Review Rundown: The One Where You’ll Want To Listen Up

This week a little time travel as we get another look and listen at the opening of ArtsDistrict Brooklyn, then we jump up to Toronto for Outside The March and Factory Theatre’s latest, and make our way up to the Mt. Wilson Observatory in LA to go Within Sound.

How fun! Let’s go!

Last week’s Rundown, the one that went very “19th century with a twist?” We’ve recovered it from the difference engine’s archives for you.

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ArtsDistrict Brooklyn Opening — ArtsDistrict Brooklyn
Prices Vary By Experience from $30 to $49.50; Brooklyn, NY; Through Nov. 20th

Arts District Brooklyn is a new space in Greenpoint for new immersive work coupled with a cool outdoor bar. They hosted a preview of their location featuring a single large projection mapped piece called Limitless AI and two installation-based audio pieces by Darkfield Radio called Flight and Séance.

Limitless AI tells a story of an AI receiving data from humanity and then “processing” that data in a five-act animation. The piece had interesting visualizations and music and a neat, live performance twist. But it fails due to its atrocious narrative. If you know anything about artificial intelligence, AI does not think in swirling lines and clips of quotes and images. The piece claims the AI can do patently impossible things. It’s just so obviously false that you immediately roll your eyes at it. The other issue is that the AI is supposedly being trained on the great works of humanity, defined as Newton, Einstein, and some Renaissance painters. I don’t know how you can make a work in 2022 where six dead white men are the entirety of human accomplishment. You might be impressed visually, but there is no other reason to see this uninspired piece.

The DARKFIELD installations are much more effective. Of the two, I liked Flight’s surreal narrative more, but both are worth trying. In Flight, you enter into a shipping crate styled inside as a single side of an aircraft with rows of seats, mini-monitors, and windows. There is a set of headphones that you don and the audio is the primary experience. After a brief safety video, the lights are turned off and the performance truly begins.

Using only spatial audio, DARKFIELD simulates the plane’s take-off, movement from passengers around and beside you, and conversations from the cockpit and walkway. The narrative isn’t completely consistent, but the surreal meditation on alternate realities is original and it manages to touch on nice moments of horror without being obvious. But it’s amazing how accurately it sounds like someone is whispering to you or that something happened a couple of aisles ahead. In addition, lights and video turn on at key moments and haptic reactions in the seat simulate plane movement.

Interestingly, I didn’t enjoy it as much as the at-home DARKFIELD pieces as there’s something just mind blowing about hearing the spatial audio on your random headphones in your own house But it’s a fun and worthwhile ride to experience their work with the extra set dressing and physical effects.

I appreciate what ArtsDistrict Brooklyn is offering. The space will be cool and it’s worth checking out, but for now, skip Limitless AI and have some fun with DARKFIELD instead.

– Nicholas Fortugno, New York City Correspondent

Trojan Girls & The Outhouse of Atreus — Outside the March and Factory Theatre in association with Neworld Theatre
$0 — $75; Toronto, Canada; Through Aug. 28

Set in “New Troy,” Trojan Girls & The Outhouse of Atreus transplants some familiar names from Greek mythology into a modern day setting. This production by Outside the March and Factory Theatre explores themes of intergenerational trauma, environmentalism, and the various issues that plague us throughout youth, adulthood, and the ages in-between.

With eight cast members playing characters in two simultaneous, parallel plays, the show is a masterclass in multitasking that showcases incredibly intricate staging and acting prowess. Upon arrival at the theater, we were asked to choose where we wanted to start our experience — inside or outdoors. Inside, New Troy’s adults mingle amongst the crowd — friend, foe, and audience member — at the annual “Duck N Swing’’ dance. Outside, the children’s story unfolds around a bonfire, making use of the venue’s courtyard, multi-storied exterior, and even a car in the driveway.

The power of this show lies within its logistical complexity. I marveled at the cast’s ability to sprint between stages while swapping character and costume. At a three-hour run time, the show is a decent investment of time. However, I would have loved to sit through a third simultaneous performance — a seat halfway between the two sets, allowing me to better appreciate the incredible logistics and endurance that went into executing this ambitious show.

— Katrina Lat, Toronto Correspondent

WITHIN SOUND: The Acoustic Sculptures of Michael Brewster — Mount Wilson Observatory
$50; Los Angeles, CA; Run Concluded

Near Pasadena, at more than 5,700 feet, sits the Mount Wilson Observatory. Its 60- and 100-inch astronomical telescopes are the two largest telescopes available for public use in the world. Last weekend, Within Sound: The Acoustic Sculptures of Michael Brewster launched the Observatory’s new “Arts @ the Observatory” program, a series of events at the intersection of science and art.

Brewster was a sound artist who designed immersive sonic environments starting in the late 1960s. Coining the terms “acoustic sculpture” and “sonic drawing,” he asked audiences to “look” with their ears. Consisting of six pieces presented inside the 100-inch dome (and its stunning acoustics), Within Sound was led by Homer Charles Arnold, a new media professor and archive manager for the Michael Brewster Trust, and supported by Alex Schetter, a sound art specialist and the Trust’s archival technician.

An interactive exploration, audiences could only experience the entirety of each sculpture by moving through the space. Brewster portrayed acoustic sculpture as “an inner as well as a visceral awareness that evokes sensations in mind and body.” This could not have been more true. Traversing the dome’s interior felt like moving through sound itself; the air seemed to have pockets of pressurized, tonal thickness. These “masses” had a complete shape: length, width — and height. Crouching down, I sometimes crossed the threshold of a pocket’s outline and into a new one with a separate pitch, volume, and intensity. I also had sensorial responses, such as nausea, and trancelike moments. These reflexes were instinctive and immediate.

Placing “sight below sound,” Brewster reimagined auditory, spatial, and corporal interplay, while offering an inclusive experience for blind and sighted participants alike. At one point I arrived at the nexus of two sound waves, each set to a different frequency. By shifting my weight forward or back, I could “play” the waves, seemingly manipulating pitch and rhythm with my sway. I became listener, conductor, and instrument. Through Brewster’s magic I found myself Within Sound.

— Laura Hess, Arts Editor

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