4 Composers: Laurie Anderson, Tania Leon, Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveros & 4 Artists: Robert Ryman, Eva Hesse, Bruce Nauman, Susan Rothenberg

Free admission

at 11:00

The Sensual Nature of Sound: 4 Composers, Laurie Anderson, Tania Leon, Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveros

2011

(58 min.)

The Sensual Nature of Sound is a document portraying the personalities and work of four prominent composers and experimental artists based to New York. Although they share a quest for lyrical storytelling, each artist has experimented with his or her own distinctive voice. Since the early 1980s, Laurie Anderson has used electronic music and performance art as the basis for the multimedia theater shows that would become her trademark. Tania Leon, born to Cuba, composes orchestral music that is an intricate weaving of Afro-Cuban elements and Latin jazz incorporated into a Western classical concert format. Meredith Monk experiments with new ideas in musical theater and develops a unique genre of opera. With concepts such as "deep listening" and "sound awareness," Pauline Oliveros drew on ritual, myth, meditation and improvisation, creating a visionary body of work. Filmed during rehearsals and performances in the United States and abroad, The Sensual Nature of Sound examines the contributions of these diverse composers to contemporary American music.

at 12:00

4 Artists: Robert Ryman, Eva Hesse, Bruce Nauman, Susan Rothenberg

1988

(48 min.)

4 Artists takes the form of a collective portrait of Robert Ryman, Eva Hesse, Bruce Nauman and Susan Rothenberg, artists linked only by their stated intention to express ideas through art, untethered from traditional concepts of beauty, narrative or pictorial representation. The film provides an opportunity to view the large body of work in each artist's studio. The artists discuss how their work has changed, as has public perception. They describe the context in which the works were made and their critical considerations.

Italian subtitles