UNC Charlotte Center City’s Projective Eye Gallery to launch summer experiment

Friday, June 22, 2012

The UNC Charlotte Center City Projective Eye Gallery will launch an inaugural “summer experiment,” which will feature a performance installation that brings together dance, song, sculpture and design.

The experiment, entitled “Songs of the Fisherman,” is an aesthetic meditation on life’s journey. The opening event, scheduled for 6:00 PM, Friday, June 22, will include a live performance with Department of Music faculty members BrianArreola (tenor) and Mira Frisch (cellist), guest pianist Jan Saffir and UNC Charlotte alumna Melissa Word in choreography by Assistant Professor of Dance Gretchen Alterowitz. An artists’ discussion and a reception sponsored by Harvest Moon Grille will conclude the evening.

The chamber opera “Songs of the Fisherman,” with music by Timothy Nelson and words by Andrew Albin, premiered atUNC Charlotte in January. The poetic text contemplates life and death, dwelling on themes of alienation and reconciliation, permanence and impermanence, struggle and acceptance and the passage of time. Allusions to Homer’s “Odyssey,” biblical scripture and Chinese legend weave through compelling imagery of the natural word – the moon, the sea, the stars and the sand. Music and movement give voice and body to the text, in the form of the tenor soloist and the female dancer.

The June 22 performance will present brief excerpts from this opera, as well as other musical selections, starting at 6:30 PM

The gallery installation will include sculpture and design by Anita Easterling, assistant professor of scene design in the Department of Theatre, and video projection of the University’s production of “Songs of the Fisherman.” The exhibit will be displayed through Wednesday, Aug. 8.

The UNC Charlotte Center City Projective Eye Gallery opened in September. The summer experiment is planned to become an annual exhibition dedicated to collaboration and experimentation by University faculty. Projects are chosen by an external panel.