Revised and expanded
The question - "for whom this art is?" has always been relevant to me. Now, against the backdrop of the ongoing war, the search for the sense of it in my essay, as well as understanding the topic of globalization and Relational Aesthetics, I want to think about people who never go to contemporary art museums, theatres and other places of modern art. I do not have a ready-made solution for such a global problem, so I will start small.
Immersive theatre, contemporary dance, music and visual arts - I want to try to combine different branches of art in order to attract audiences with parallel interests.
In November 2019, I visited an exhibition at the Pompidou Center in Metz, part of which was devoted to the theatre. One of the annotations to the exhibition stated:
“Many composers see opera as a sacred space, or one that is attuned to the divine. It is, through its monumentality and ability to alert all the senses, a total and transcendental art form. Conjunctions of colour, sounds and images are at the heart of this section. Synesthesia - the physical manifestation of transfers between sight and hearing - appears to pave the way for phenomena such as epiphany and communion.” Pompidou Center in Metz. November 2019
If composers consider opera and sound to be divine, then for me it is colour, but at the same time, I agree that together these two elements form the other level of art. Since I am a synaesthete, and I not only understand but also feel what is written here, I agree with the statement about gaining epiphany through such mixtures.
In one of Arnold Schoenberg's works on display at the exhibition, with the unfinished opera Moses und Aron, the focus lies on the tension between words and music. This work arose as a personal Schoenberg shock from the harassment of the Jews that began in Germany in the early 20s of the twentieth century.
Much later, the Italian theatre director Romeo Castellucci added incredible visuals to this piece. The opera has evolved into a multi-sensory experience. Black paint spread over the souls of the people and flooded the entire scene creating a metaphor for the Nazi regime. Straightforwardly shown horror, supported by text and music, creates an unambiguous feeling of an experienced tragedy. There is no scenery, here all the objects, clothes, colours are mobile and dynamic.
Moses und Aron | Philippe Jordan & Romeo Castellucci
This is an opera and there are two dominants - sound and picture, perhaps static scenery will be more suitable for dance and music.
In contrast, another production with static scenery.
The set for 'Feather Mantle' based on a painting by Julie Mehretu [online] At: https://www.nieuwenoten.nl/?p=1981 (Accessed 03.01.2023)
"... 'Only the Sound Remains', the opera by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, ... born in 1952, ... opera lies with the Japanese Nôh theatre. An archaic form of theater strongly associated with Zen Buddhism that is more about conveying ideas than telling a story. … [stage setting by Peter] Sellars asked the Ethiopian American artist Julie Mehretu, who painted an abstract canvas in black and gray tones that resembles Japanese calligraphy. Sellars has Gyokei [one of the characters] appear only on the front of the canvas, but the ghost on both the front and the back, symbolizing that the spirit can move from one world to another. By working with light, darkness and shadows, the core of the Nôh theater literally becomes visible: The light is largely hidden in the darkness so as not to dazzle mere mortals. …" Only the Sound remains – Kaija Saariaho (Concert Review) Posted March 28, 2016 by Ben Taffin. Dutch National Opera & Balet, Amsterdam – March 27, 2016 [online] At: https://www.nieuwenoten.nl/?p=1981behar (Accessed 03.01.2023)
And again here is a multi-layered composition of text, music, performance, and theatre where a specially created transparent painting forms a feeling of this and the hereafter worlds. Because the production is so heavily loaded with contextual references, the theatrical setting is incredibly balanced in this case. It becomes an inseparable part of the space in which the characters live.
I also remembered the scenery projects that I saw in March 2022 Cologne. The burning red remained in my memory and matured as the idea of incarnation. It was the scenery projects (from 1914) for Richard Wagner's Parsifal. Wagner's last opera was meant to contrast themes like "demonic and light, sensual and spiritual" (Gozenpud A. A. Parsifal // Opera Dictionary / Ed. I. Golubkovsky. - M., L .: Music, 1965. p. .301)
It is interesting to note that in 2008 Norwegian opera director Stefan Herheim staged Parsifal at Bayreuth. “Its aim was to present the "Bühnenweihfestspiel" as a history of Germany as well as a history of Bayreuth itself.” Parsifal [online] At: http://www.wagneroperas.com/indexparsifalherheimproduction2008.html (Accessed 03.01.2023)
Parsifal, Act I [online] At: http://www.wagneroperas.com/indexparsifalherheimproduction2008.html (Accessed 03.01.2023)
The scenery and buildings on the stage changed to emphasize the theme, era, mood and acts. Interesting for me was the place (towards the end of the second act) where social nationalism comes to power. The tragedy is also accompanied by dark colours, subdued lights, bloodstains and dramatic music and words...
It was in 2008, but this style of singing doesn't look modern to me.
Is it possible to replace the style of performance of the text and leave the music?
For example, how Barbara Hannigan (Canadian soprano) does it here.
Incredible stops, nervous jumps, quotes and interpretations of the works of other authors. The Hungarian composer György Ligeti, when writing the opera Le Grand Macabre, was inspired by his childhood memories, as well as by Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel. And indeed I see something inspired by small bustling creatures or/and people. Their jerkiness correlates with the rhythm of the music.
So, probably, in order for Wagner's text to sound in a new way, you need to change the rhythm of the music ...
In the summer of 2022, I watched one of the productions of my favourite choreographer Sharon Eyal in Stuttgart.
"The Brutal Journey of the Heart ends with separation and healing: Chapter 3 concludes a trilogy about love ... After the obsession of love and its fragmentation, this piece deals with healing the wound, with processes of repair and reassembly, the rediscovery of lightness." L-E-V Sharon Eyal | Gai Behar: Chapter 3: The Brutal Journey of the Heart [online] At: https://www.coloursdancefestival.com/en/programme/stage/l-e-v-sharon-eyal-gai-behar (Accessed 03.01.2023)
Inspired by such a complex performance, I could not get rid of the idea to complete this production with decorations. The Brutal Journey of the Heart speaks of past love and the pains of recovery. It correlates these days with what I'm experiencing.
The theme of shattered love, revealed with modern, jittery, ragged rhythms and an onslaught of emotions through movement, is the healing power that viewers need now. Throughout the performance, there was no scenery at all, only massive use of light.
The costumes for The Brutal Journey of the Heart were created by Maria Grazia Chiuri - Christian Dior Couture.
For her latest show Spring-Summer 2023, she invited Eva Jospin to create an entire city out of cardboard.
The very natural colour of the whole work does not interfere with the central show and creates an atmosphere of an Italian villa with grottoes.
It also inspired my idea. For the work of Sharon Eyal, Maria Grazia Chiuri created body suits of the same colour with a decorative pattern of flowers.
According to the script, after the tragedy, there is hope, which is expressed in light.
I played with forms, shapes and colour combinations...
So my whole idea is to put the dancers in the very heart.
Show its pulsation, and fill the atmosphere with colour.
Each of the levels of colour is the stages of tragedies - partings, suffering, recovery and healing, reassembly and the emergence of new hope. Each of these colour levels is exposed to light hidden from the back of the previous layer. The manipulation of this light will depend on the rhythm and scene.
Combining such a colour experience, as mentioned earlier, will increase emotional tension and lead to epiphany and communion with the subject. This abstract work fully interacts with the viewer at the level of sensory feelings, thereby causing movement through the complex layers of the subconscious, working through them and being reborn.
https://youtu.be/AQlQybJzFw4
Overview:
Inspired by The Brutal Journey of the Heart by L-E-V Sharon Eyal | Gai Behar.
This Stage Design for Chapter 3 The Brutal Journey of the Heart (by L-E-V Sharon Eyal | Gai Behar) aimed to alert all the senses, to create a total and transcendental art form. Chapter 3 ends with separation and healing, it speaks of past love and the pains of recovery. Dynamic and emotional work correlates with the suffering of the loss of loved ones in the war in Ukraine. So I place this performance in the very heart. Each of the colour levels is the stages of tragedies - partings, suffering, recovery and healing, reassembly and the emergence of new hope. It pulsates and communicates on sensory levels. Thereby causing movement through the complex layers of the subconscious and emotional tension. The physical manifestation of transfers between sight, music and dance pave the way for phenomena such as epiphany and communion with the subject and experiencing the meaning of the loss of love and levels of healing.
My intention here is to elevate the effect of colour into a psychological impact on the viewer. Professor Charles A. Riley II in his book “Color Codes: Modern Theories of Color in Philosophy, Painting and Architecture, Literature, Music, and Psychology” describes Carl Jung's experience of using color interpretations of the mandala’s of his patients. “For all its exuberance, there is a basic rule by which the chromaticism of the mandalas abides. It is the rule of four, a quadratic constant that applies to all cultures and cases. The basic colors are yellow, red, green, and blue (although in Tibet blue is replaced by white). Jung expects to find them in every mandala, and in the absence of one or in cases of imbalance among them he finds symptoms of fundamental problems in the patient's personality.” (Riley, 1995 p. 306) Thus, after the patient draws up his mandala, the psychologist makes a diagnosis. Thus, colour is psychologically dependent on our consciousness.
And at the same time, colour affects our physical reactions in the body. “Ott (1979) proposed that color directly produces physical reactions in the body that are manifest in observable behavior. He posited that pink and orange light have an endocrine-based weakening effect on muscle functioning, whereas blue has an endocrine-based strengthening effect on muscle functioning.” (Elliot & Maier online 2014).
Or from my own experience of colour emotions, I can confirm that my consciousness produces independent reflections of colour on, for example, people or events. Professor Dorso explains it like "A reaction of congenital synaesthesia is perceived as an automatic, involuntary response to a specific stimulus in the form of an unusual additional sensation." (Dorso, 2020 p. 17)
Thus, colour can be reproduced involuntarily in our brain, be an associative and psychological manifestation, and also directly affect the physiological state of a person from the external environment.
In addition, Elliot and Maier analyze the many interpretations and manifestations of colour and come to the fruitful conclusion first is «…color can carry meaning and have an important influence on affect, cognition, and behavior in achievement and affiliation/attraction contexts. Red, especially, has been shown to be a critical color in this regard. » and the second is “…color meanings and, therefore, color effects are context specific. The same color can have different meanings in different contexts, leading to different implications.”
One of the most ancient alternative methods of treatment was color therapy. “Light is electromagnetic radiation, which is the fluctuation of electric and magnetic fields in nature. More simply, light is energy, and the phenomenon of color is a product of the interaction of energy and matter. The wavelength, frequency and quantity of energy of every colorful ray are fixed for each color… …These visual colors with their unique wavelength and oscillations, when combined with a light source and selectively applied to impaired organs or life systems, provide the necessary healing energy required by the body. ” (Azeemi & Raza 2005 online)
It would seem so easy to analyze colour with a psychologist, to involve it to the right extent for the balance of our life and health, but there is still no confirmed and justified scientific influence of colour on our consciousness and its influence on our psychological state. (Color In Healthcare Environments - A Research Report 2004 Tofle, Schwarz, So-Yeon Yoon, Max-Royale)
Reconciling all of the above with my suggestion of a pulsating stage colour for "The Brutal Journey of the Heart" it can be concluded that the colour setting will produce a greater emotional involvement of the viewer based on Elliot and Maier's statement about the effect of Red colour.
Since, as we have already understood, the perception of colour depends on the context, the psychological state of the viewer, individual connotations and associations, and the presence or absence of synesthesia, the healing effect of this production and insight will depend individually on each of the viewers. This effect cannot be confirmed now, nor can it be refuted. At the same time, as the ancient Greeks claimed, in order to achieve catharsis, it is necessary to live through the story together with the main character, and then the soul will be cleansed and the person will be reborn. Sharon Eyal's performance with her unique production of modern dance, emotional music and such a colourful shock of scenery, I am sure that this is a favourable “way for phenomena such as epiphany and communion.”
Bibliography and references
1. Riley, Charles A. II. (1995) Color Codes: Modern Theories of Color in Philosophy, Painting and Architecture, Literature, Music, and Psychology. Hanover: University Press of New England
2. Color Psychology: Effects of Perceiving Color on Psychological Functioning in Humans Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2014. 65:95–120 First published online as a Review in Advance on June 26, 2013 Andrew J. Elliot and Markus A. Maier, Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627; 2Department of Psychology, University of Munich, Munich 80802, Germany The Annual Review of Psychology is online at http://psych.annualreviews.org (online) At: https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115035 (Accessed 13.03.2023)
3. Synaesthesia: Opinions and Perspectives 2020 Anton V. Sidoroff-Dorso, Sean A. Day, and Jörg Jewanski (Eds.) Wissenschaftliche Schriften der WWU Münster Reihe VIII Band 5
4. A Critical Analysis of Chromotherapy and Its Scientific Evolution. Samina T. Yousuf Azeemi* and S. Mohsin Raza. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2005 Dec; 2(4): 481–488. doi: 10.1093/ecam/neh137 PMCID: PMC1297510 PMID: 16322805 (online) At: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1297510/#:~:text=Chromotherapy%20is%20a%20method%20of,its%20scientific%20evolution%20to%20date. (Accessed 13.03.2023)
5. Color In Healthcare Environments - A Research, Report (2004) Ruth Brent Tofle, Benyamin Schwarz, So-Yeon Yoon, Andrea Max-Royale ISBN Number 0-9743763-1-0 Printed in the United States of America Published by: The Coalition for Health Environments Research (CHER) http://www.CHEResearch.org
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