Toby Maclennan
Rutgers University
Abstract
Presentation of Playing the Stars
The talk reports on a performance of the planetarium event Singing the stars with sculptures, which was performed at the H.R. Macmillan Planetarium in Vancouver and the Seneca College Planetarium in Ontario. Subsequent performances were done at the Art Gallery of Ontario, P.S.1, New York City, the 10th International Sculpture Conference, Toronto, and The National Gallery of Canada. It was reviewed in the Village Voice, Arts Canada, The New Art Examiner, Vanguard Magazine, and CBC Radio.
Out of the belly of Vancouver’s H.R. Macmillan Planetarium, the star-making machine rises to the star chamber, carrying three musicians with their instruments, and three sculptures. Atop each sculpture is an overhanging frame of five wooden bars, which acts as a musical score. Lights go down over the planetarium audience. Stars move across the sky. Only the constellations and the luminous bars atop the sculptures are visible. Swept up by the grandeur of the constellations, the musicians look up through the bars atop their sculptures and give a concert playing the stars. The concert is inspired by a story from my book, Singing the Stars. A village of people has lost the power of night, which once resided within them. The people attempt to lure the night back with the help of sculptures, which will enable them to play and sing the stars. They hope that, lured by the music, the night will come close to their faces, and bits of darkness will fall into their ears, eyes and mouths and gradually fill up their bodies with the night sky.
Biographical Details
Toby Maclennan is an Associate Professor in the Visual Arts Dept., Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. His films have won awards at The New York Festival for Short Films and Videos, Brussels International Film Festival, Ohio Film Festival, Louisville Film Festival, and the Festival of Experimental Film, Chicago Art Institute. The Galerie Articule in Montreal has hosted a retrospective of his films. 1 Walked out of 2 and Forgot It was published by The Something Else Press and reviewed by The New York Times. Coach House Press published Singing the Stars. His manuscript, Am I in Heaven Yet, was a finalist for the Writers at Work Fellowship Competition. This work won honourable mention in the Isak Dinesen Creative Non-Fiction Contest.