[-empyre-] a space to incubate, pause, reflect

[Renate Terese Ferro]

Dear –empyre- subscribers, 
Thanks to Tim for pulling this diverse group of writers and thinkers together to consider our topic this month on Duration.  I have been keenly observing these past two years as Tim defined the theme of Duration for the Cornell Council on the Arts Biennial in relationship to the networks of passage, persistence and survival. These markers extended the conceptual qualities for those of us who sat on the curatorial committee as a way to think through and beyond conditions within the contemporary local and global political, ecological, social worlds we find ourselves today. 

From Ruby Chisti’s piece, Narratives of Memory whose layered glints of reflective and absorptive textures and sounds created a space for viewers to consider her own memories of loss and the destruction of her Pakistani home. http://cca.cornell.edu/?p=narratives-of-memory

To Ni’ja Whitson’s choreographed performance and installation, Meditation of Tongues.  Whitson reconsidered Marlon Riggs, Tongues Untied, a documentary film from the AIDS era.  Whitson and her performers embodied rage, raw anger and trauma through hip-hop moves and remixed media.
http://cca.cornell.edu/?p=a-meditation-on-tongues

Also, Poet and performer, Lyrae Van Clief and performance and video artist Emilie Stark-Menning rocked the audience via resistance against the Brett Kavanaugh senate confirmations.
http://cca.cornell.edu/?p=measured-the-clover-project
 
Many other projects considered the fragile state of our ecology from geology and land formation:  Hans Baumann and Karen Pinkus’, Crystalline Basement and the sea life duet between whale songs and the resonances of Annie Lewandowski and Sarah Hennies music and sound.  

http://cca.cornell.edu/?p=crystalline-basement
http://cca.cornell.edu/?p=cetus-life-after-life

This has been a long work week for me.  My apology to all of you for not chiming in a bit sooner.  As I walked in the door just a few hours ago I was grateful for the fact that I made it home through our first major snowstorm where at least three inches of snow have accumulated on the ground with the expectation of four to six more through the night.  The cold weather and poor weather conditions provide a space to incubate, pause, reflect on DURATION or the time which something continues. I will write more tomorrow morning. 
Best, 
Renate

  



Renate Ferro
Visiting Associate Professor
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Department of Art
Tjaden Hall 306
rferro at cornell.edu