after Africa \ “So long, Farewell” (sunset) / a yard of ashes (continuous cross dissolve) / “Oh! How I hate to get up in the morning!” (sunrise) 2011
durational performance – 3 channel audio/video projection
after Africa \ “So long, Farewell” (sunset) / a yard of ashes (continuous cross dissolve) / “Oh! How I hate to get up in the morning!” (sunrise) 2011 (sunset detail)
durational performance – 1 of 3 channels, audio / video projection, 49:07 loop (video still)
after Africa \ “So long, Farewell” (sunset) / a yard of ashes (continuous cross dissolve) / “Oh! How I hate to get up in the morning!” (sunrise) 2011 (continuous cross dissolve detail)
durational performance – 2 of 3 channel audio / video projection, indefinite loop (video still)
after Africa \ “So long, Farewell” (sunset) / a yard of ashes (continuous cross dissolve) / “Oh! How I hate to get up in the morning!” (sunrise) 2011 (sunrise detail)
durational performance – 3 of 3 channel audio / video projection, 63:27 loop (video still)
after Africa \ “So long, Farewell” (sunset) / a yard of ashes (continuous cross dissolve) / “Oh! How I hate to get up in the morning!” (sunrise) 2011 (set still)
durational performance – 3 channel audio / video projection
after Africa \ “So long, Farewell” (sunset) / a yard of ashes (continuous cross dissolve) / “Oh! How I hate to get up in the morning!” (sunrise) 2011 (set still)
durational performance – 3 channel audio / video projection
after Africa \ “So long, Farewell” (sunset) / a yard of ashes (continuous cross dissolve) / “Oh! How I hate to get up in the morning!” (sunrise) 2011 (set still)
durational performance – 3 channel audio / video projection
after Africa \ “So long, Farewell” (sunset) / a yard of ashes (continuous cross dissolve) / “Oh! How I hate to get up in the morning!” (sunrise) 2011 (sunset detail)
durational performance – 1 of 3 channel audio / video projection, 49:07 loop
after Africa \ “So long, Farewell” (sunset) / a yard of ashes (continuous cross dissolve) / “Oh! How I hate to get up in the morning!” (sunrise) 2011 (continuous cross dissolve detail)
(continuous cross dissolve detail 49:07 loop) durational performance – 2 of 3 channel audio / video projection, indefinite loop
Protected by a 360º dolly track set in a boreal cattle farm in western Quebec, a Diaspora girl in colonial school dress performs in rounds on a 19th century German piano. The left and right videos are captured in a continuous-take in which the camera explores the girl, the piano and the field as the dolly travels continuously counter- clockwise for the duration of the sunset (Rogers and Hammerstein’s 1959 WWII musical The Sound of Music, "So long Farewell.") (left channel) and clockwise for the sunrise (Irving Berlin’s 1918 WWI anthem, "Oh! how I hate to get up in the morning!") (right channel). The child's disciplined recital is supported by a chorus of field crickets.
Deborah Dawit (pianist) Ruth Dawit (girl in the field) Victor Poirier (camera) Roland Simmons (sound recording) Christion Schnobb (dolly/grip) Andrew Smith (production assistant/dolly) Edward Folger (editor)
In the centre video a blue helmeted ‘military humanitarian’ outfitted for every hazard labours over a wide red broom and a yard of ashes in a multi-layered continuous cross-dissolving loop. The breath is laboured, the gesture is determined. Sound of approaching Antonov engines signal danger. Sudden violence erupts outside the frame. The sweeper keeps sweeping. The last cry is abruptly silenced. We are returned to the sweeper’s fatigued, but no less determined, gesture. The breath is laboured. The broom is heavy. Futility leaks through the cracks between the aural and visual elements.
Victor Poirier (camera) Roland Simmons (sound recording) Andrew Smith (production assistant/dolly) Edward Folger (editor / sound mixing)