Pr3t 195

Pure Research with Nightswimming, revised project description.

Heather Nicol My inquiry is focused on the way sound resonates when juxtaposed with objects and materials outside of our typical repertoire for listening. Without a conventional stage or live actors, and without familiar narrative or musical structures, is there a will to listen?

Can sound be a vehicle for discourse on social expectations, on desire, on control, on anxiety?

I intend to experiment with the details of sounds generated by voices. These processes will explore: 1) What happens to how we hear / what we hear when the source is invisible? Much of theater involves watching the live source of sound in the form of actors and their actions. When the prime focus is other than watching the sound being made, do we hear differently?

2) What does connection sound like? How do we feel or identify it? For instance, if we listen to the same “sound score” twice, one in which the actors are in the same time / space, and the other where the actors are separated, will it sound different, and if so, how, specifically? What is it that we hear on recorded material that reveals interaction, actual connection, response? What does isolation sound like in subtle terms?

3) What words or sounds will be made? What language will be spoken? Whose voices? Who is included, who is left out? How does voice identify race, socioeconomic standing, gender and other identity categorizations, and how will these hierarchies influence my work? How is it possible to use voice as a vehicle without these issues dominating? Can they be eliminated?

4) How can sounds be emotionally intense and honest, without being ridiculous or cliché? Can humor fit in? What sounds will draw in what visual artists often refer to as “viewers”, and hold them there, even if it’s uncomfortable?

5) How can repetitive phrases or clips, uttered in seemingly different contexts, with possibly different meanings, be employed to explore our complex, multifaceted identities?

My experiments would be conducted with live actors and (my own) recording equipment.

I am interested in the way time is both captured and severed when sound is recorded (as opposed to performed). I would like to experiment with compression, overlaying and fragmentation by having the actors listen to and respond to the recorded materials we generate. I propose approximately four sessions of vocal experimentation with a cast of six men and women, to last in the range of five hours. I am interested in both “directing” certain specific scenarios conceived of in advance, but also working collaboratively with the participants in an improvisational way. I would not need the same participants for each session, although I suspect that gathering of all of the voices involved for the final meeting would be excellent. I am keenly interested in the interactions between the actors.

The sound score for Psst! evolved over a series of meetings where I generated guided

vocal improvisations for six women. Through my response to what evolved, and further guidance, the sound score was collaboratively created.

I am interested in questions of process. How does an artist whose background and practice is using inanimate materials translate to a “human resource”? What art processes / words apply to “live material”….stretching, scrambling, reformatting, constructing, layering. How can an experience with actors, which by it’s nature is an exchange, be both expanded and altered by the hand of a visual artist? By experimenting with voice as soundscape, an element in a multimedia object, I believe that I will offer the participants in my research an opportunity to expand their practices. The definition of “performance” is extremely different for me than for someone who creates works for the stage. For instance, the movement and physical manifestation of any “character” would in most instances be developed by an actor integrally with the sound of that character. Even creating the dialog for an animated character would typically be in some way bound to the body. Limitations of the body may often extend to limitations of the voice. When sound is only required as a particular aspect of an eventual total, the potential for expansion seems immense. The possibility of voice as one end of a polarity, one dimension without the burden of a total actualization of sound, may be liberating.

Without carrying the majority, the actors may experience new pulls, tensions and unfamiliar reference points.

As my practice has expanded to include sound and voice, I would benefit tremendously by working with people I do not know. Removing myself from the social interaction of gathering people together, and disconnecting myself from worrying about how they are feeling about my process will allow me to move further into the unknown. (Not that I intend to be an insensitive oaf). A structure such as the one you offer would allow me to explore the voice as one of many “art materials” in my repertoire, without the pressure of bringing the efforts and contributions of the actors to a specific venue or project.

My new work is evolving toward an interest in desire. I would love to mimic a “speed dating” scene, with individual voices encountering new potential lovers over and over, examining both anxiety and the need for acceptance. I am fascinated by our attempts at connection, often resulting in isolation or conflict in the process.