II - PAS Performance Art Studies 2014

In the framework of the Educational Learning Program of the VENICE INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE ART WEEK, Studio Contemporaneo and Live Arts Cultures in collaboration with PAS | Performance Art Studies presented the second of a series of practical workshops on performance art in Venice:

CREAKING WOODEN FISH
Summer Class by PAS | Performance Art Studies
Intensive studies on the praxis of performance art
C32performingartworkspace, Forte Marghera, Venice (IT)
May 17 - 24, 2015

CREAKING WOODEN FISH - PAS#39

According to G. Marconi (1), a sound never stops to propagate. It means that by emitting a sound we give life to a process that, theoretically, never ends and produces waves advancing in space and time, encountering fluids, bodies, objects and other waves. John Cage closed himself in an anechoic chamber (2), perfectly soundproof, looking for the pure silence. But once adapted to the noise of silence, he started to hear and feel the vibrations of his heartbeat and the flow of his own blood. According to Cage’s experience we could say that where there is life, there is sound.
We perceive sound and noise in form of vibration that can stimulate both the thin membrane of our inner ear and nerve receptors in our skin. We can hear the buzz of the hummingbird's wings, feel the vibrations of a pneumatic hammer on our chest, be woken by an alarm clock, follow the sound of a voice, enjoy the silent atmosphere of a natural environment -like on a mountain -, or the rhythmic repetition of the waves -like on a shore, or tremble, without knowing it, to the rhythm of a washing machine. Actually, in term of vibrations, we can hear or feel a sound all over the body. We can be touched, caressed, even overwhelmed by a violent sound, or by a light vibration. In everyday life we are like a surface which unconsciously collects vibrations of every nature and kind. That's why we need to be able to listen: with the entire body.
A wooden fish is a percussion instrument with sacred features in Eastern religions and cultures, – which is a curious thing, because the fish (no mention of Mammals) is the best known example of dumb animal, which produces no sound. Perhaps it is because silence is a pre-condition for the occurrence of the sound and listening to it, that in certain temples they start praying hitting the symbol of silence itself: the fish, the muteness.
Between the necessary presence of the silence and the chaotic symphony of everyday life, every culture finds ways to play that symphony, or listen to it, and every person can play the body itself to the rhythm of that music, or can even play that music through her/his body.
Whatever way we approach the theme of the sound, it interrogates us on the level of consciousness of our perception, and on the dominance of some senses compared to others, revealing the potential of listening as a means of interpretation, communication and action in relation to the environment and people around us. “Shut your eyes and see”, wrote Joyce in his Ulysses to let Stephen Dedalus hear and perceive beyond his eyes, walking on a shore. (3) CREAKING WOODEN FISH will take place in May on the shore of the Venetian lagoon, where we continue to explore these and other topics, and stimulate further our curiosity, offering an occasion of researching the relationship between body and sound.

NOTES
(1) Guglielmo Marconi is known for his pioneering work on long-distance radio transmission. He is often credited as the inventor of radio, and he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand Braun "in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy”.
(2) An anechoic chamber (an-echoic, meaning echo-free) is a room designed to completely absorb reflections of either sound or electromagnetic waves.
(3) “Shut your eyes and see… Stephen closed his eyes to hear his boots crush crackling wrack and shells… A very short space of time through very short times of space...Exactly: and that is the ineluctable modality of the audible.” James Joyce, Ulysses, Episode 3 - Proteus.

PAS | Performance Art Studies is an independent educational program offering intensive studies to young artists, art students and others interested in performance art, since 2008. The aim of these studies is to provide the participants with a comprehensive form of teaching on performance art, everywhere in the world and always in cooperation with performance art festivals, art academies, museums and galleries. Facilitated by BBB Johannes Deimling and Francesco Kiais.
GUEST TEACHERS: Andrigo&Aliprandi. Dancer and performer Marianna Andrigo and artist Aldo Aliprandi have been collaborating since 2009, combining their interest in movement, sound, video, site-specific performances and installations. Sound and space are the elements that, together with the action, build the vision that can lead to different interpretations in the viewer. Since 2012 they are co-curators of C32 performingartworkspace in Venice, producing performing arts and hosting international artist-in-residence programs. | liveartscultures.org

VENICE INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE ART WEEK Following the first edition Hybrid Body - Poetic Body that took place in December 2012 at Palazzo Bembo, the 2nd live art exhibition project took place at Palazzo Mora in Venice in December 2014 under the focus Ritual Body - Political Body. The ongoing ART WEEK | WORKSHOP SERIES is part of the Learning Program of the ART WEEK. The VENICE INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE ART WEEK ART WEEK is a project by VestAndPage and Studio Contemporaneo, realized in collaboration with Venice Open Gates, We Exhibit, Live Arts Cultures and Global Art Affairs Foundation. www.veniceperformanceart.org