BALLOON SYMPHONY NO. 2
My Balloon Symphony No. 2 consists of two video projections with instructions for audience participation. The audience is divided into two groups, each watching a separate video. Each group is given balloons and other appropriate items needed for playing the symphony. The videos not only provide an educational and fun interactive experience for the audience, but also guide them to question and challenge the instructions on the screen. The audience performs the live soundtrack to the silent videos.
In the above excerpts from the piece, the top panel is documentation of a performance at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in April 2009. The two bottom panels are the two parts of the video score that are being projected onto two screens in the room.
This piece was inspired by my research on Nam June Paik’s work, especially “Electronic Opera No. 2”, created for a general audience to view on WGBH Boston in 1972. (Interpretation of Nam June Paik’s entire body of work as musical composition was the topic of my Ph.D. colloquium at Stony Brook University.)
Balloon Symphony No. 2 was premiered at Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA, March 2005; New York City premiere at Eyebeam, June 2006; European premiere at Gewerbemuseum “MuseumTagNacht,” Winterhur, Switzerland May 2008. The piece has also has been presented at Renee Weiler Concert Hall (New York City), Center for the Arts at Wesleyan University, Music with a View at Flea Theater (New York City), Extrapool (Nijmegen, Netherlands), University of Alabama, Academy of Media Arts Cologne, Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera (Milan), University of Michigan., Audio Art Festival Krakow, Axis Arts Center at Manchester Metropolitan University (Crewe, U.K.), New Genre Arts Festival (Tulsa, Oklahoma) and MACBA (Museum of Contemporary Art Barcelona).
In the above excerpts from the piece, the top panel is documentation of a performance at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in April 2009. The two bottom panels are the two parts of the video score that are being projected onto two screens in the room.
This piece was inspired by my research on Nam June Paik’s work, especially “Electronic Opera No. 2”, created for a general audience to view on WGBH Boston in 1972. (Interpretation of Nam June Paik’s entire body of work as musical composition was the topic of my Ph.D. colloquium at Stony Brook University.)
Balloon Symphony No. 2 was premiered at Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA, March 2005; New York City premiere at Eyebeam, June 2006; European premiere at Gewerbemuseum “MuseumTagNacht,” Winterhur, Switzerland May 2008. The piece has also has been presented at Renee Weiler Concert Hall (New York City), Center for the Arts at Wesleyan University, Music with a View at Flea Theater (New York City), Extrapool (Nijmegen, Netherlands), University of Alabama, Academy of Media Arts Cologne, Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera (Milan), University of Michigan., Audio Art Festival Krakow, Axis Arts Center at Manchester Metropolitan University (Crewe, U.K.), New Genre Arts Festival (Tulsa, Oklahoma) and MACBA (Museum of Contemporary Art Barcelona).