I’m working with visual artist Tazeen Qayyum on a new performance project with sound and performative drawing. Tazeen’s practice stems from her training in Mughal miniature painting, and she has taken this tradition and exploded it outwards to many different expressions. One of her modes of working results in her performative drawings that she constructs in her studio, but also live. She works by minutely drawing one word, inscribing it 1000’s of times in patterns, resulting a document of meditation that is incredibly striking.
We’ve long been fans of each other’s work, and have been looking for a way to work together, me with my instruments and electronics and her with her drawing. What was particularly interesting to both of us was not just performing in the same space at the same time, but looking for with some kind of possible way for us to communicate and transform our practices together. What we did at her most recent (as of time of writing) exhibition was host an open rehearsal, where we actually exposed the process of investigation to outside viewers in real time.
This was an absolutely extraordinary experience, to share our thoughts and ideas out loud with others present. It was so interesting to involve and incorporate people’s observations of what they experienced as we tried new strategies in working together.
I am tremendously excited by the project’s potential. We’ll be doing a lot more of this (our schedules permitting) and there are many new paths to discover.