Category: Lifting Voices

PREVIEW: Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Angela Gosselin Leave a comment

Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a film I have heard much about, despite its lack of attention in mainstream media and throughout the American awards season. Depicting the story of a portrait created in confidence, this French film features arresting cinematography and a look at an intense relationship between two women. This film has been nominated for everything from best actress to costume design to the Palme d’Or, and so there’s definitely something worth seeing here, even if it hasn’t been on many people’s radar.

 

Come out to the State tomorrow at 7 to see this surely fascinating film and support international cinema!

PREVIEW: Oscar Nominated Shorts – Live Action

Angela Gosselin Leave a comment

In preparation for the Oscars this Sunday, I implore you all to head to the Michigan Theater and check out the often neglected category of shorts. The live action category offers strong contenders this year, coming from international backgrounds and touching on a variety of important subjects. I’m looking forward to my own first time previewing the shorts before the (inflated and problematic, but still undeniably enjoyable) Oscars.

 

What’s more is that admission to all the shorts is free with a Passport to the Arts Voucher through the 13th of February! No excuses!

REVIEW: Yayoi Kusama’s Fireflies on the Water

Nellie Shih Leave a comment

A 9 x 12 x 12 room. The walls and ceiling are mirrors, the ground water. You, the subject, are reflected over and over again against a backdrop of hanging lights: blues, reds, oranges. You are allotted 60 seconds in the room. Yayoi Kusama’s Fireflies on the Water transports you to another reality where it feels like you are at the center of that surreal universe.

Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist. When she was ten years old, Kusama began to experience vivid hallucinations in which she saw bright lights and endless fields of spots, which has heavily influenced her artwork throughout her life. She first became known to the public sphere as an active member of the hippie counterculture movement in the late sixties. She staged several performances, or “happenings,” in which naked participants were covered in polka dots.

I had previously seen another one of Kusama’s installations at The Broad in Los Angeles. The room was structured in a similar fashion, thought the lights were larger and more spherical. Infinity Mirrored Room – The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away had a more blue-green hue, whereas Fireflies on the Water had a warmer tone. Although both rooms are very similar, I found the two experiences to be independent of each other. The room in LA was exciting; I felt like a child, giddy, desperately taking photos in an attempt to capture the experience. This time around the experience felt more self-reflective. I was more aware of the tranquility of the scene, which was largely attributed to the fact the museum workers ask those waiting outside the room to remain silent. Inside the room, it feels like you are alone in this alternate dimension, but the experience is more soothing than frightening.

Naturally, I took an abundance of photos, but I almost felt that shattered the illusion. I wish I could return to the room and just sit on the platform surrounded by water for as long as I wanted. The logistics of allowing each visitor to stay in the room for 60 seconds makes sense, but it leaves the viewer yearning for more. Right when you enter a daze of seeing an endless number of lights and your reflection again and again, the door swings open, distorting your vision, and you find yourself back in the dingy lighting of the museum.

Still, Kusama’s installations are a very unique and unforgettable experience that I highly recommend seeing. Fireflies on the Water is currently on display at the Toledo Museum of Art and will be open until April 26.

REVIEW: As Far As My Fingertips Take Me

Emma Pinchak Leave a comment

You put on the headphones, and they themselves seem significant: the wires connect but they constrict, you have to rely on the tinny sound for information but it blocks out your surroundings. The whole experience was full of these contradictions, to the point that I had to consciously stop myself from thinking through them in order to pay attention. There’s the white wall to my side, and though I can see the borders of it from where I sit I can’t see the other side, so it’s as good as infinite. A little light is coming from where I’ve offered up my arm to the artist, Basel Zaraa, and I’m tempted to look down and through to meet his eyes but I know that something will be broken if I do.

The felt-tip marker is brushing over the flesh on the inside of my forearm and my palm, and I hate how gently he’s holding my fingers down because already I’ve associated him with a Dublin Regulation fingerprint database employee. When I realize I’ve put myself in a position I am privileged to never experience, it’s jarring and it’s a feeling that’s creeping like sweat along my forehead.

I don’t feel any one thing completely after, except for quiet. Not quieted, not disquieted, not just not speaking and not just alone. Quiet is the only adjective I can give myself. I’m sad for what I don’t know and especially for why I don’t, the stupid luck that let me be born into stability and the politics that let others live out of backpacks. Travel is so often romanticized, but there is a difference between travel by choice and by circumstance (further reading: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470670590.wbeog940).

So in about 15 minutes I’m in and out of another world, halfway a vagabond myself. I’m back and walking home and I feel homesick but mostly physically so, my eyes kind of glassy. It’s a little disappointing that I wasn’t physically transported, though of course that would be impossible. I’m still in Ann Arbor, Michigan walking down the street, and I have no reason to fear that I won’t be here tomorrow. There is a constant stream going through my head berating me for how little I know about the world, and it feels like an abuse to wear this tattoo on my arm like a costume.

But I can use that guilt he’s given me, to take learning into my own hands and to get politically involved. Where the law does not protect the safety of people worried for their lives, there is a problem, a violation of human rights. As election season is upon us, it is a perfect time to get involved and get the right people elected. With primaries right around the corner, the time for active research is now.

You can find out more about Tania El Khoury’s work on her website: https://taniaelkhoury.com/

PREVIEW: As Far As My Fingertips Take Me

Emma Pinchak Leave a comment

Imagine what a lonely terror it is to lose your home to violence and instability, and then be cast into a stranger’s land. For most of us, this will never be our reality, but for the 70 million forcibly displaced peoples around the world, it is.

As Far As My Fingertips Take Me forces the subject to take on the identity of the refugee for a couple of minutes, reading the poignant writing on the wall and offering a nervous arm through to the unknown. This innovative one-on-one exhibit design incorporates the poetic and visual artworks of Basel Zaraa.

The work is the brain child of Tania El Khoury, a contemporary live artist known for her productions that illuminate issues that are of both the heart and political machine. This exhibit in particular has toured far and wide, gathering awed reviews from major publications like The Washington Post and The New York Times. 

The exhibit will be shown at the U-M Institute for the Humanities from January 24, 2020 – February 2, 2020, tickets: ums.org. Be sure to arrive 15 minutes ahead of your showtime as the schedule is extremely strict.

REVIEW: Greenie Night Live

Joseph Patrick Raney 1 Comment

This last Saturday, 58 Greene’s diverse ensemble delivered Greenie Night Live, an amateur yet earnest a cappella performance with a unique set list that ranged from R&B to Alternative Indie. To start off the night, University of Michigan dance group Encore performed a dynamic set of choreographed dances to some tastefully layered tracks. Seeing as how this event was held in a lecture room of East Hall, having the space of a larger stage would have perhaps served the quality of this dance performance well.

The MC’s of this event tried to fill in the show’s gaps with repartee that most certainly had potential to be funny, yet often fell flat from a seeming unpreparedness or lack of chemistry.

I go to all my events with hopes of being blown away. All things considered, while 58 Greene has some great sound and even greater potential, the unfortunate acoustics of the lecture hall accompanied by a muddled sound-mixing often made the lead vocals feel rather lost amidst the remaining back-up members. Alongside this, a number of arrangements often felt rather imbalanced. I was really excited to learn that Joji’s Slow Dancing in the Dark was being performed, and while there was a commendable presence of supporting voices in the ensemble, the leading soloist’s  painful belting and flat delivery made it rather difficult to sit through.

On an extremely positive note, however, I found myself blown away by the smooth and sultry timbre of leading vocalist Teddi Reynolds in an arrangement of Jazmine Sullivan’s 2008 hit, Bust Your Windows. This was undoubtably the highpoint of the event as a whole, due not only to the killer vocalist, but also the well-synchronized supporting ensemble. This piece demonstrated the absolute potential that 58 Greene has when a strong vocalist is leading, which many of the other pieces lacked.

Ultimately, my conclusion is that a great number of the talented female ensemble members were often let down by a lackluster male foundation, often noticeable in the bass parts, and most certainly self-evident in the outperformance of the male soloists by the quality female soloists. I’m willing to reason that Greenie Night Live may simply have been an off-night for certain members of 58 Greene; however, since this was a ticketed event, I can only afford so much generosity in my evaluation of this amateur ensemble’s quality. Considering the strengths and the definite potential of 58 Greene, raising the expected standard for greater vocal talent and proficiency in leading vocalists could really carry this ensemble far.