would still obscure the rear camera even with a camera hole in the back cover.
Thanks!
Team DODOcase
Are they serious!?! Having a hole in the backside would not compromise the design. Punch a whole in it and rivet the hole so the material doesn't fray. And it would be quite easy to take a picture holding the flap at a 90 degree angle so as not to cover the lens. The DODOcase is not an easy in easy out case. I can see in just the few times that I have taken the iPad2 out of the case how the rubber corner pieces that hold the pad in are coming up. Doing that too much, or as much as I would like to USE THE CAMERA ON MY IPAD, will loosen the rubber corner pieces.
The designers of the DODOcase assumed too much about how the case would be used.
The DODOcase might have been great for the first iPad, but it is limiting the user experience with iPad2.
When we first had the iPad2, I dropped it as I had gotten used to the magnetic flip cover and was using it as a grip to hold the pad while filming my daughter in my mother's lap. A quick move later and the pad was face down on the edge of the carpet between the dining room and kitchen, the upper left corner cracked and shedding glass. Don't get that cover from the Apple store. But go there if you drop you iPad. They might replace it for free!!
So three days and $65 later, my iPad2 is in a DODOcase. I try to take a picture...no go. Have to use the camera on the front side or pop out the pad. Also to change to volume, flip the mute switch, or turn off the Pad is not so easy. The curves in the bamboo are not generous enough and I have a not easy time accessing those buttons.
I wrote to DODOcase about the camera issue and button issue: Hi Dodo,
Was I accidentally sent an iPod 1 case? There is no hole or window for the camera on the back of the case and I have a hard time changing the volume or flipping the switch on the left side. The case looks good and protects my pad well, but I am surprised that there is no camera hole and that the side buttons are hard to access. Guess I should have read the description better before purchasing.
Andrew
This is their response: Hi Andrew,
After much deliberation the DODOcase design team decided that we did not want to compromise the simple and classic design of the DODOcase by poking holes in it. The DODOcase for iPad 2 does NOT have a cut out so that you can use the rear facing camera while in the case.
We think that in general the rear camera will be best used outside the case. The DODOcase is an easy in easy out case and on the occasion that you would want to use the rear facing camera it is easy enough to remove the iPad from the case. Folio style cases (i.e. the DODOcase) do not easily lend themselves to rear camera use because the front cover is designed to flip all the way back and would still obscure the rear camera even with a camera hole in the back cover.
Thanks!
Team DODOcase
Are they serious!?! Having a hole in the backside would not compromise the design. Punch a whole in it and rivet the hole so the material doesn't fray. And it would be quite easy to take a picture holding the flap at a 90 degree angle so as not to cover the lens. The DODOcase is not an easy in easy out case. I can see in just the few times that I have taken the iPad2 out of the case how the rubber corner pieces that hold the pad in are coming up. Doing that too much, or as much as I would like to USE THE CAMERA ON MY IPAD, will loosen the rubber corner pieces.
The designers of the DODOcase assumed too much about how the case would be used.
The DODOcase might have been great for the first iPad, but it is limiting the user experience with iPad2.
8.26.2011
Gender in Dance
It has been said many times.
"oh, it's a man dance."
2 guys on stage, it's a man dance. Why, when the dance consists of all women (and 99% of dances made consist of all women), we do not say "Oh, it's a woman dance"?
Well, precisely because 99% of dances made consist of all women. Therefore a dance, by default, is a woman dance. So when a dance has all men or even a slight majority of men, it becomes a "man dance".
Heard this just the other day. In a group of what I thought were contemporary post whatever artists. But I guess not. They are still stuck on gender, on viewing a dance through the lens of gender. Dancers aren't bodies, creating shapes in space/time in relation to other, but men and women creating shapes in space/time. Have we not progressed beyond Martha Graham?
Or have the tools just changed but the story is still the same?
PS
Graham = Bausch = Stuart
"oh, it's a man dance."
2 guys on stage, it's a man dance. Why, when the dance consists of all women (and 99% of dances made consist of all women), we do not say "Oh, it's a woman dance"?
Well, precisely because 99% of dances made consist of all women. Therefore a dance, by default, is a woman dance. So when a dance has all men or even a slight majority of men, it becomes a "man dance".
Heard this just the other day. In a group of what I thought were contemporary post whatever artists. But I guess not. They are still stuck on gender, on viewing a dance through the lens of gender. Dancers aren't bodies, creating shapes in space/time in relation to other, but men and women creating shapes in space/time. Have we not progressed beyond Martha Graham?
Or have the tools just changed but the story is still the same?
PS
Graham = Bausch = Stuart
8.09.2011
Maybe...maybe not
Why do we say that?
If it, the situation might happen then it also might not happen. We don't need to say both "maybe" and "maybe not".
Save your breath.
Pick one.
If it, the situation might happen then it also might not happen. We don't need to say both "maybe" and "maybe not".
Save your breath.
Pick one.
Coffee and Orangutans
Just rolled into the Microtel Inns & Suites in Klamath Falls, OR. It is a gorgeous drive from Portland. Green, green, green, and not many other vehicles. Also the most remote wifi - 10 miles west of Oakridge, OR, on the 58.
Not sure how this popped into my mind, maybe because I was in Portland earlier today and had the best cup of ever at a Stumptown. If you don't know what a Stumptown is, think Starbucks before it went national. We bought some friends of ours some beans from the Stumptown Roasters cafe. Fair-trade they are labeled.
Oh, I remember what made me think of all this. Sitting in our gas guzzling F-150 truck in the parking lot of a Safeway. Seeing how far apart all the shops, restaurants,and homes, how large all the vehicles are, how fat everyone is, seeing how large the grocery store is, made me realize that the American way of life is unsustainable.
The great coffee my wife and I enjoyed in Portland,while fair trade, was grown in another country. How did the beans get to Portland? Were they flown there? Was It on a ship? On the backs of donkey led to the great Northwest by Juan Valdez? For all of our crunchy goodness and wanting to keep the world for our children, should we even be drinking coffee?
And then from the Safeway, my wife purchased some gluten free crackers. Very exciting to find those. As I was coming back up to the room from the truck with the crackers, I took a look at the ingredients. Palm oil is one of the ingredients. Palm oil, in case you didn't know, is, or rather the growing of trees for palm oil, is leading to the destruction of orangutan habitat.
You just can't win
Not sure how this popped into my mind, maybe because I was in Portland earlier today and had the best cup of ever at a Stumptown. If you don't know what a Stumptown is, think Starbucks before it went national. We bought some friends of ours some beans from the Stumptown Roasters cafe. Fair-trade they are labeled.
Oh, I remember what made me think of all this. Sitting in our gas guzzling F-150 truck in the parking lot of a Safeway. Seeing how far apart all the shops, restaurants,and homes, how large all the vehicles are, how fat everyone is, seeing how large the grocery store is, made me realize that the American way of life is unsustainable.
The great coffee my wife and I enjoyed in Portland,while fair trade, was grown in another country. How did the beans get to Portland? Were they flown there? Was It on a ship? On the backs of donkey led to the great Northwest by Juan Valdez? For all of our crunchy goodness and wanting to keep the world for our children, should we even be drinking coffee?
And then from the Safeway, my wife purchased some gluten free crackers. Very exciting to find those. As I was coming back up to the room from the truck with the crackers, I took a look at the ingredients. Palm oil is one of the ingredients. Palm oil, in case you didn't know, is, or rather the growing of trees for palm oil, is leading to the destruction of orangutan habitat.
You just can't win
8.03.2011
The Stage is a Test Tube
Imagine, if you will, a Petrie dish or a test tube. A test tube is a glass tube, closed at one end. Usually the end is rounded and the opposite end has a slight lip around the opening.
In a lab a test tube can be used many times. Many different reagents are added to the test tube; experiments are carried out. Acids and bases, metals. Water is split into hydrogen and oxygen; nylon is created. A vast array of experiments can be carried out in a single test tube.
If the experimenters are good and follow a strict protocol, they clean the test tube out each time after their experiments. This is done so that the reagents and results from the previous experiments do not affect the following experiments.
Yes, the information learned from previous experiments informs how the experimenters view the results of their next experiments. Yes, the previous experiments will affect what experiments are later run. Yes, what experiments run in other test tubes in other labs affects through the knowledge of the experimenters what happens in said test tube. But the experiment itself is not affected by the reagents of the previous experiments.
The empty performance space is a test tube. It is a blank space that can be a place to run experiments. What has happened in the space before, in other test tubes in other labs, does not have to affect what will happen next in the space. What has come before affects what will come next only in the minds of the experimenters - the performers and audience.
As performers, creators, artists, we need to recognize that a blank slate is possible. If we can clean out a test tube, a petrie dish, wipe a chalk board clean, we can also start with a blank(referenceless) performance space.
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