by Megan Nicely
MR Festival Spring 2008: Somewhere Out There
The questions began to flood in during the last piece: How can groups of people enter into the same dream (or was this only a 60s phenomena)? Can dream logic be adopted and furthered outside of the initial container? Are dreamers self-involved or merely communicating differently? Do dreams have dialogues, or only monologues that we choose to stand behind (the presidential election)? How do our dreams become bigger than us…or not? These are the things I want to know more about.
24x4x4, the performance at Judson Wednesday night, addressed these issues with varying answers. Without program information I cannot adequately cite the artists and their works, but here’s a stab: a joyride in a (borrowed?!) Mercedes smelled like teen spirit; human and action figures exchanged places in a Twilight Zone-like world of shifting perspectives; an arty-art collage of image and sound meandered in a dimly lit basement; and a slow-motion tech crew, as if dropped into a Brothers Quay film, patiently explored their tools and craft. What seemed clear from the evening as a whole was that dreams involve technology, confined spaces, and not too much bodily movement.
My patience waxed and waned. I had non-acid flashbacks to high school and college, fast forward images of the big dance and technology merger. Who will use whom? To me, the second piece used video in the service of the piece—helping realize an idea—rather than standing as the take-off point/reason for making the work itself (i.e., do you use technology, or does it use you?) In this work, the dropped pixels were like maggots, eating into the bodies on the dissecting table, while the small action figures quietly took charge. Open a kitchen appliance, or take a sip of beer, and your world is reconfigured.
I would love to hear from the artists on the 24-hour research process, particularly about its aftereffects. It would be interesting for this project to have a second phase—perhaps developing and showing the pieces again 48 (or so) hours later. This could be one more step toward a dialogue that harnesses these dreams—and us along with them.
