Barbara Strozzi / Katharina Rosenberger
This is a collaboration of violinist Miranda Cuckson, composer Katharina Rosenberger and media artist John Burnett. Folds presents a sensory journey from the present to the past, engaging with the voices of other artists and bringing the ephemeral nature of sound and thought into dialogue with the tangible world. An array of paper objects — sculptures, manuscripts, scraps woven between the strings of the violin — highlights the importance of capturing the art and thought of past centuries. These traces of our physical world further serve as an impulse to reflect on our current dependency on the digital and virtual realms.
The performance takes as its starting point a cantata by the remarkable 17th–century composer/vocalist Barbara Strozzi, which is fragmented and dovetailed with Rosenberger’s audiovisual response. Ghostly projections and evocative electroacoustic sounds drawn from paper complement Cuckson’s expressive playing. The artists then “fold the page” and turn to the current era with an interpretation of recent music played and chosen by Cuckson herself to reflect further on the notation and transmission of ideas.
folds is generously supported by National Sawdust, and in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant.
