Blair Neal

Category: Performance

  • Upcoming performances (September 2010)

    I will be performing at a few different festivals/shows during September. Here goes:
    Show at EMPAC in Troy, NY on Wednesday, Sept 8th. Here is the press release:

    North South Currents: Bogota/Troy/Guelph

    EMPAC Theater

    September 8, 2010 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM

    Featured together in a telematic performance accordion legend Pauline Oliveros performs live in Guelph (ON, Canada) with Anne Bourne (cello), Guelph’s own Ben Grossman (hurdy gurdy) and Jesse Stewart (percussion). They will be connected to two other sites, where they will be joined by Ricardo Arias on balloon (in Bogota, Colombia) and by Jonas Braasch on soprano sax, Curtis Bahn on dilruba/electronics, and Doug Van Nort on laptop, and Blair Neal on video (in Troy, NY).  Following is a local performance of containment and dispersence by Curtis Bahn with Jonas Braasch and Doug Van Nort and Blair Neal.

    For four decades Oliveros has explored sound through improvisation, electronic music, ritual, teaching and meditation. Oliveros has been honored with awards, grants and concerts internationally. Whether performing at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., in an underground cavern, or in the studios of West German Radio, Oliveros’ commitment to interaction with the moment is unchanged.

    Curtis Bahn has composed containment and dispersence especially for this performance. He performs his work internationally and is noted for his sensor based bow technology and electronic transformations of his instruments.

    Presenting organizations: RPI Arts Department, Guelph Jazz Festival, and Universidad de los Andes Arts Department
    For more information: http://www.guelphjazzfestival.com/ and http://www.uniandes.edu.co/

    After that, I’ll be performing at the In/Out Fest at the Tank in NYC. The festival is on September 17th and 18th. I will be performing Saturday evening around 7pm. In/Out Fest needs  your support if you’re interested in contributing, check out their Kickstarter.
    Finally, I’ll be performing a couple visual sets at the very first VIA PGH festival alongside !!! (aka chk chk chk) and Gangwish on Oct. 2nd and 3rd. in Pittsburg, PA

    The only stuff going on after that is a residency at the Experimental Television Center at the end of October…should be a good time…

  • Trip[tych]

    Fall 2009

    In preparation for my thesis show, I began developing a series of pieces involving different uses of live visuals in relation to music. I was particularly interested in the fact that in many cases the visuals were being led by the music, that is, they were representing the music without having the music react to them. This process seems broken to me, so I tried to think of an idea that was more of a feedback loop.

    Trip[tych] treats the visualist as the conductor of the overall musical action. Three musicians sit behind see through scrims that are projected on. The musicians are only allowed to play while their particular screen is lit up in front of them. While the musicians are improvising off eachother, they are also supposed to be working off of visual cues being projected in front of them. The visualist is also reacting live to what they are playing, so dynamic changes are seen and heard very fluidly. The use of scrims also solved a problem I was having with projecting on a rectangular screen and how that disconnects the projection from the performers. By setting up the projection in this way, I was able to create a multilayered space with the musicians in between. The content of the projections was based on a late night cab ride I had back from a show in NYC.

    The first performance of Trip[tych] was at the West Hall Auditorium at the Fall 2009 MFA show. It featured Kyle McDonald on drums, Will Rogers on saxophone, and David Rhoderick on guitar effects pedal. It was also performed at my thesis show, Overflow.

    You can read more about Trip[tych] in my thesis.