Michaela Davies
Obstructed Recitals
single channel HD video. stereo audio. total running time 22’31”
The series explores the ways in which struggle, effort, and even failure shape a performance by incorporating a variety of obstructions as a generative strategy. Each performer’s negotiation with their obstruction creates a new piece of music, which may or may not be recognizable as the original piece of music they have chosen to recite. The introduction of a physical obstruction to disrupt the performer achieves the kind of Cage-ian ‘non-intention’ previously sought by experimentalists through other methods. The obstructions imposed upon each performer render a “perfect” realization impossible. Each hindered performance results in a necessarily ‘imperfect’ record of the original piece, in defiance of the received notion of what a recital should be. Obstructed Recitals speaks to the way discomfort and constraint can determine both musical outcomes as well as the trajectory of an artist’s development. As each performer wrestles to play through their chosen piece, they engage in a strange but not entirely unfamiliar negotiation and, in so doing, create a distorted reflection of the struggle for control that occurs both in a beyond the context of musical performance.
credits:
concept, camera, editing:Michaela Davies
post production: Michaela Davies and Boris Bagattini
performers: Kyle Sanna, Dave Smith, Bree van Reyk, Reuben Alexander, Naomi Radom, Tristan McKay
Obstructed Recital #2 (2013) Ain't No Sunshine. Performed by Dave ‘Smoota’ Smith in the shower. Single channel HD video. Stereo audio. 3’17”.
Obstructed Recital #5 (2013) Speak Softy Love. Performed by Naomi Radom in her wardrobe. Single channel HD video. Stereo audio. 2’40”.
Obstructed Recital #6 (2013) Gymnopédie No.1. Performed by Tristan McKay with an entire packet of rubber bands around his fingers. Single channel HD video. Stereo audio. 4’17”.
Obstructed Recital #3 (2013) All Blues. Performed by Bree Van Reyk behind a pile of boxes. Single channel HD video. Stereo audio. 3’07”.
Obstructed Recital #4 (2013) Wild Thing. Performed by Reuben Alexander on his bed. Single channel HD video. Stereo audio. 1’51”.
Obstructed Recital #1 (2013) Stairway to Heaven. Performed by Kyle Sanna wearing mittens. Single channel HD video. Stereo audio. 8’13”.