aisyalam

Part of me feels as though I should be working on multimedia all of the time, but it just doesn’t work that way since my multimedia involves poetry, and not as a minor component. Anyone who has worked seriously in both poetry and multimedia would probably say that poetry is just as difficult, if not moreso, anyway (although I guess that depends on the level of m-m one is dealing with). Today I went back to the nine Malaysian poems I’m taking seriously at this point and did more revisions, while at the same time figuring out what media components should be ascribed during the MMU performance. Some of the media work that will be shown is complete, and the rest is conceptual at this point but will be prepared over the next couple of weeks after I’ve finished some more audio work and selected a bunch of images to accompany the language and sound. I noticed today that we now have more than 4,000 pictures at our Flickr site—so more than a few to choose from! A lot of creative issues at play here: how to make the animations and soundtrack flow smoothly, what order the poems suit the poem’s themes best, and so on.

I did spend an hour today with Siew Wai, with whom I’ll be collaborating on Wednesday night. It is a short presentation, less than six minutes, which will involve the soundtrack I recorded using the rin gong, live music (my flute, her chimes, snow bells, and harmonica), and probably our voices (if the atmosphere seems appropriate for the chanting I’d like to do given the theme “Man + God”). We’ll be using a few other props too, like a zafu and incense. We worked out the arrangement easily, and it was fun hanging out with her for awhile. I’m sure everything will go as smoothly at the gallery.

I also met the FCM’s newest faculty, a Canadian VR specialist named Hal, who has left his position at Concordia University to spend some time here. It seems like he is a good fit, and it sounds like he is interested in working with the Dean and Faculty to make progressive things happen here. I look forward to seeing what he does, and to further discussions with him. Even more socializing tonight, as Sonita Wachtel, a Fulbrighter from Ohio, came down from Petaling Jaya to have dinner with us. Her field is cross-cultural training (i.e., for businesses) and she has very perceptive views on how Malaysia (and world cultures on the whole) works. I met her at the ISIS program, and we were glad to have some company in our apartment for the first time in awhile.

I did go to the opening in KL the other night, but arrived late enough to miss the broadcast of my pieces, which was alright since I’ve heard them already. Good for me to hear everyone else’s work! Apparently the work will appear in an installation in Paris in the fall, and selected tracks (including two of my own—one with Eric Curkendall) will be released on a cd that features excerpts from an episode of The Simpsons, Juan Torres y su órgano melódico, Couple, Fausto Papetti, Titán, El Perro del Mar, Sau Bin Yap + Jordan Tan, Kok Siew Wai, Akta Angkasa, Babasónicos, Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin, Lasser Moderna, James Brown, Deepset, Ochiqueochenta, and The Clash too. Can’t wait to hear it!