Artitecture.

A space study was recently conducted in a mountainous trail and area near the laboratories of SFS high school. What did these adventurous teenagers and their teacher find out? This blog post responding to certain questions will answer that. But let me give you a hint. It alluded to another time when these students used their architecture to create art with M--- Hi--. Could you guess? Of course you can. Now without further or due, the questions:

This is kind of like the piano that our group faced in the middle of the forest! 

1) What are the artistic moments you don't want to forget? 

The moments from this day were filled with brilliance and change. I would like to start off by saying how different yet how beautiful each and every compilation of tableaus were. They were such exemplar pieces of physical expression that I was able to store them in the 'important section' of my intensely disorganized brain.

Focusing on individual groups, I want to start with the presentation of Kevin, Annie, Austin and Joel. They had the chance to perform twice, and what I particularly enjoyed about these two presentations was how they were radically different from one another. When you start with a rough draft with great compliments and feedback, what do you really do to change it right? This group exemplified that statement false by showing us two beautiful pieces of dead man's theatre (I believe that this is what it was called) that were similar in some ways, but were different in many. I especially like how this group's use of proximity was greatly different the two times they presented. The first time, they played with their proximity forcing us to look back and then front and get a wider perspective of the environment. But the second time, they narrowed it down to the core of their stage. Though their scene consisted of a smaller surface area, they were able to really improve upon their message - how the dead draw in the living and how the living remorse for those who are dead - by using the confined space that they limited themselves to. With that being said, they were truly able to use their architecture in both of these settings to its full potential. They used the hills of the graves, the blindspots to the audience (they could hide themselves and make surprise exits and entrances); they used the lugubriousness of the setting and transferred that into their performance. What really just stands out right now was the amount of energy this group put into their performance. Yes, the imagery was great - everything corresponded with the mood and message - but as the actors fell into their individual pits, they were not afraid to just 'get down and dirty' and really just exert all the effort they could to produce this scene. That's what I find truly spectacular. More than that, the effort they produced bettered our connection with the characters that were produced in their tableaus.

Then, we moved on to the study of Christian, Andrew, Georgia, Emma and Andy. What I first want to point out is their effective (unintentional?) use of music. The euphonic harmonies of the classical guitar and forest settings really allowed us to appease the drama and copious amounts of stress outside of the class and really delve into what was being presented. Not to mention the music fit the piece extraordinarily well. I'm just going to say this: I thought it was hilarious how the girl just sat there even with sweaty teenagers enveloped her surroundings. She just kept playing... What really struck me about this piece was their use of the environment to create costumes and visuals for the viewer. Unlike the other group who had focused primarily on using their backdrop as their themes and conveyances, this group used their ideas to formulate the environment. It was a great contrast and I could see the beauty of both pieces. Their story/message was not linear, but rather an s-shape. It curved and finally got to the conclusion of being stripped naked to the core of the human spirit - then you're left with nothing... At least, that's how I interpreted it. I loved the ambience and nature of this piece so much.

And finally for our presentation, I would like to give a brief account of this performance as I didn't really see my own presentation; I suggest the blogs of my other classmates. But in brief, I really enjoyed our innovative ideas to have the audience move through the trail. I thought we were utilizing the environment perfectly and I liked how our storyline went backwards. I thought the images we evoked - George hanging on a tree as Reca intensely struggled to reach for him; the slow descent watching as the two friends slowly departed from each other as the dead lingered behind the audience (I'm not sure if anyone noticed this, but it happened); Reca banging on the piano as George slowly descends into our beginning scene: death - were quite ingenius and really were able to suit the theme and message that we were trying to portray.

2) What is one thing that you experienced that you hope will inspire or challenge you in the future? 

In the future, there will be many endeavors to create works of art like this. Whether it's for the IB play or for little skits, there will always be an opportunity to utilize what we learned here in the wilderness to our future studies in theatre or in school or in life in general. I hope to take with me the power of 'thinking outside the box,' as I believe that our group was able to really try something new. Experimentation always leads to a great idea. Reca, George, Sabrina and eventually Sammy and I were not able to think of fresh ideas off the bat. I found that it takes time, and sometimes, you won't even get what you want until the last five minutes you are given. It's like in the last five minutes of a test, you're shoved, and all your brilliant ideas just splash onto the paper. I have learned that through numerous confrontations and experiments with a plethora of no-no's and yes's that making ideas comes collectively from the mistakes and conflicts of the group itself. We put forth ideas and built upon each other's and, eventually we had ourselves a show. I would like to take with me the idea of experimentation in my future years to come. I think greatness leads from experimentation. Mrs. Moon once said during a rehearsal in the Last Days of Judas Iscariot how Christian and Sammy's scene was never trite or commonplace, but how it was always different as they were both trying new ways of saying their lines and expressing their emotions. This, I believe, adheres to all elements of theatre - whether in the booth, or on stage or with a paintbrush ready to paint the set.

3) What emotions did you feel as you watched the space studies? 

There were many emotions that passed through my mind during these studies: a sense of anticipation, a sense of anxiousness, a sense of surprise, a sense of regret, a sense of hope. Oddly enough, for a bunch of happy ol' kids, no happiness was expressed in these tableaus. But I want to again focus on the individual groups... You can pretty much tell from what I've described in the beginning that this scene was not a very happy one. It consisted of a longing for death and a self-diagnosed anxiety caused by the death of the loved ones. As those who fall into the pits of loss, they reach for those who remain above them even though it is not their intentions. Feelings of regret and utter despondency conquered my mind therefore, when I saw this study. I'm sure I would put myself into the shoes of Annie - the girl who lost all her loved ones - if my loved ones were to pass away. Detachment can cause utter despair, especially from those who loved you the most.

The second group had more of a less dark message, and yet, it was still quite somber. The leaves in my mind symbolized the layers upon layers of personality and fraud we layer ourselves with. The innocence and beauty of the leaves, as it sheds, turns into a man. But we then begin to realize that man is hope and man is us and that we are all equal in the eyes of God and in the core of our minds and spirits. I think this brought forth feelings of wistfulness and latter contentment.

Again, I will omit our group's presentation as I didn't 'watch' it. But I would say in general that it encompassed a longing and hope for the unattainable which led to frustration and discouragement.

If anything like this hops onto our plates of journeys, I believe that we should write poetry as so much beauty can result from just thinking about these pieces of work.

4) What inspired your space study and how did the stimulus help you design your compositions? 

Many things inspired our space study, but the message that we wanted to portray came from the poem Where Does the Poem Begin, Where Does it End and a surrealist image of a man's inevitably impossible trek along a desert. We wanted to delineate how we could strive for something, but never quite make it there. The journey could most definitely start, but we could never find the ending. In the painting, it shows a man who has covered his face prohibiting him to move on. But it seems that this wasn't inflicted by another man, but rather by himself. We wanted to convey this self-struggle within one's mind and heart to progress and eventually give up. What really inspired our themes and ideas were the poem and the paintings, but the ideas and scenes generally came from experimentation and the environment we were in. The tree branch was perfect for George to hang in, the piano could sort of formulate sound providing a creepy effect, and the long trail allowed us to see every aspect of the tableaus as we trekked through the forest.



OVERALL, there is so much I can take from this class and this study of the space behind our school. We really learned how to create art with architecture: artitecture. I thought that was really clever around an hour ago, but I retract that claim that circulated within my mind. But I really do think that it encompasses the main lessons that I learned here. What I leave with are lessons to do with theatre and architecture, but what I also leave with are scenes of beauty and grace, combined with despair and hopelessness. It was truly an inspiring class to be in.


PS: I would just like to apologize for my blog posts being late... Because of other commitments such as the fall play, I did not have much time to catch up on all the blog posts I would have liked to catch up on. I had notes and rough outlines for what I wanted to write in these blogposts from a long time ago, however. :)