Galapagos in C
2015
Arts Letters & Numbers in collaboration with RISD
On December 9th 2015, nearly forty RISD Architecture students presented ‘Galapagos In C’: an interactive, multimedia performance combining architecture, performance, and music. Terry Riley’s canonical 1964 piece “In C” was accompanied by Community MusicWorks alumni with composer and music scholar Stuart Isacoff of the Wall Street Journal playing piano. The performance was the culminating gesture of two collaborative Architecture studios cotaught by architect/director David Gersten and composer/musician Michael Harrison. This was a first-of-its-kind project held at RISD.
In a series of call and response duets, listening and speaking to the paintings within the RISD Museum’s Grand Gallery, the work created a conversation with the room, drawing out the paintings into the sounds of ‘In C’ using spoken word, sound installations, performative gestures, and projections.