i wish i could hear the mississippi
Materials: 2” audio speakers and cable, musical soundscape, burlap, parachute fabric, rope, steel, branches, river stones, cobalt blue pigment, mylar, dancers, Mississippi river.
Dimensions: Overall, 100’ x 65’
A collaboration among four artists from music, theater, dance, and visual arts,
this piece grew out of a myth written by the artists. The piece was set along
the banks of the river. A soundscape was created by hundreds of tiny speakers
within which dancers performed amidst constructed shrines honoring nature.
Artist’s myth: Long ago when the Mississippi was young, its flowing waters could
be heard many miles from its banks. By the gentle flowing river there lived an old fisherman.
Each year he would wait patiently for the passing of winter before he would begin his fishing.
There is a moment in each year in the spring, when rain, for a brief second turns back into snow.
Each year the fisherman would sit outside in the early spring feeling the drops of sky water sliding
down his face-wiping away the drops. It’s then that spring begins. It’s then that the old fisherman
sings a song to the Mississippi. It’s then that he begins to fish.
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