TRYING TO PUT WORDS TO TRANSFORMATION
a response…
Listen. It might just simply be that. Can you listen with eyes, with touch, with ears, and heart? This notion underscores all of the work of Sharon Kagan. Her most recent exhibit,Compassion in Action, at The Scenography Gallery at Alfred University, managed to change the landscape of a space in a transformative way.During her five-day performance of Release Me,observed as students and faculty entered the space and were immediately enveloped in complex emotions. Kagan’s steady presence accompanied by narrated audio and sound made the audience question whether they were performer or observer. It is for this reason that this show was chosen to be placed in The Scenography Gallery.
Scenography is the art of creating performance environments; it can be composed of sound, light, clothing, performance, structure and space.
What is the role of audience? Are we mere spectators of emotion? Is our job one of placid conformity, or can we turn complexity into action? During Compassion in Action, the gallery space became a concerted microcosm that explored our own relations to what goes on in the world every day. There are harsh realities that we can choose to breeze past, take in, or challenge. I was able to witness as all of those choices were made, and I was able to notice when I myself had to make the choice to breeze past as I had to move from one classroom space to another, anxiously passing through as Kagan knitted. Sometimes it was easy to move past the artist as she worked. I would take a breath and remember my destination. At other times, I would falter. If I entered during a particularly poignant story, I lingered longer, knowing that my destination had to wait; some things were more important. And there were other times, when the audio was too challenging, and I knew that the words or the sounds would be too much, and at those times, I did not breeze through but held my breath and plowed into the space as if covered in combat gear. At those times, I knew I was subverting the important content, but I also knew I had made that choice.
There is movement in stillness. Thank you for making the space.
(A note left by an audience member)
However, through all these movements, Kagan stayed in her rocking chair, knitting. I think for the students, this was of the most comfort. They witnessed someone who faced the difficult moments and did not budge or flee. Can there be anything more important to teach than how to push through the discomfort and still remain present? Each day of the performance felt different, and the energy shifted as the audience shifted. On the final day of the performance, Kagan stepped into the cocoon she knitted and then began the unraveling process. It was these moments that stuck with me the most. I had imagined the unraveling would be swift. One strand would fall away in an easy motion to reveal a beautiful butterfly. This was not the case. The yarn got knotted and tangled and was not easy. The audience stepped in to aid in the untangling, and for half the day, people worked together trying to untie what had been crafted. Even then, things wanted to remain stuck. This message was much more palpable than the magical ease I had imagined in my head. It swung around and illustrated so deeply the meaning of the art piece. Forgiveness is not simple – it can lock us into place at any moment, but it is in the journey with others that we can find some solace.
Layers of grief and lots of other feelings, as well. Love the knitting or unknitting circle that just happened.
(comment from live stream audience member)
I am a scenographer. I look at space as a way to communicate stories, emotions, and information. Sharon Kagan’s gift is her ability to change and charge a space in a way that is inexplicable in words. It is simply / transformative.
Maureen Weiss
Associate Professor
Performance Design & Technology
Alfred University
2022