Monday, December 1, 1997
Matrixed messages
ARTS: Nina Kaufman’s ‘Matrix’ puts dance, music
and performance in eight different rooms to create an
interactive story of fairy tales and feminism
By Alicia Roca
Daily Bruin Contributor
The audience sits with mouth agape, eyes glazed over and program
in hand. They watch a performer 30 feet away, a removed speck upon
a stage, and root themselves to the cushy seat in which they will
vegetate for the next two hours. No one ever said performances had
to be interactive. Not until now, that is.
Nina Kaufman, a third-year master of fine arts candidate, and
choreographer, visual artist, musician and dancer, is challenging
many traditional aspects of the arts in her performance exhibit,
"Matrix," which opens tonight at UCLA’s Wight Art Gallery. Among
those roles challenged is the inactive one of audience.
"I honor the role of the audience," Kaufman says. "Often people
go to movies, are passive and don’t have to think. ‘Matrix’
challenges them to do more."
One may wonder how Kaufman challenges her audience. They are
herded like sheep through eight different rooms by a tour guide
dressed as Little Bo Peep. During the journey, they crawl through a
tunnel, walk on stones and wade through leaves. In six of the
rooms, a performance is occurring, and the audience directly
affects it. There is no stage, no restriction to a particular area.
There is direct interaction between performer and roving audience
member. It is for this reason that Kaufman refers to her audience
as "witnesses."
"As a witness you sense through your eyes, ears and presence.
You become part of the event and its course. You are more than just
an audience member," Kaufman says.
Witnesses will become part of many fresh perspectives, including
a new twist on "Cinderella." "Matrix" addresses and dispels the
"Cinderella myth," the belief that a woman needs Prince Charming to
make her whole and happy. It also examines other fairy tale
characters such as Little Bo Peep in a more in-depth and symbolic
fashion. In the show, Little Bo Peep is dressed in a pristine hoop
skirt, a traditional outfit which is almost paradoxical next to her
unkempt sheep (performers on all fours wearing parts of shredded
mops). However, her skirt is made of transparent plastic which
enables the audience to see right through it.
"’Matrix’ provides a new slant on Little Bo Peep," says set and
costume designer Charles Tomlinson. "It explores her adolescence
and coming to terms with sexuality."
"Matrix" also examines the role of society in molding
individuals. It addresses and dispels the "beauty myth," those
rigid perceptions of beauty in society which according to Kaufman,
lead women to make themselves so beautiful that they become
hideous.
"Women are led to self-manipulate almost to the point of
masochism," Kaufman says.
The beauty myth intertwines with the Cinderella myth in one
piece titled "If I were with wings." The piece centers on a woman
who is stood up on her wedding day. She waits for her husband to be
to arrive and tell her she’s beautiful. But he never does, and she
ends up going through her journey alone along red stones.
"She has to learn to walk that rocky path and leave it
ultimately. She has to take off her wedding dress and decide that
this is not what being a woman has to be," Kaufman says.
Though the cast is all female and the performance addresses many
women’s issues, Kaufman says the show will appeal to all people,
whether male or female, from North or South Campus. In fact she is
targeting the person who has not had much experience with art.
"People who haven’t been as exposed to dance don’t try to
analyze it as much and are open to new ideas and art forms. I have
faced a lot of adversity in putting this project together. Even
artists themselves are very narrow-minded," Kaufman says.
Part of the resistance Kaufman faces arises because "Matrix" is
a new genre which cannot be categorized by any one term. "Matrix"
combines three aspects of art which are usually separate: visual
art, sound and movement. It is for that reason that Kaufman defines
"Matrix" as "an interactive, multi-disciplinary walk-through
exhibit and performance."
"I’ve grown a bit weary of labels," says David Karagianis, a
senior musician and lecturer for the world arts and cultures
department and composer and sound designer for "Matrix." "What I
care about is the degree to which (Kaufman’s) work lives up to its
intent."
Part of "Matrix’s" intent is to present visual art in a new,
non-traditional manner in conjunction with movement and sound.
Visual art is present in the costumes performers wear and the sets
which are themselves sculpture.
"It’s an environment, not just a piece of art hanging on the
wall. It incorporates large installations and is strong enough to
stand on its own without performance," Kaufman says.
The performers do dance, or move, as Kaufman puts it, but not in
the traditional sense of high kicks and plies. In fact, the dance
style is similar to Butoh, "the dance of the dark soul," which was
developed in Japan after Hiroshima’s bombing.
"Butoh is Eastern sensibility … it strips down the essence of
what it is to be human and experience life almost as a creature,"
Kaufman says.
The audio aspect of "Matrix" is unique in that it is not
entirely musical, but is composed of a variety of sounds.
This combination of sounds helps to create a dream-like, surreal
setting. In one instance the sounds of children singing nursery
rhymes coincide with the sound of jet bombing. This is possible
thanks to a live, eight-channel mix and speakers placed throughout
the space. A three-dimensional sound envelopes the "witnesses" as
they move about and where they stand affects how they interpret
this sound. Karagianis will create a distinct live sound mix for
every night.
"Think of it as an alternate kind of experience," Karagianis
says. "The way in which you experience sights and sounds will be
uniquely yours. Just as emotions, memories and various dementia
tend to be complicated, elusive and difficult to pigeonhole, so too
are the interpretations of Nina’s works."
PERFORMANCE: "Matrix" will be at the Wight Art Gallery Dec. 1-6.
Admission is free. For more info, call (310) 398-2140.
KIT TARROZA
The "Matrix" dancers help put on a multi-disciplinary
performance in the Wight Art Gallery.
KIT TARROZA
Rebecca Butala performs "Silenced." The clothes pins in her
mouth represent clipped tongues.