we all thought it would be more exciting

[amezri]

Saturday I went to see 69° South: The Shackleton Project at Mass MoCA with sweetwildandmad & katkel. From the blurb on the Mass MoCA site, it sounded rather interesting and, though I am not a huge fan of creepy dolls, the marionettes did look great - there was even a mention of Kronos Quartet!

I met them at their house for a lovely dinner before we headed out. The drive was short (about an hour) but there was a epically treacherous drive over the mountain roads. Ack! But, we made it one piece with 15 minutes to spare! sweetwildandmad's an excellent driver. We shuffled into the theater (tiny!) and got our seats.

Painful. PAINFUL. I know this was a work in progress and it part of a larger production, but that might have been the most confusing 30 minutes I've experienced in a long while. Puppeteers on stilts, covered with white protective suits, moving marionettes slowly across the floor. SLOWLY. And the Kronos Quartet stuff? Just a sampling of a track that I couldn't identify. I don't even know what it was I was watching. I think the puppets died... or had a nap. Or were resurrected as they got up and walked off. Then people in red protective suits came out and climbed all over the stage, but for laying down on the ground.

I DON'T EVEN KNOW.

There was a Q&A afterward, but I'm certain 80% of the audience fled. Some of the people who ran off are probably going to pretend that they liked it. They're probably going to pretend they understood it. I am not one of those people. I have no idea what the hell it was I watched and I'm not going to pretend I liked it. So there.

After a quick look around the gift shop (where I refrained from buying the stainless steel D-ring mug), we ran out to the car (not in terror, but to escape the rain). We ended up stopping by James and Amy's where they were having a movie night with Kierstin & Jorel. Thankfully, we missed the showing of Paranormal Activity and came in during Ip Man, which I have neither seen nor heard about. Good movie, except for the weird audio mixing.

We didn't leave their house until 3am (well, 2am.. time changed and all that) because we ended up watching several episode of The State, which I found only mildly amusing. I show that makes fun of MTV is kind of hard work because you have to also recall what it is they're making fun of.

Anyway. Performance art is certainly not my thing, but watching TV with a bunch of friends is always a good time.

Comments

[arysani.livejournal.com]

yeeeeah performance art baffles me a lot. all I can think of right now is that episode of How I Met Your Mother with Barney's robot and Lily being Jealousy. I'm like "say whaaaat?"

And see, if it was an exhibit about that expedition, I would have found it FASCINATING.

I do love Mass MoCA though - the sheep!dog alone is fun. and I like the architecture of the place in general - provided it still looks like an old warehouse inside...

[amezri.livejournal.com]

It also reminds me of a scene from Spaced where they go see some experimental theater. And of course, Hot Fuzz, but it was a bizarre interpretation of Romeo & Juliet (icon!).

It was the first time I'd been to Mass MoCA. We were a bit late getting in and then fled to escape, so I didn't really get a chance to look around :(

[arysani.livejournal.com]

I've seen several exhibits there, b/c nearly every time I've gone to the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute in Williams I've popped over to Mass MoCA. Normally I'm not a contemporary art person at all, but two exhibits I recall were quite interesting - one was the uberOrgan, which used a roll of paper with black marks on it to play tubes and billows and whatnot, and it took up the entirety of an incredibly large room - 20+ ft ceilings, and it was easily over 200 yards wide. The other was this girl who was weaving a blanket according to the readout of brain activity from her sleeping brain. She would hook herself up at night, and then weave for over a week in the pattern of the printout. The exhibit room was a cot/her bed, the machine, and a small weaving loom, which showed her progress. Both were travelling exhibits.

[fyrdrakken]

Oh, geeze, The State was airing when I was in high school and college. I'm the target audience. I feel so old.

And I've successfully avoided experimental theater thus far.

[amezri.livejournal.com]

I vaguely remember The State when it was on and I don't think I thought it was funny even then...

Yeah... I suggest you continue to avoid it! LOL

[fyrdrakken]

I enjoyed many bits of it back when it was airing, but given the age I was at the time I doubt my sense of humor was all that sophisticated. Haven't seen it since (don't have the DVD), so I don't know if it would hold up now.