19.10.09

the book of longing: collage






























My current scenic design project is "The Book of Longing", a book of poetry and song by Leonard Cohen with music by Phillip Glass. Phillip Glass selected the works that were put to his music for the project. From Leonard Cohen's book, he chose a series of pieces that portrayed the range of human emotion and put the final songs in random order. In a sense, he deconstructed the work and emotional life of the poet.

Through research, I discovered that the book is a result of over 20 years of work. Leonard Cohen said in an interview "I can hold in a great deal." My concept is based on this statement, and I created a collage to communicate my initial ideas.

In the foreground is a flower made of translucent fibers overlaying a dandelion. This represents the fragility of revealing emotional experiences, whether tragic, humorous, passionate, etc. The umbrellas in the background are the result of a need for protection. Finally, the overlaying image is an egg exploding in a hand (some of you may recognize it as the cover of the new YYY album). This is the moment when the work is released.

In essence, my scenic piece will be a deconstructed “cocoon”. Zaha and Maya Lin are my main sources for inspiration. Also, I am reading “Architecture and Disjunction” by Bernard Tschumi. More to come.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

this is really elegant. i would say play up the underlying structure in the drawing (i feel i can already see it emerging from stems and things). i am in love with the thought of a "deconstructed cocoon". i might even be so bold as to tell you to do some drawings of cocooons, scan them, and cut them up to see what happens.

Unknown said...

p.s. temps and i totally just had this convo about mapping the surface of an egg and then mapping it when it's broken. weiiiirddd.

Temps said...

What! I'm mapping broken eggs for SOAKING LIMA BEANS. Weird.

I'm always inspired by Maya Lin's obsession with the endless ellipse.

We are so on the same plane, Kaitlyn. We'll talk soon.