Rhythms, Traces, Foliation

3 doublebasses on a paper stage – 2014 – 15-40′

2014 – 15-40′ – three doublebasses on wheels on a paper stage

This concert/installation piece was written in collaboration with the set designer Martina Bauer. The triggering ideas around which we worked together included my previous interest in calligraphy, rhythm as a parameter which could connect both our creative fields, and the idea of cyclical time as related to natural processes such as the formation, growth, degradation and fall of leaves, which I mistakenly named foliation.

Martina devised several models of wheels which would allow the doublebasses to move around while, at the same time, leave a trace of ink, so that they could «write» with their movements on the huge paper floor. This floor would open up like a growing leave at the beginning of the piece and (spoiler alert!) would end up torn appart by the end of the performance. The sound and the image of that opening ended up being one of the most interesting moments to experience in the whole piece.

The nature of the time structure, strictly organized and loosely deployed in performance, gave the piece a strong structural coherence and flow (according to an opinion by a well informed member of the audience) as well as a great deal of time flexibility and, perhaps, organicism.

The piece was given two performances (by Jesse Solway, Stephan Raidl and Ana Belén López): the first of them lasted for about 35-40′ while the second of them lasted 15′.