Naomi Columna + Melanie Emig—This is what I meant to say: *Dancing Banana*
From the artists: GIFS are everywhere. Those bite-sized, looping videos with dancing babies and grumpy cats. By sending moving images of digital avatars, we more richly and specifically convey our meaning. In ‘Dancing Banana’ we want to take the GIF, and all of its communication potency, out of the digital and into the physical realm. We seek to honor the GIF, a communication device specific to our current times.
In the absence of body language and vocal inflection, GIFs express tone and instantly convey meaning in virtual conversations. In the same way we rely on GIFS to nuance our digital presence, ‘Dancing Banana’ explores how GIFS can be used to bring new subtleties and contexts to live performance. For this project, we will pair a collection of “found” and original GIFs with live music and dance. Using projection, GIFS will be displayed with equal power alongside live performers.
‘Dancing Banana’ will show GIFS in their raw forms but also use various editing tactics to tailor their effect to the music. Raw and manipulated, the GIFS serve as visual subtext, elevate emotional responses, and give new context to "less accessible" experimental music. Ranging in mood from lighthearted to poignant, ‘Dancing Banana' will take full advantage of the vast and varied emotional potential of the common GIF. This live, animated GIF performance seeks to embrace, and celebrate the art of the GIF.
Our music programming is decidedly contemporary and challenging. Most of the pieces were written within the last fifty years by a diverse group of composers. Committed to championing new voices in the western classical tradition, we will commission one composition specifically for this event.
This project originated from our desire to create a “GIF opera.” A tongue-in-cheek juxtaposition of the “highbrow” (exclusive) opera form against the “lowbrow” (democratic) animated GIF. We hope the trashy elegance of this project will appeal to a wide range of listeners and honor the GIF, an artform endemic and specific to the current era.