When Maria Chavez decided in 2005 that her performances would no longer be recorded, she was taking a radical stance. In the age of documentation, we hardly differentiate between the recorded event and the event itself. As though gifted with an ability to “play back” time, we watch a video, see a photo, or listen to an audio file, feeling connected to moments and spaces our physical bodies didn’t actually occupy. But Maria, who lightheartedly refers to herself as an “involuntary purist,” has taken the already ephemeral medium of sound, and heightened its fleeting nature by refusing to let us experience it secondhand. You are either there during the performance or you’re not. This isn’t about exclusivity; it’s about fully engaging with the present moment – to cultivate an atmosphere where everyone has an increased awareness of time, its passage, and the paradox provided by the constant pulse of a new now.
Maria, who has worked with dance legend Merce Cunningham and sound master Otomo Yoshihide, will be performing “Castor and Pollux” at White Box twice tonight (Wednesday the 26th) at 7 and 9, with a solo performance by Sean Meehan in between. Inspired by the myth of Gemini*, she will play a record cut into fragments, and strategically glued atop a second, intact, record of the same recording, playing on themes of sacrifice, brotherhood, and loyalty.
*When Castor died, his immortal twin, Pollux, begged the gods to let him share his immortality to keep them together, so they were transformed into the Gemini constellation.
www.whiteboxny.org
www.mynamelookslikeme.blogspot.com
www.myspace.com/mariachavez
