Bronwyn Averett

Last Saturday B and I went to see the audiovisual installation ICE at the Phi Centre, which combines live contemporary classical music with sound and video projection. We’ve been trying to get to the Phi for a while and let me tell you, you can try to do anything for a while and not get around to doing it during cold & flu season with two kids.

(Sometimes I myself think of creating a conceptual, site-specific, video installation that portrays our home as a petri dish. Which, despite my pandemic-cultivated foray into the wide world of cleaning products, is how I often think of it…)

But we were all well for a moment!

ICE is a collaboration between composer Jimmie Leblanc, artist Fareena Chanda, and physicist Stephen W. Morris, with music performed in this instance by the Paramirabo Ensemble.

LIKED: the overall concept.
Chanda’s statement about the piece on her website claims that: “The slow yet dynamic process of fluid water becoming static ice is characteristically universal, beautiful and violent.”
This rings true to me, and I found it interesting to step back from the everywhere-available theme of ice melting to concentrate some creative energy into the thought of its formation.

LOVED: the music & soundscape
I did get lost within this world. The visual content & music understood each other, and the performance itself was nuanced.

The MEH factor: the spatial context
While watching the performance, I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to get up, walk around, and sort of “wade” through this piece. So I was not surprised when I saw footage from Kareena Chanda’s website showing that this work is normally presented in a smaller space that people can freely roam in and out of. I must say, I can see the appeal, though of course the overall effect worked in a more densely packed situation. Though maybe not quite as well.

Ice [2015] from FareenaC on Vimeo.

So this Saturday we found ourselves down the street at the Salle Pauline-Julien for Alcoléa & cie’s performance of Right in the Eye, an exploration of the films of Georges Méliès set to music.

This performance was so enjoyable. I know that sounds like such a tea cozy of a description but it just was. It is so heartily geared to feeling good which, I have to admit, is a way that I like to feel sometimes.

First of all, the selection of films was on point. It begins with a little “documentary”-style prologue, with the words of Méliès himself and his son, speaking about the great master’s work and approach to theatre and film. This provided context for the films themselves that followed, and helps anyone who isn’t familiar with the grandpère of cinema to understand why he is so important. This part also makes the link between this person’s unique personality, as a human, and the unique career that he had, as a creator.

LIKED: the overall idea and the execution. All you have to say is Georges Méliès + live multi-instrumentalists, and you’ve got me.

LOVED: the music. It is not mere accompaniment to the films but often lives on its own. In fact sometimes I found myself enjoying the music not along with the film but rather more than the film. The catchy musical themes and driving rhythms often existed unto themselves — which is probably the mark of any good cinematic composition. Also any use of strange instruments, sound effects, looping, weird vocal tricks is a win for me. There was frequent use of pitched wine glasses, for example. It was nice to see that that the spirit of the music was so much in line with the spirit of the film — very much a bricolage and craftsmanship, using the materials you have. Technology that implies rather than precludes the use of a certain style of found object-y artisanat…

The MEH factor: the absence of the filmmaker’s most famous work: A Trip to the Moon! It’s ok though, we got to see The Impossible Voyage (which I’d never seen before) and The Kingdom of Fairies (which is my personal fave).