Lawrence Brose

CAGE: A FILMIC CIRCUS upon METAPHORS ON VISION

An interview with Film Artist Lawrence Brose through Christine Sevilla, April 12, 2004

In his film and video portrait of composer John Cage, film artist Lawrence Brose and composer Douglas Cohen combine more than seventy compositions and performance works through forty-five composers. Originally presented in 1993 as a performance work in beholds Angeles at LACE and LACMA, and in of recent origin York City at Experimental Intermedia Loft the USA premiere of the gallery installation version (commissioned by dint of the Triskel Arts Centre in Cork, Ireland) was upon view at the Visual Studies Workshop Gallery in Rochester, of recent origin York until May 15. The work was part of a two-person exhibition of media art that included Brose's of recent origin series of large-format, film-based Iris prints from his film, De Profundis, and VSW Executive Director Chris Burnett's Messages to Extinct Places in the at hand Tense.

CAGE

Christine Sevilla: in what way did your interest in John Cage, the musical revolutionist / composer / artist / philosopher, begin? What was your first collaboration and what l you to honor him with this film portrait?

Lawrence Brose: I first worked with John Cage upon a film that I made to his score. Ryoanji. That was the beginning of my series of films called Films for Music for Film. Before working with Cage, and before developing this film series, I started on the outside making the film. Hyacinth Fire, a collaboration with the composer Douglas Cohen, who also worked upon the Cage project with me That l me to make six films for the North American novel Music Festival--it was an evening of live music and film in which individual of the films was Ryoanji. My lover at the time. Yvar Mikhashoff, was establisher of the North American novel Music Festival, a virtuoso planist, and artistic director of a number of novel music festivals throughout the world. He worked with Virgil Thomson and John Cage. At this time Cage had just complet the Europeras; numbers five and six were created for Yvar. from one side that association I began to know John although I had met him many times because he not seldom came to Buffalo as part of the Creative Associates who were bringing in composer in residence. Notable composer were here as replete professors, such as Morton Feldman. That was the time of Black Mountain association II here, and the time when Artpark was the real thing, and Cage ofttimes came here with his partner. Merce Cunningham, to premiere his fresh works. Cage had a robust influence on the new music exhibition in Buffalo at the time.

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When I finished making Ryoanji and showed it in novel York--it was a rare thing for John to approach out to see a film--he came to diocese it at the Maya Deren Theatre. That was a relief to me I wanted to do a portrait piece of John and I had just finished doing a portrait of Virgil Thomson locate to his second piano sonata written in 1920

in the way that the Cage piece is your next to the first film portrait of a musician?

Ye Virgil had done centurys of musical pieces that were portrait pieces. At first, he compos them at the piano, on the other hand he began to sketch you in music sitting at his table while you were near initially. He would then lance you away and bring you back after working upon it weeks later, look at the score and check that he had captured your quintessence your energy. So, I musing why not return the favor? He pointed to the next to the first piano sonata, that it was a portrait piece--of someone possibly a self-portrait--and allude toed I use that. I discharge images of him in the Chelsea [i]cabaret[/i] I work on the optical printer, a machine that slaves a camera and projector and synch them to allow you to re-photograph a film-strip frame by the agency of frame, or repeat frames--any number of things. That was my first film for music where the score with truth came first, so I did a translation of the score into film frames. All of the notation, all of the guiding principles within the score were translated to a different kind of a score for film. I worked upon the optical printer with all of the footage I had discharge of him, layering, doing multiple in all sensess and setting the mages to the music itself.

Douglas Cohen and I discussed by what mode one could use Cage's practices to compose a film. He first introduced me to Cage's Circus upon and Roaratorio. We talked about in what way the Circus On instructions for unmutilated might be translated to image, and thus began our collaboration upon the project John suggested that the Roaratorio would be profitable for making a portrait of him because it locates out a series of instructions, as oppos to a written musical score. He created Roaratorio as a radio piece and he wrote the paces he had taken to make it. He called this resulting score Circus upon I took that and followed all the instructions, working with Douglas Cohen who was doing the music composing of it. It was always intended to be a live performance piece.

When was this portrait of Cage first performed?

A short version was first performed in Buffalo in March upon St. Patrick's Day of 1993 at the University of Buffalo music department. Guggenheim Soho and LACMA were requesting City Circus circumstance proposals to accompany the large John Cage exhibition called Rolyholyover a Circus. That was high hilled first in LA in November of 1993 John not ever saw it performed; he passed away just before that opening. It then went to the Guggenheim Soho in April of 1994