Asheville, NC
November 18, 2017
with original score by Laura Baird
Music for Modernist Shapes was a site-specific
installation and performance that reimagined a 1936 theater piece Bauhaus alum Xanti Schawinsky made at Black Mountain College. The historic
performance, Spectodrama, included folded paper costumes, light projections and live music.
Composer/multi-instrumentalist Laura Baird wrote an original score drawing
on archival scores from Schawinsky’s performance collaborations with Black
Mountain College music teacher John Evarts, 1930s avant garde music and
Appalachian folk songs from the Black Mountain region. Laura and I activated my objects and costumes, conjuring the memory of
this little-known piece from the experimental college’s rich performance
history.
Commissioned by Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center as part of ACTIVE ARCHIVE: Martha McDonald, an exhibition I curated from the museum's permanent collection and an installation and performance made in response to the collection.
Photos and video by Michael Oppenheim.
