Event: OCC.0123

Music for Modernist Shapes: Reimagining Spectodrama

November 17 – 18, 2017

Music for Modernist Shapes was an installation and performance that reimagined a 1936 theater piece that Bauhaus alum Xanti Schawinsky made at Black Mountain College. The historic performance, Spectodrama, included folded paper costumes, light projections, and live music. Composer/multi-instrumentalist Laura Baird wrote an original score drawing on archival scores from Schawinsky’s performance collaborations with Black Mountain College music teacher John Evarts, 1930s avant garde music, and Appalachian folk songs from the Black Mountain region. Martha and Laura activated the objects and costumes, conjuring the memory of this little-known piece from the experimental college’s rich performance history.
Performance
Performance Initiative
Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (69 Broadway)
Presented with the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, North Carolina Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Windgate Charitable Foundation