reliquary of labor

is a parallel-media work-in-progress that incorporates the performing forces of electronic cello, percussion duo, multi-channel computer generated and manipulated sound, multi-channel video and a variety of web-based components.

It is conceived as a challenge to traditional performance practice and form. Typically a new work is created and developed in private and then shared or premiered only when it is "finished" or "ready". Control over what is heard and seen (i.e. the performance moment) is of primary if not singular importance. In contrast, reliquary of labor will refocus the attention of the audience/viewer on the materials and labor of creation as part of a performance continuum. This will allow them to observe and contemplate the work-in-progress as it is revealed both to and by the artists. The primary area of "discovery" is the simplicity and beauty of the banal during the process of construction.

From initial sketches and finalized blueprints on the architect's drafting table, to public viewing of architectural models, breaking ground, arrival of construction materials, usage of materials, refuse generated by the process, construction of the outer shell of the building and exterior work, interior construction and finishing work and finally the grand opening and usage of the building, a kind of unacknowledged ritual of construction is suggested. All of these elements inform the creation process and performance continuum of reliquary of labor.


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