Opera/"Spectacle"

For my opera project, I've chosen L'Orfeo by Monteverdi. I picked this because it is based on a legend I've learned about in the past, and additionally I wanted to go with an earlier example of the form out of sheer curiosity.

Moving onto the most recent topic of discussion, the development of the role of "spectacle" in art is one I find very interesting because I felt like to an extent it was an inherent part of anything designed to entertain, as a hook of sorts. Everything has to have a draw, right? While some of the prototypical examples feel dated and problematic in hindsight (blackface is obviously a disgusting practice, and for all its intrinsic artistic value Josephine Baker's fetishization of "exotic" stereotypes doesn't feel quite right), the shock and boundary-pushing ideals of the vaudeville show stick out to me quite a bit. I'm reminded a bit of Extreme Championship Wrestling, a company from the 1990's that specialized in "hardcore" content featuring violent stunts involving tables and ladders and blatantly-sexualized female characters, and its popularity led to grittier, more realistic writing throughout the industry, including the development of the NWO in WCW and the "Attitude Era" of the WWF. The analogue makes me feel like there's a cycle of new mediums every time we as a culture are ready to move forward in what we tolerate, and it makes me excited to see what's developed next.

Electronics Alive Expo

As a class, we attended the Electronics Alive Expo on 29 January. What I saw were very fascinating multimedia installations. The most fascinating pieces were the one that integrated vintage TV's with tactile input via a theremin, a vistual display that incorporated a projector and melted paraffin, a small humming Buddhist totem with powerful spiritual significance, and the video installations, some with pure entertainment purposes, such as one involving robots and another involving a talking toilet, fascinatingly straddling the line of pop art. This exhibit showcased the many interesting ways in which art and tech can fuse, and I look forward to learning more of these techniques myself.