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The Watermill Center Bustles Over Weekend

Two artist residency presentations and a panel discussion offered at avant garde arts center.

 
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THE WORLD IS BIGGER THAN YOU THINK
An outside video projection of Peter Sellers contemplating the journey taken within the mind was part of the multi-site performance of The World is Bigger Than You Think--an opera in progress--by Egill Saebjornsson and Marcia Moraes. Hronn Axelsdottir. Courtesy of The Watermill Center.
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Egill Saebjornsson played one of his original songs before Saebjornsson and Marcia Moraes presented selections from their developing multimedia pop opera. The site-specific presentation at The Watermill Center was titled The World is Bigger Than You Think.
Egill Saebjornsson played one of his original songs before Saebjornsson and Marcia Moraes presented selections from their developing multimedia pop opera. The site-specific presentation at The Watermill Center was titled The World is Bigger Than You Think.
The audience viewed the first installation of The Word is Bigger Than You Think together in the main presentation room of The Watermill Center. The multi-media project featured pre-recorded video projected onto objects from the collection or infrastructure of The Watermill Center. In the opening installation, three totem poles framed the projection of a man trying to escape a meteor heading his way while the meteor explained he couldn't help destruction--it's what he does.
In addition to project creators Egill Saebjornsson and Marcia Moraes, additional talent was supplied by Lisa Lie, theater director, actor and writer from Norway and Jeremy Woodruff, Berlin based American composer, who were invited to contribute to the project development at The Watermill Center residency.
The audience was divided into groups to view three other video projection installations. Original music composed for the installation was part of the piece. Original dialogue developed the concept that the mind and environmet converge to impact the person. Characters in the performance included people, cartoons or animated animals, body parts or objects.
A teacup and a floating balloon with a woman's face each had roles to play as one man relayed the pressure he felt from trying to financially succeed.

The Watermill Center was a busy place last weekend as it held three public events in two days. Two artist-in-residency groups presented operas in progress. The weekend also saw the kick-off of The Watermill Center's first ArteEast artist talk series.

Friday night featured the multimedia pop opera, "The World is Bigger Than You Think." A site-specific opera was presented that will become part of the larger operatic piece. Friday's presentation featured four filmed installments projected onto items from The Watermill Center collection or onto parts of the center. Each  segment featured video of dramatic conversations set to an original soundtrack.

"The World is Bigger Than You Think" is the brainchild of Egill Saebjornsson and Marcia Moraes. They will give another presentation on May 10 at 6 p.m. at the Clocktower Gallery in New York City. It will be broadcast on ArtonAir.org, according to The Watermill Center.

Saturday afternoon saw the launch of the Across Histories artist talk series. The series is presented by ArteEast. The series "explores the economics and cultural capital of residency models, residencies as refuge and alternative models for performance and curatorial work," according to information provided by The Watermill Center. Saturday's topic was Artist Residencies: Residency as Catalyst, featuring a panel of international artists.

Saturday evening's presentation of an opera-in-progress, "Untitled Opera Based on the Story of Milli Vanilli", is being developed by Joe Diebes, Christian Hawkey and David Levine.

About this column: The interesting people, places and things in Southampton, in photos. Related Topics: Robert Wilson

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