SOUND AND ART MERGE IN DISTURBING ‘SPECTERS’
With vaccination rates climbing and the end of the end of the world on the horizon, it’s just about safe to cautiously leave the house, blinking like a cave dweller who has just discovered the sun. One of the things that quarantine has robbed us all of is soundscapes outside of the noise of the ice maker turning over. With that in mind, the Menil Collection is offering a chance for visitors to experience an audio adventure in a startling multimedia exhibit and free (and socially distanced) outdoor concert.
The exhibit is “Specters of Noon,” from the Puerto Rican team of Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla. They began working with the Menil five years ago, hoping to use their talents to complement the Menil’s already exemplary surrealist collection. These include a massive sculpture of a tree, made of coal, downed by lightning, as well as a bisected power generator. All of them call to mind the chaos and strangeness of the last several years.
“It’s creating an atmosphere of bewilderment and confusion,” says senior curator Michelle White. “They want people to come in and question what is going on. The sensation is an apt metaphor for our contemporary moment. We could never have predicted a hurricane, a blackout and a pandemic would occur during the presentation, but they all aligned with the hysteria of the moment that lulls us into not knowing what to do.”
Complementing the beauty and strangeness of the seven pieces is a lush, eight-hour soundscape by David Lang. Using a process he calls “sculpting the day,” Lang weaves a strange combination of ambient noises and artificially created nature sounds, such as violins to mimic insects and vocals to imitate birdsong. The compositions are designed to resonate with the Allora and Calzadilla works, turning them into natural receivers. Though subtle, it’s already had a profound effect on the visitors.
“It’s disorientating but quite beautiful,” says White. “We have watched people be caught by surprise by the sound and just stand there, meditative.”
A chance to see and hear something outside our own homes is a welcome distraction, as we tread carefully out of the last year, and while “Specters of Noon” might hit a little too close to home in terms of strangeness and chaos, it does serve as a way to face the madness we have all been living through. However, it’s also a time to celebrate new experiences and sounds. That’s where Will Cruz and Quattro come in for the “Stop, Look, and Listen” concert.
To go along with Allora and Calzadilla’s exhibit, his small ensemble is presenting a lighthearted outdoor concert on the Menil lawn. Quattro is a particular type of Latin jazz, often using mandolins and other less popular instruments in a jazz setting. Cruz sees the current moment as chaotic, too, but also considers it a chance to step out into the light.
“I’m looking forward.” he says. “As we survive chaos, look how we bounce back. I like to focus on that. I don’t focus on the nightmare of last year. It’s been hard to stay sane and positive. It’s self-treatment. I can mope about it or get busy with something else that will lift me up.”
Taken together, the entire event is a chance to quietly compress a very rough period of history in microcosm through metaphor while also putting the (hopefully) brighter chapter ahead front and center. Moving from “Specters of Noon” into the happy beats of Will Cruz and his band, is a journey we could all use at the moment. The Menil has always been home to the strange, which artists used to make sense of their own dark moments of history. The time has come for us to seek that.
“This is a safe space where others might feel uncomfortable,” says White. “In these times, our sense our dulled through monotony, and this show is incredibly vivacious. The sculptures have so many textures. They’re made of bat guano, or a felled tree made of compressed coal. Come one, we’re inside and looking at screens so much, and this can be startling. It’s what art can offer in terms of solace in times like these.”