Abracadabra; when the eyes listens, 2013
LOPO, Colby College, Waterville, ME
20 feet x 50 feet x 55 feet.
see links to youtube below for complete performance.

Abracadabra; When the eye listens is a collaborative installation that was made for the music department at Colby College.

This is what happened:
I was given a performance space called LOPO in which to build a work.
This work was generated in response to the architecture in it's past and present usage, student dialogue on synesthesia, the Rothko Chapel and Morton Feldman's works on the Rothko Chapel.

I collaborated with composer Luke Martin who also made an audio composition in response to LOPO. (Luke's composition was generated by measuring the room and converting it's dimensions proportions and wall angles directly into wavelengths.)

Luke and I then made our works in response to one another's actions within the space.
The composition was brought to life on April 12, 2013 in a collaborative performance.

Within this performance Luke and I collaborated with 5 music composition students and two neuro science students from Colby College.

It consisted of three different movements:
1. An audience participatory contemplative looking, listening, drawing exercise.
2. Luke Martin' s composition played in it's entirety.
3. Composition students performing an abracadabra word pyramid on viola and baritone sax while reading poetry written about our process.

To see the performance in it's entirety follow these youtube links:

part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5

A big thank you to collaborators:

Luke Martin
Devin Gibbs
Adam Thompson
Philip Champoux
Anhduy Nguyen
Jane Allen
Patrick Blinkhorn
Stephen Webel