Sept. 16 – Sept. 18, 2010 at The Kitchen
512 West 19th Street, New York, NY
composer, performer, concepts, video & sound design:
Pamela Z
produced in collaboration with:
Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC)
lighting designer / visual director:
Elaine Buckholtz
fabrication & technical design:
Bill Ballou
interactive video programming:
Pamela Z, Ian Winters, Carole Kim
camera:
Sade Huron
Pamela Z, a San Francisco-based performance artist, is an adventurer. As an artist on the move she has spent a significant amount of time traveling the world. A by-product of those comings and goings are long waits in the traveler’s lounge, and near baggage carousel’s. Clearly for Pamela this time was well spent. This is a masterful presentation in which she ruminates on the things we all carry with us. Her initial entry on stage, in a costume which brings to mind words like travel worn, belies the brilliance of her solo performance. This is a weaving of voice, interactive electronics, a train of hand baggage and video, which navigates the viewer through a journey of reflection, questioning what we choose to bring with us as we subject ourselves to the many ordeals of modern-day travel.
Throughout this work Pamela Z skillfully orchestrates midi sampling devices with simple hand gestures, producing an electronic score, processed live, mixed with operatic flourishes, and vocals reminiscent of Merridth Monk. The theme of baggage becomes her lens through which issues of security both national and personal; memory, melancholy and homelessness are viewed. Pamela Z has the skill to balance these narratives with subtle application through the use of her technology, which fills the stage with a clean well designed look. She is clearly a visual artist, musician and show woman. This adventure is one that you may want to take, before packing your bags for the next screening by the TSA.
