ANGELS in AMERICA MEDIA RESEARCH L.Shea Oct 2012

Angels in America Moiré as motif: Society is a pattern we all live in. We are born into a time and place and develop our identities and build our lives in the midst of forces and historical patterns beyond our control. The AIDS epidemic intersected my life very early on and Angels in America is a hugely important work for me, so I needed to approach it in a thoughtful and respectful manner. So I’ll start with some facts: HIV is a biological entity, the result of evolutionary processes and historical contingencies. Once it “broke out” of it’s small environmental niche to the wider world it interacted with other processes and patterns to create the AIDS epidemic. In America the virus revealed existing but overlooked social structures, patterns of neglect, discrimination, hostility - along racial, economic and gender/preference lines. And experiences: In my individual experience (and I assume many others) HIV was a disruption, a break in the narrative of youth and desire and freedom. The presence of the virus caused a cognitive dissonance, vibrating under all experience - particularly sexual but also the everyday. Workplace blood drives, sharing meals with friends, gossip, all became tinged with an alien force, fear, disease, death - the imprisoning binary of negative and positive. Leading to a visual metaphor: Moiré patterns are interesting things. They produce their effect in the mind of the viewer. Regular static patterns when viewed through each other produce a variety of moving and shifting patterns. A small change in position creates significant changers in perceived patterns. And Kushner says the fantastical parts of the play are about the moment when the tensions in reality become so intense that reality breaks apart; the play is about these moments of rupture. Moiré patterns can also appear when a system of presentation (computer screen, etc) can’t display enough information – there is an excess of information for the resolution of the display and the result is perceived as moiré patterns. And an ethic for how to use video in the show: The media in Angels is NOT representation – representation of the immense tragedy of AIDS is impossible, and possibly an immoral goal. The patterns and visual effects are meant to enact visually the unpredictable and dynamic forces unleashed by that tiny virus. The video erupts when the reality of the play fractures, drawing the characters together, and visually indicating the fecundity of the world in the face of crisis. The visual style should feel new and fresh and seductive and tied to the characters and their potential for change and growth and not the Angel, which is an alien and destructive force in the world of the play. L. Shea October 2012 Act Scene Page Content of Scene Media Content Cue Line or Action 1 3 16 Harper's monologue WALL begins to shift and breathe "spinning apart" (or earlier). 1 3 17-18 Harper & Mr. Lies Meet Moire patterns on FLOOR, camera tracking Mr. Lies enters through door in wall Mr. Lies, disturbance patterns 3 Voice WALL shakes 1 7 31-34 Prior & Harper mutual dream/hallucination Moire patterns on FLOOR Harper enters Prior’s dream 1 7 35 Angel’s voice WALL projection, warping “Look up.” 2 9 80 Mr. Lies 2nd Visit Moire patterns on FLOOR, camera tracking Harper: “Mr. Lies” Mr. Lies, disturbance patterns 3 1 85-89 Prior ghosts 1st visit WALL projection - Depth video “Who are you?” 3 2 98-99 Flaming book & column FLOOR moire pattern + LED Aleph in IV drip Emily begins speaking Hebrew bag 3 3 101-103 Harper & Mr. Lies Antarctica FLOOR moire pattern + camera tracking “Snow” 3 5 110-112 Roy & Ethel FLOOR moire? “Who the fuck are you?” 3 6 113 Prior Ghosts 2nd visit + Prior and Louis dance WALL- Depth video “Tonight’s the Night” 3 7 115, 117-119 Angel approaching WALL, warping - shaking “Oh don’t come in here” 76 of Late Colour 108 dget Riley ish, born 193 1 rrent i4 thetic polymer paint on composition rd Is x587Is in. (148.3 x 149.5 em) Museum of Modern Art, New York, v York: Ph ilip Johnson Fund. 576.1964 al lmage © The Museum of Modern Art/ Li censed CA LA/A rt Resource, New York © 2006 Bridget " All Rights Reserved ,/ Fig. 44 Richard Paul Lohse Swiss, 1902-1988 Fifteen Systematic Color Rows with Vertical Condensations, 1950-68 Oil on canvas 59 1/8 x 59 1/8 in. (150.2 x 150.2 c m) The Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York: The Riklis Collection of McCrory Corporation. 1040.1983 Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Arl/Licensed by SCAlA/Art Resource, New York © 2006 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkiProLilteris, Zurich 11,1 (I 11 (( II L((fJ)JJ.lJwm~I'6~))). () 1"(1: il. .'1 III~~IJJJ IIIWNtU ;9 n Stanczak iean, born Poland, 1928 ,rminative Focus letic polymer and tempera on canvas x 45 1/2 in. (90.2 x 115.5 cm) lsonian American Art Museum, lington, D.C.: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. I K. Anderson, Martha Jackson )rial Collection. 1980.137.96 Jraphy by Smithsonian Am eri can Art Museum, ' 9ton, D.C.lArt Resource, New York 1t: Fig. 103 (see figs. 103, 106), and in Franyois Morellet's Tirets [uko Naito 0-90° (fig. 102), in which small white squares 3rican, born Japan 1935 ck and White Stripe - Circle alternately advance and recede in a dense, overall h Thin White Stripes pattern, creating a dynamic and fluctuating visual field. 5 rlie on canvas Morellet, who began exploring optical phenomena in (32 in. (81.3 x 81.3 em) the early 1 950s, often employed a systematic and ection of the artist repetitious structure for his paintings and sculptures. tesy of the Artist On prolonged viewing, they appear to quiver as our eyes attempt to focus on any specific area of the composition. The introduction of variables within a continuous pattern results in an even more unstable "periodic structure" that can fluctuate visually. Victor Vasarely was among the first to explore the dual components of repetition and variation in such paintings as Lux Novae (fig. 100), which features a gridded arrangement of 1t: Fig. 104 small geometric units. By subtly adjusting the shape of )ardo Landi these units throughout the painting, he creates a sense an, born 1937 ual Structure _1+1+1+1+1 of space, light, and motion, punctuated by the ruttura visuale) appearance of black dot after-images within the white i1-71 ;tie on masonite grid. Any formal structure can be activated to achieve x 26 x 13/8 in. (66 x 66 x 3.5 em) +++++++-f1 similarly dynamic effects. Spiral, concentric, and radial lection of Getulio Alviani, Milan, Italy patterns have also been employed with great effect as witnessed in the work of Marina Apollonio, Tadasky, ++++++++~ and Wolfgang Ludwig, whose Cinematic Paintings (for example, figs. 3, 20) seem to pulsate at their core, inexplicably radiating colors from their black-and-white +++++++++ designs. The mysterious appearance of phantom color was noted by Goethe as "the primordial phenomena +++++++++ I I I I I of all appearance of color occasioned by refraction"3 when describing his observations of refracted light seen through prisms against black-and-white 11: Fig. 105 backgrounds. The lens pictures of Karl Gerstner s Tomasello demonstrate this phenomenon using black-and-white entinean, born 1915 nosphere Chromoplastique 120A LLLLLLLL patterns of concentric circles that, when viewed 5 through a convex plastic casing, emanate a myriad of Ilic on wood relief 18 x 23 5/8 X 2 5/16 (60 x 60 x 5.9 em) LLLLLLLL colors at the periphery (see fig. 114). lesy the Artist and Sicardi Gallery, Houston, This optical flicker is pronounced in the work of ; © 2006 Artists Rights Sociely (ARS), LLLL1LLLL YorklADAGP, Paris Bridget Riley, who introduces slight variables into LLLrLLLL complex linear systems in such works as Tremor LLL LLLL (fig. 107), in which a triangular unit is modified incrementally throughout the composition to produce LLLLLLLL a sense of movement. The sinewy contours of Current LLLLLL'LL (fig. 108) provide an even more spectacular visual phenomenon. The linear structure of the painting shifts iLLLLLLLL direction and gathers into tight folds, making it difficult for the viewer's eyes to focus. The overwhelming .

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