Inspiration
Explorations, reflections, and creations of things which inspire me.
I am inspired to combine movement with my flute playing.
This has turned into an artistic search to find flute solos which incorporate choreographed body movement or stage directions. The repertoire I am finding will form the performance portfolio requirement of my PhD. Repertoire chosen for my first year is:
Karl Stockhausen Thinki
Oliver Knussen Masks
Matthew Shlomowitz Left, Right, Up, Down, Pogo
Brett Dean Demons
Demons only has one movement direction: to turn around slowly in the final 3 bars (and even that is optional). However, this piece sparked my search to find other repertoire which included movement. I was very taken by the idea of physically moving away from the audience to create an even softer dynamic, and now seek to manipulate sounds through other movements and stage directions.
I also want to explore quasi-dance-choreography in flute music. The above pieces include singular actions or directions to move to certain stage positions. I would like to experiment with more continuous choreographed movements, which may be a reaction to the musical stimuli or help produce a particular sound.
Aesthetically, I am drawn to the visual effects of combing movement and flute playing. During my brief foray into this field so far, I have found I require a greater understanding of how my body moves to create certain visual/kinaesthetic outcomes. As a musician, I have spent much time practising internal body movements (articulation, breathing, control of tempo), but have not spent much time reflecting or exploring my external movement and flexibility.
I am inspired by Coco Rocha’s 1000 Poses book (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpAeMbbW46k, http://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780062328144/#sm.00000ojr5o82c5dzqvs0pnn3rme5r), which features 1000 black and white photographs of model, Coco Rocha, exploring human movement and flexibility through pose. Piloting my own mini photographic sequence (completely informal – shot on a humble camera phone), there is definitely room for further exploration and understanding of my own movement. In the three photographs below, I particularly like the movement of the bottom of my dress. Next step: sourcing the right equipment.
This has turned into an artistic search to find flute solos which incorporate choreographed body movement or stage directions. The repertoire I am finding will form the performance portfolio requirement of my PhD. Repertoire chosen for my first year is:
Karl Stockhausen Thinki
Oliver Knussen Masks
Matthew Shlomowitz Left, Right, Up, Down, Pogo
Brett Dean Demons
Demons only has one movement direction: to turn around slowly in the final 3 bars (and even that is optional). However, this piece sparked my search to find other repertoire which included movement. I was very taken by the idea of physically moving away from the audience to create an even softer dynamic, and now seek to manipulate sounds through other movements and stage directions.
I also want to explore quasi-dance-choreography in flute music. The above pieces include singular actions or directions to move to certain stage positions. I would like to experiment with more continuous choreographed movements, which may be a reaction to the musical stimuli or help produce a particular sound.
Aesthetically, I am drawn to the visual effects of combing movement and flute playing. During my brief foray into this field so far, I have found I require a greater understanding of how my body moves to create certain visual/kinaesthetic outcomes. As a musician, I have spent much time practising internal body movements (articulation, breathing, control of tempo), but have not spent much time reflecting or exploring my external movement and flexibility.
I am inspired by Coco Rocha’s 1000 Poses book (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpAeMbbW46k, http://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780062328144/#sm.00000ojr5o82c5dzqvs0pnn3rme5r), which features 1000 black and white photographs of model, Coco Rocha, exploring human movement and flexibility through pose. Piloting my own mini photographic sequence (completely informal – shot on a humble camera phone), there is definitely room for further exploration and understanding of my own movement. In the three photographs below, I particularly like the movement of the bottom of my dress. Next step: sourcing the right equipment.
Simone Maurer, Extending, 2017
Simone Maurer, Leading, 2017
Simone Maurer, Landing, 2017
Combining flute playing with movement provides some challenges; the foremost being the strain on my breathing. In the past, I have strengthened my ability to play when feeling breathless by practising while pedalling an exercise bike. The lower body efforts raise my heart and breathing rates, and I do my best to control my breathing. I now actively incorporate cardio, Pilates, yoga, and flexibility exercises into my daily routine.
Other challenges include: maintaining embouchure control when bending over, strong resistance against the flute when turning from side to side very quickly, breathing deeply when arching back, and moving into positions without use of the arms.
Simone Maurer, Untitled, 2017
Stillness, or a lack of movement, is also a beautiful aesthetic in performance. I don’t believe every piece should be choreographed, and I am interested in pursuing the concept of stillness in performance.
Stillness, or a lack of movement, is also a beautiful aesthetic in performance. I don’t believe every piece should be choreographed, and I am interested in pursuing the concept of stillness in performance.
I am inspired by Portuguese artist Helena Almeida.
I first came across Almeida's artwork when visiting the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, in January 2016. Her themes, particularly of body, temporality, movement, and performance space, inspired me to think how I could apply similar concepts to my own practice. The exhibition information panel has been included below (in italics).
HELENA ALMEIDA
MY WORK IS MY BODY, MY BODY IS MY WORK
Helena Almedia (Lisbon, 1934) has been producing singular work since the 1960s in which the importance of the body - registering, occupying and defining space - and its performative encounter with the world have been defining concerns. With over eighty works in painting, photography, video, and drawing, this exhibition brings together the photographic series for which the artist is best known with rarely-seen works from throughout her pioneering artistic career.
Almeida's early abstract paintings, presented in the first galleries of the exhibition, introduce central themes of her artistic practcice, namely the interest in addressing the limits of pictorial and narrative space. This play with form, line and colour evolved in the 1970s into performative photographic compositions, inflected with a feminist and post-revolutionary stance towards representation. The distinct space of the artist's studio and a fragmented or partially obscured female body became recurring presences in her work.
At the site of both political and personal expression, the body represented in these images encounters and manipulates the surrounding world - it acts, touches, senses and marks, leaving behind it moving traces as drawn lines, shaping itself into a variety of forms and outlines. The choreography and composition of many of these works are meticulously sketched in studies and preparatory drawings, evincing a remarkable use of space and the emotive power and movement of the human body.
'Helena Almeida: My Work is My Body, My Body is My Work' is curated by Marta Moreira da Almeida, Head of Exhibitions and Curator, and João, Senior Curator and Deputy Director of Serralves Museum. The exhibition is co-produced by the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, Jeu de Paume, Paris, and WIELS, Brussles.
In some of her photography sequences, Almeida also uses blue paint (which some liken to the Yves Klein Blue: http://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/2924/helena-almeida-study-for-inner-improvement). The juxtaposition of paint and photograph demand more engagement from the viewer. My usual one-way experience of viewing a photograph is disturbed; Almeida, transcending the photograph's boundary, is meeting me halfway. I look closer to try to comprehend how the elements were composed, yet also ‘zoom out’ to look across the sequence of shots. Feminist representation aside, they’re also humourous and playful.
I first came across Almeida's artwork when visiting the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, in January 2016. Her themes, particularly of body, temporality, movement, and performance space, inspired me to think how I could apply similar concepts to my own practice. The exhibition information panel has been included below (in italics).
HELENA ALMEIDA
MY WORK IS MY BODY, MY BODY IS MY WORK
Helena Almedia (Lisbon, 1934) has been producing singular work since the 1960s in which the importance of the body - registering, occupying and defining space - and its performative encounter with the world have been defining concerns. With over eighty works in painting, photography, video, and drawing, this exhibition brings together the photographic series for which the artist is best known with rarely-seen works from throughout her pioneering artistic career.
Almeida's early abstract paintings, presented in the first galleries of the exhibition, introduce central themes of her artistic practcice, namely the interest in addressing the limits of pictorial and narrative space. This play with form, line and colour evolved in the 1970s into performative photographic compositions, inflected with a feminist and post-revolutionary stance towards representation. The distinct space of the artist's studio and a fragmented or partially obscured female body became recurring presences in her work.
At the site of both political and personal expression, the body represented in these images encounters and manipulates the surrounding world - it acts, touches, senses and marks, leaving behind it moving traces as drawn lines, shaping itself into a variety of forms and outlines. The choreography and composition of many of these works are meticulously sketched in studies and preparatory drawings, evincing a remarkable use of space and the emotive power and movement of the human body.
'Helena Almeida: My Work is My Body, My Body is My Work' is curated by Marta Moreira da Almeida, Head of Exhibitions and Curator, and João, Senior Curator and Deputy Director of Serralves Museum. The exhibition is co-produced by the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, Jeu de Paume, Paris, and WIELS, Brussles.
In some of her photography sequences, Almeida also uses blue paint (which some liken to the Yves Klein Blue: http://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/2924/helena-almeida-study-for-inner-improvement). The juxtaposition of paint and photograph demand more engagement from the viewer. My usual one-way experience of viewing a photograph is disturbed; Almeida, transcending the photograph's boundary, is meeting me halfway. I look closer to try to comprehend how the elements were composed, yet also ‘zoom out’ to look across the sequence of shots. Feminist representation aside, they’re also humourous and playful.
Helena Almeida, Study for Inner Improvement, 1977
Helena Almeida, Study for Inner Improvement, 1977
Helena Almeida, Study for Inner Improvement, 1977
Helena Almeida, Study for Inner Improvement, 1977
Helena Almeida, Study for Inner Improvement, 1977
Helena Almeida, Study for Inner Improvement, 1977
Helena Almeida, Study for Inner Improvement, 1977
Almeida's series Study for Inner Improvement (1977) particularly resonated with me and I created my own seven-shot photographic sequence as an homage. Although, my last shot is a more assured conclusion.
Simone Maurer, Homage to Almeida's Study for Inner Improvement (1), 2016
Simone Maurer, Homage to Almeida's Study for Inner Improvement (2), 2016
Simone Maurer, Homage to Almeida's Study for Inner Improvement (3), 2016
Simone Maurer, Homage to Almeida's Study for Inner Improvement (4), 2016
Simone Maurer, Homage to Almeida's Study for Inner Improvement (5), 2016
Simone Maurer, Homage to Almeida's Study for Inner Improvement (6), 2016
Simone Maurer, Homage to Almeida's Study for Inner Improvement (7), 2016
Homage to Almeida's Study for Inner Improvement, reflects my process of learning, practising, and performing a composition. When learning the piece, I gather opinions, listen to recordings, analyse the score, and add my own interpretations – photographs (1), (2), (3), and (4). After ‘covering’ myself with these interpretative possibilities, I begin to refine my ideas – photographs (5) and (6). Photograph (7) represents my performance rendition in which I still retain ideas from elsewhere, but ultimately remain true to my own interpretation.
Homage to Almeida's Study for Inner Improvement, reflects my process of learning, practising, and performing a composition. When learning the piece, I gather opinions, listen to recordings, analyse the score, and add my own interpretations – photographs (1), (2), (3), and (4). After ‘covering’ myself with these interpretative possibilities, I begin to refine my ideas – photographs (5) and (6). Photograph (7) represents my performance rendition in which I still retain ideas from elsewhere, but ultimately remain true to my own interpretation.
Also in Almeida's Study for Inner Improvement (1977) series are the following six photographs, again layered with blue acrylic paint.
Helena Almeida, Study for Inner Improvement, 1977
Perhaps this is Almeida's response to Klein's use of blue paint. While Klein negated the female form down to mute tools of his craft, going so far as dragging them across canvases thereby dictating their every move, Almeida's work reverses this subjugation, chewing up, swallowing the paint that is the instrument of Klein's dominance in an act of liberation for women and artists in general. (http://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/2924/helena-almeida-study-for-inner-improvement)
My re-creation of Almedia’s above Study has a different meaning and context. I am intrigued by concepts related to ‘consuming’ music: chewing up and spitting out music; savouring musical experiences; and the eating of countless notes when sight-reading. At a young age, I remember a musing during a practice session: while struggling to read through a new, difficult piece, I wondered if it were possible to physically grab the notes off the page, chew them up, and play them out my flute. The taste of the final note still on my lips.
I call this eight shot sequence Consuming the Score (2017).
I call this eight shot sequence Consuming the Score (2017).
Simone Maurer, Consuming the Score (1), 2017
Simone Maurer, Consuming the Score (2), 2017
Simone Maurer, Consuming the Score (3), 2017
Simone Maurer, Consuming the Score (4), 2017
Simone Maurer, Consuming the Score (5), 2017
Simone Maurer, Consuming the Score (6), 2017
Simone Maurer, Consuming the Score (7), 2017
Simone Maurer, Consuming the Score (8), 2017