People Are Talking: UMS presents Ryoji Ikeda’s...
Posted: 10/31/14
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PERFORMANCES & EVENTS
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People Are Talking: UMS presents Ryoji Ikeda’s superposition at Power Center:
I had not taken time to connect the idea of superposition with the confusing messages on the screen, which was an obvious fault on my part. That is a really insightful way of explaining why the messages were so convoluted and sometimes a challenge to read. I still think I would have benefitted from a second viewing where I could have changed my focus and experienced another side of the production shifting the limits and possibly getting something different from the performance.
I understand that Ryoji’s work isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, largely based on amplitude and strobe tolerance, so I don’t want to be misunderstood to say you have to change your opinion about the performance. I’m just a little concerned when you criticize that each performer would spell different things and “the audience was expected to decode both at the same time”. Based on the concept of quantum superposition, a large part of the artistic statement of the piece is at any point in time something exists in all of its potential states, but when measured (or observed) it reduces to one (this is a simplification and I’m no scientist, so someone should feel free to explain better). Considering this, I don’t think the audience is “expected” to decode both at the same time. I think the audience was expected to consider the potential for multiple states and experience the limitations of observation.
"by Devin
People Are Talking: UMS presents Ryoji Ikeda’s superposition at Power Center:
As I was directed to my seat and handed earplugs, my heart began racing; I did not know why earplugs were a necessity for the viewing of “Superposition.” In reaction to this gift of earplugs, I found myself perching on the edge of the seat and constantly looking at the other spectators seated in the vicinity, all of us just waiting for some catastrophic noise or loud explosion. I believe that this feeling of terror held me back from enjoying and analyzing the production to help discover the message that Ryoji Ikeda tried to communicate.
I struggled with accurate reading of the various messages the two performers communicated through Morse code, since they were sometimes typing the same message and other times typing different messages or one with minimal variation, so I did not know whether I needed to be switching between the two screens or if I could focus on one screen. I definitely missed some of the important points due to my inability to efficiently read the screens simultaneously. The lack of spaces and rapid pace of the sentences added to the battle with reading and comprehending each message. I wish that I could have been able to see the sentences the performers presented on the screens for a longer period of time, but I can see how that would take away from the fast-moving, intense performance because some of the viewers may lose interest if the sentences lingered too long. It is a difficult balance to find the exact right time to allow the viewers to read.
Overall, I think I would have benefitted from a second viewing of “Superposition.” I was overwhelmed with the experience as a whole and knowing what to expect would have helped me to understand the performance better.