Hosted by Micah on The Good Work Hour, Radio Kingston.
Joined by Melissa McGill, we talk about art, and it being a practice of Just Transition and what it means to be in right relationship and what Melissa means by the word intervention.
“What is Good Work and how do we do it? What’s the impact on our lives when we focus our love and attention and time in our communities and consciously work towards Just Transition? What is Just Transition anyway? How do we get there?
In The Good Work Hour, we’ll be diving into what Good Work looks like in action, spotlighting people who are showing up, speaking out, and doing the deep work to move us towards Just Transition in the Hudson Valley. Hosted by a rotating duo of team members from the Good Work Institute, you’ll hear from a diversity of guests who will bring their perspectives on how we can create positive change here and now, and how you can get involved.”
A few weeks ago, Decora asked me to collaborate on this great project. The timeline was really really short but the energy around the whole project was so good and so strong and that’s all we need!So on Sunday, an audience walked with us through the breathtaking landscape of The Garrison Institute, listening to his powerful new album as we went. Memorial candles were lit, a gospel singer sang out to the river from a high rocky cliff, amazing dancers danced atop rock outcroppings and among apple trees, and we walked a garden labyrinth in the dark, with Decora’s words and music filling our heads and hearts.
My project was a kind of “sketch” for a developing project called Here and Now (Lenapehoking). Sited here among the trees and rocks along a beautiful rocky river ledge trail, it was in conversation with its surroundings and the ever changing ambient light. Approximately 50 mirrored triangular forms glinted in the sun, catching the light and reflecting fragments of the landscape around it–yellow leaves, the sky, the river, those passing by. These mirrored fragments were nestled in the spaces between tree trunks, branches and ancient glacial rock croppings–like a game of hide and seek, look carefully and find more. The environment and the artwork were inseparable, here and now.
And I can’t resist sharing this photo I took after. Deinstallation leads to inspiration. Stay tuned…
It is a time of great change, and it is a time of listening deeply—to each other and to the sounds around us. In our suddenly quieter world, the sound of the birds can now be heard more clearly.
This project invites you to stop and listen. Call and Response refers to the actual format of this project—my call and received responses from around the world—as well as themes of community, connection and conversation.
I called on friends from around the world, inviting them to send one minute videos of local bird sounds. The 100 video contributions create unique sound compositions, combining a wide range of species and dialogues with videos from Africa, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, New Zealand, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Birds are environmental indicators. For this reason, humans have always been attracted to birdsong and bird sounds. A diverse bird community signals a healthy environment. We are reminded how essential it is and has always been to live in harmonious balance. Call-and-response patterns are found in every culture’s communication and music and in all forms of sharing and democracy around the globe.
Collected here https://www.callandresponseproject.org/, the video contributions create unique sound compositions combining a wide range of species and conversations not heard together anywhere else in the world. Each time the project site is refreshed, a new composition is created.
In Call and Response, each collaborator’s video submission allows us as viewers to share in the precise moment it was recorded. What they were hearing, letting us be virtually side by side for a moment, listening together. My warm thanks to all who submitted videos! Special thanks to William van Roden, collaborating consultant and to Tom J. Hole for web development. Call and Response was created with generous support from TOTAH.
A new film by Giovanni Pellegrini on McGill’s public art project Red Regatta premiered on Magazzino Da Casa on May 9, 2020. The screening was followed by a Q+A with the artist Melissa McGill and journalist Julia Felsenthal on Instagram Live for the project’s one year anniversary.
Oval Lingotto Fiere | Booth Purple 13 Green 14
Via Giacomo Mattè Trucco, 70
Turin, Italy
Mazzoleni is pleased to announce its participation at Artissima 2019 with an exhibition entirely dedicated to Melissa McGill and her public art projectRed Regatta. This solo project will be displayed in the Main Section of the fair.
The monographic show presented by Mazzoleni will display works by the artist created during three phases of the project’s timeline: artist renderings, red colour studies for the hand-painted sails, and photographs taken by the artist of the red sails reflected in the lagoon waters during the Red Regatta performances.
Red Regatta, an unprecedented series of four large-scale site-specific performances, activated Venice’s lagoon and waterways between May and September 2019. Fifty-two traditional vela al terzo boats sailed in unison in choreographed regattas, each with sails hand-painted in distinct shades of red, developed by McGill. The public artwork united Venetians and visitors to celebrate the cultural and maritime history of the city and call attention to the forces of climate change and mass tourism that threaten its future.
Melissa McGill will also take part in a talk titled Make a Better World Now! with fellow American artist Christian Holstad and Vittorio Calabrese (director of Magazzino Italian Art), which will take place on Friday 1st November at 2.30pm at the Meeting Point of the Oval. The discussion will be dedicated to the relationship between art and environmental sustainability as well as their Venetian projects.
Red Regatta by Melissa McGill was presented in collaboration with Associazione Vela al Terzo Venezia, co-organized by Magazzino Italian Art Foundation, and curated by Chiara Spangaro with project management by Marcella Ferrari
For more information and press links, please click here
Follow this link to hear the interview recorded on location with Sarah LaDuke and WAMC: http://wamc.org/post/seventeen-stars-added-multitudes-melissa-mcgills-constellation
Artissima 2019