In collaboration with Museum of Fine Arts Houston & The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts at the University of Houston
Renowned experimental filmmaker, Bill Morrison will screen films from his collaborations with composer Michael Gordon, including:
City Walk (1999, 6 min, b/w)
A trip up Brooklyn’s Flatbush Avenue to Manhattan. Music by Michael Gordon
East River (2003, 5 min., color)
A brief glimpse of Manhattan's skin. Music by Michael Gordon
Every Stop On The F Train (2008, 5 min, color)
A rundown of the station names of the New York subway line as it traverse three boroughs.
Light Is Calling (2004, 8 min, color)
A meditation on the nature of random collisions, as seen through the roiling emulsion of an ancient film. Music by Michael Gordon.
Gotham (2004, 25 min.)
New York continually rebuilds itself on top of itself, layering over the past eras and ushering in newly minted ones. Music by Michael Gordon
What We Build (2006, 11 min)
Images of floodwaters from 7 states and 4 countries in the 1920s. Music by Michael Gordon
Who By Water (2007, 18 min.)
Ship passengers are depicted staring wordlessly into the camera’s lens. All of their numbers have by now been called. And in staring back at them, we contemplate our own fate. Music by Michael Gordon
PURCHASE TICKETS HERE
MEMBER RSVP HERE
BILL MORRISON
Bill Morrison has eight titles in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. His films have been screened at cinematheques, museums and concert halls worldwide, including BAM, Carnegie Hall, the Hirshhorn Museum, Lincoln Center, MoMA, the National Gallery of Art, the Tate Modern, and Royal Festival Hall. Bill has received an Alpert Award, a Guggenheim fellowship, and an award from the Foundation for Contemporary Art, as well as production grants from Creative Capital, NYSCA, NYFA, and the NEA. “Decasia”, his feature length collaboration with composer Michael Gordon, has been performed live with a 55-piece orchestra surrounding audiences in Basel in 2001, at St. Ann's Warehouse, Brooklyn, in 2004, and in Los Angeles' Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2006. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and on the Sundance Channel in 2002, and was named one of the ten best films of 2003 by the Village Voice.
MICHAEL GORDON
Michael Gordon's compositions demonstrate a deep exploration into the possibilities and nature of rhythm and what happens when rhythms are piled on top of each other, creating a glorious confusion. John Adams, who has conducted Gordon's works with the London Sinfonietta and the Ensemble Modern Orchestra, calls these raw and complicated sounds "irrational rhythms." Michael Gordon's interest in adding dimensionality to the concert experience has led to frequent collaborations with other artists.
For more Michael Gordon
On October 29, 30 and November 1 at 8PM, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts at the University of Houston presents “Lightning at our feet” with production by Ridge Theater, music composed by Michael Gordon, text by Emily Dickinson, and directed by Bob McGrath. Commissioned by the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts at the University of Houston for its world premiere performance, and by BAM for the 2008 Next Wave Festival.
The Mitchell Center presents the world premier of "Lightning at our feet", a multimedia performance that combines music, theatre, and dance to explore the work of legendary poet Emily Dickinson in a wholly new way. Performers inhabit a mutable set of ethereal projections on shifting screens that conjure Dickinson's unique physical and psychological landscapes. Dickinson's poems, many of which were included in letters she wrote in the shadow of the Civil War, are transformed into lush, contemporary songs. Lightning at our feet makes new this artist who has been so thoroughly studied throughout the years.
Location: Wortham Theatre, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center
University of Houston (Entrance 16 off Cullen Blvd; Free parking in Lot 16)
Admission: $15 general admission; $10 students and seniors
Tickets and Information: 713-743-2929
*Attendees to the October 24th show at Aurora Theater will be able to purchase tickets and get a $5 discount off "Lightning at our feet" regular admission!*