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YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2013 · yaledailynews.com

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ARTS & CULTURE

“With the a cappella groups, every voice is like one string on a guitar, one note on the piano or one cymbal, and you don’t have the luxury of falling back on anything.” BEN FOLDS

A^2 to remix a cappella

Senior art show highlights diversity of media

BY SARAH SWONG STAFF REPORTER

BY HELEN ROUNER STAFF REPORTER

CARLY LOVEJOY/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

“Practice: Yale Undergraduate Senior Projects in Art 2013,” which closed Tuesday, presented the senior theses of the 23 graduating art majors.

To most students, a senior thesis means writing dozens of pages in the library. But to Yale’s senior art majors, a thesis takes the form of an embryoshaped chair next to a bookshelf filled with pink objects representing flesh, or of an animated film featuring talking animals accompanied by audio clips taken from YouTube videos of people narrating their trips to the zoo. “Practice: Yale Undergraduate Senior Projects in Art 2013” presents the senior theses of the 23 art majors graduating this year. The exhibit, which spans three levels of the Green Hall Art Gallery, features a variety of media including painting, photography, illustration, video, animation, sculpture and typography. Within the art major at Yale, students choose to concentrate in one of four areas of study: graphic design, painting and printmaking, photography or sculpture. Ilana Harris-Babou ’13, an art major in the painting and printmaking concentration, made a video with an audio track comprised of instrumental versions of rap songs as her senior project. Harris-Babou explained that she is one of a number of seniors whose final project explores a medium other than the one in which she concentrates. She added that the wide range of media in “Practice” illustrates a broader trend in Yale’s art major toward a more interdisciplinary process. “The distinctions of media are becoming decreasingly relevant to how people form their own artistic practices,” Harris-Babou said. Hana Omiya ’13, an art major concentrating in painting and printmaking, said her real interest lies in illustration and drawing. Her senior project involved illustrating autobiographical children’s books about growing up

with parents who own a sushi restaurant. Omiya described the four areas of study in Yale’s art major as traditional, adding that illustration and animation are often considered commercial and are not given the same attention as a more traditional medium like painting. Autumn Von Plinsky ’13, an art major in the painting and printmaking concentration whose senior project consisted of traditional landscape paintings, said Yale’s art major focuses on pushing students conceptually without emphasizing how their work might lead to a career. “It’s art for the sake of art,” Von Plinsky said of the school’s approach to the major. Similarly, Austin Lan ’13, who is double majoring in computer science and art, with a concentration in graphic design, said Yale’s art major is much less preprofessional than comparable programs. She noted that many of Yale’s art students double major in other more traditionally academic fields. “A lot of Yalies come from very geeky backgrounds where our parents want us to pursue profitable jobs, ones that are more intellectually than creatively stimulating,” Omiya said. “It’s a lot of expectations to battle against.” Lan said the conceptual focus of the Art Department is evident in its course offerings, which do not include more practical, preprofessional courses such as furniture design. Omiya attributed the limitations of the Art Department’s course offerings to its being a department in a primarily academic university rather than in an arts school. Harris-Babou said she has found pursuing art at a large university to be more enriching than it would be at an arts school. “I knew I didn’t know enough about the world to know what I wanted to make art about,” Harris-Babou said. Aaron Seriff-Cullick ’13, an art

major in the photography concentration, said Yale’s undergraduate Art Department also benefits from its ties to the School of Art, with which it shares a building. He added that he has been attending guest lectures and critiques hosted by the School of Art since his freshman year. Seriff-Cullick, whose thesis is an autobiographical video, said students were given the freedom to pursue almost whatever project they liked for their senior thesis. He explained that in addition to participating in a weekly senior seminar, students were assigned individual advisers with whom they met every week of the semester. Before unveiling “Practice,” the students presented their work to a panel of critics consisting of a professor from each of the major’s four concentrations, as well as one additional art expert, Omiya explained. The evaluations of the panel of critics, the students’ advisers and the director of undergraduate studies in the Art Department, Lisa Kereszi, together determined what grade each project received, Seriff-Cullick said. Seriff-Cullick added that his class considered giving its show a specific title that might tie the projects together thematically, but that he thinks this kind of imposition would have proven more destructive than unifying. Von Plinsky said that although students’ projects were conceived independently and without an overarching idea, many students happened to produce work that involved humor. She said she has noticed a tendency towards satire among her class. “It’s the humor of intense people who realize that they’re intense and that not everyone understands them,” Von Plinsky said. “Practice” closed Tuesday.

For nearly an hour on Tuesday evening, a roomful of roughly 20 students and faculty members found themselves whisked into the politically charged literary scene of modern Moscow. The young Russian poet Kirill Medvedev, accompanied by editor and translator Keith Gessen, gave a reading from “It’s No Good: poems / essays / actions,” a recent collection of Medvedev’s poems, manifestos and personal writings. The two delivered Medvedev’s colloquial, often tongue-in-cheek, poems in both English and Russian — Gessen reading the translations at a careful, even pace and Medvedev following with a rapid rush of words. While most of Medvedev’s works are blatantly political, filled with references to Berlin, Tiergarten, the Bolsheviks and the Russian intelligentsia, they also incorporate short narratives that describe taking the Moscow metro or browsing bookshops. Medvedev’s poems are particularly concerned with the state of literature in contemporary Russia. His work is partly a record of the back-and-forth dialogue between Russian writers, who call each other “spoiled little Socialist[s]” and deliver

vodka toasts. In one poem, Medvedev eavesdrops on an argument in which one poet asks another — “Are you a subculture or political party? Make up your minds.” Medvedev himself publicly announced his exit from Russia’s literary world in 2003. He made the decision to free himself from literary politics and allowed himself time to decide his political stance, he said. “He felt he had a choice between remaining an exclusively literary figure or entering political life,” Gessen said. The Russian literary scene remains filled with outdated authors of the Soviet era, who interpret the current Russian government under Vladimir Putin as communism’s second coming, Medvedev said. “In order to understand [the Putin regime], we need to free ourselves of the old Soviet discourse,” Medvedev said, adding that he thinks the Putin regime is not a restoration of socialism but of capitalism. Medvedev said he feels that it is beneficial to keep a high profile in Russia’s current political climate. The new regime, unlike the Soviet Union, will consider the West’s possible reactions when responding to political activists such as himself, he explained.

“Right now … it is important not be silent,” Medvedev said. “The more visible you are, the more likely it is you will be allowed to continue speaking.” Medvedev is distinct among Russian poets for his willingness to participate in a conversation that extends beyond Russia, said Slavic Language and Literature professor Molly Brunson. By taking part in public readings and bringing his work to American universities, Medvedev is contributing to the globalization of contemporary, activist culture in Russia, she said. “His commitment to being one of the mouthpieces for this new leftist, activist movement is apparent in his decision not only to have his work translated into English, but also in giving public performances,” Brunson said. Medvedev’s poetry is also radical in that it breaks from the traditional forms that are still highly important in Russia, said attendee Roman Utkin GRD ’15, adding that both Medvedev’s political beliefs and his poetic style can be seen as expressions of the left. Gessen is co-editor of n+1, a literary and political magazine based in New York City. Contact CYNTHIA HUA at cynthia.hua@yale.edu .

[A^2] is a small step towards the spirit of the [new technoand synthesizer-influenced] genre. JACOB RESKE ’14 Music director, A^2 Singer Keren Abreu ’15 said Ableton-enabled a cappella allows human voices to create unnatural sound effects and can amplify the sound of five singers to emulate 15. At a Monday night rehearsal, Abreu sang a low note that she instantly transformed into a high-pitched, whirring, mechanized

noise. Reske said A^2 does not want audiences to think of it as “cheating” by using the software, making live performance a crucial element of the group’s identity. A video recording of Ableton-enabled a cappella performance would not make clear that the singers were performing live, leading viewers to think the song may have been prerecorded or manipulated in a studio by a sound engineer, Reske explained. If audiences see that the singers are creating the music with their voices in real time, they are more likely to appreciate Ableton as a musical instrument for the performers rather than a replacement for singers, he said. In most live concert performances, Reske added, sound engineers backstage manipulate the live singing to create the sounds audiences hear through speakers. Ableton lets performers take on the role of sound engineers themselves, giving them more control over the final product, he explained. Singers Nimal Eames-Scott ’14 and Paul Holmes ’14 said that A^2 has started working on improvisation and original songwriting. Although the group initially planned to perform arrangements of popular songs like many a cappella groups, the Able-

ton technology allows for a feeling of limitless experimentation on which the group wants to capitalize, Reske explained. As a group without stylistic constraints, A^2 has the ability to experiment with sound technology and the potential of live performance, providing the singers more compositional opportunity than traditional a cappella groups, Eames-Scott said. Eames-Scott, Jackson Thea ’15 and DJ Stanfill ’15 are also current members of the Duke’s Men of Yale, which is wedded to a more specific musical style due to its long tradition. “Improvising is easier than doing an arrangement,” Holmes said. “You’re listening instead of reading off a page — it’s a lot more intuitive.” The group is currently working on “Retrograde” by James Blake, “She Wolf” by David Guetta and “Lost in the World” by Kanye West, Abreu said, of which the Blake and Guetta songs will be on YouTube. Over the summer, Reske said he plans to write original songs and hopes to organize an A^2 performance in the fall. The latest version of the Ableton Live software was released in March 2013. Contact SARAH SWONG at sarah.swong@yale.edu .

Contact HELEN ROUNER at helen.rouner@yale.edu .

Russian activist Medvedev links poetry to politics BY CYNTHIA HUA STAFF REPORTER

With two videos scheduled to hit YouTube in two weeks and a performance slated for next fall, a group of musicians plans to reinvent live a cappella performance with the help of sound manipulation software. Using Ableton Live, a computer program that allows singers to layer and manipulate their voices using sound effects, A^2 — or “A squared” for a cappella and Ableton — aims to experiment with sound effects that can alter performers’ voices during a live show, said Jacob Reske ’14, the music director for the group, which consists of six singers and an electronic musician. Performers using the software sing onstage into microphones plugged into iPads, on which each singer can choose various sound effects for his or her voice. The iPads are wirelessly connected to a master computer that electronic musician Hanoi Hantrakul ’15 uses to remix the songs. While artists like Skrillex use the Ableton Live software to produce albums in the studio and live performers have begun using analog foot pedals to create musical phrases to loop into their songs, Hantrakul said A^2 seeks to integrate digital, multi-layered sound manipulation

into live performance with five singers, which could expand creative potential but also poses coordination difficulties. “We’re a branch on an evolutionary tree in a cappella,” said Reske, who added that a cappella has tended to evolve with larger musical trends, though at a slower rate. “It’s a small step towards the spirit of the [new techno- and synthesizer-influenced] genre.”

JACOB RESKE

A^2 — named for the use of both a cappella and computer program Ableton Live — aims to experiment with sound effects that can alter performers’ voices in a live show.

‘A Year with 13 Moons’ explores identity in flux BY ANYA GRENIER STAFF REPORTER The Yale Repertory Theatre’s final production of the season, “In a Year with 13 Moons,” begins on Friday. Director Robert Woodruff and actor Bill Camp collaborated on adapting the script from the original German film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, which tells the story of a transgender woman’s search for love and identity. Woodruff will direct the show, and Camp will star as “Elvira.” “In a Year with 13 Moons” will be Woodruff and Camp’s second collaboration to be commissioned by the Rep, in conjunction with support from Yale’s Binger Center for New Theatre and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Their first was a 2009 world premiere adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Notes from the Underground,” which Woodruff directed with Camp as the “Underground Man.”

What about the original Fassbinder film “In a Year with 13 Moons” inspired you to bring it to the stage?

JENNIFER CHEUNG/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

The School of Drama sponsored readings from “It’s No Good: poems / essays / actions” by Russian poet Kirill Medvedev.

Just the story of this woman, this man, that journey. I felt that could be shared through live performance … I think the element of

time is interesting. [Transgender people’s] reception in the world [and] their difficulties have altered slightly. Fassbinder was so ahead of his time at the moment he was working. I don’t see these stories often.

How would you reconcile the show’s depiction of one woman’s search for love with its political implications?

Every time I do it, it’s different. There are things that unfold — every time I do it, I pull a layer out of Elvira. Certain times I do it, different things land harder than others. There are certain ways the story has political relevance, [and] I couldn’t really pinpoint when which is stronger. They’re all strong all the time … I have to be open to all those things, [and] they’re all part of the story. Hopefully they’re always working on me.

I think Fassbinder didn’t isolate love from its economic and social context. The interchange of all those things is primary to his work. I don’t think he would separate them.

there special challenges to playQAre ing a transgender character?

It’s a great challenge — I’ve never done anything like this before. She sort of starts off in one place: dressed as a man, physically a woman, psychically starting to move into a place of wanting to be a man again. A certain chapter of her life is slipping away. She is never in one gender identity — at times she’s sort of desperately trying to find who she is. [Playing Elvira] is a process, it’s so much about my body, [and] about how I use the things I have available to me as a 50-year-old man, even the things I can do with my voice. I know my limitations, and I try to push my limitations … I’ve never walked in heels as much as I am now. The language of my body has to change, that’s just my job as an actor, to do that, to investigate that.

did you collaborate in creating QHow this show?

We worked together with a translator to get the text from the original German. It’s been kind of a dialogue that’s been ongoing about what might be possible. The journey gets reshaped, re-framed, recontextualized. Bill learns a lot on his feet when working through something

— it’s something that evolves a lot through movement. That’s just barely begun. do you feel the use of live QWhat video and projections brings to the production?

We try to use video both as paint and to see deeper into [Elvira’s] life. It’s also a tool for the audience. Live video is just that: live. You really get to capture a lot of emotion. It accents the movement on stage, both physical and emotional.

does having a live camera on QHow you affect your onstage performance?

It depends on the context in which that camera is being used. There are times in which Elvira is aware of the camera on her. When it’s focused on her, she changes. There are times when she’s lost, and so into where she is at the moment that awareness of [the camera] is secondary. It’s also possible to respond or react to the image being projected in live time. Contact ANYA GRENIER at anna.grenier@yale.edu .