Let me cut to the chase: The experience is an audiovisual marvel.
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It’s a thoroughly modern mash-up, mixing visuals controlled by the narrator from a laptop (think PowerPoint, but not boring), with a score provided by a live band, like the in-house orchestra that would have accompanied a silent picture in the pre-talkie days.
“Yo La Tengo, a.k.a. the Buckminster Fuller Band”
by Kristin Belz
Portland Monthly MagLOVE SONG dates for Portland and Seattle
I’m excited to announce that tickets are now on sale for upcoming Seattle and Portland performances of THE LOVE SONG OF R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER. I’m going to be screening the film as Yo La Tengo performs their original score live at the Moore Theater in Seattle on 9/11 and at the Washington High School in Portland on 9/12. (The Portland show is part of the fantastic Time-Based Art Festival.)
One of the things that I really like about this “live documentary” form is that we can tailor the film to every city we visit. Buckminster Fuller was a Johnny Appleseed–like character—always on the road for new projects and lectures. So he has connections to almost any city.
In Seattle, we are going to incorporate the Laser Dome into the piece. (Who knew that there was still a venue out there dedicated to laser light shows????) The Seattle Laser Dome, originally called the Spacearium, was actually designed for the 1962 World’s Fair by a former student of Fuller’s named TC Howard. The dome is pictured above, on the top being built before the fair, and on the bottom in its current incarnation.
Info and tickets are available for Seattle here, and Portland here.
Buckminster Fuller Installation Shots
Many thanks to Mark Decena and Forrest Pound of Kontent Films for recently going to the SFMOMA and taking some fantastic pictures and footage of “Buckminster Fuller and the Bay Area: a Relationship in 12 Fragments (inspired by the Dymaxion Chronofile)”—this is the installation I made at the museum for their exhibit on Fuller. Many people have asked for more photos, so here you go. And if you’re in SF, the show will be up through the end of July, so do check it out in person.
LOVE SONG at TBA Festival, Portland
So it’s official: we’re going to be screening/performing THE LOVE SONG OF R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER as part of the Time-Based Art Festival in Portland this September. TBA is the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s annual performance festival, and I’ve had a few conversations w/ the curators over the years about screening something there. This is the first time it’s worked out, and I’m really thrilled. The lineup is a very interesting mix of dance, performance, and Laurie Anderson! This is actually a dream context for me to screen LOVE SONG.
The night before TBA we’ll be screening the film in Seattle at the historic Moore Theater. This is a show we set up w/ a rock promoter there, so it’ll be a totally different vibe. One of the most interesting things about this ‘live documentary’ biz is getting to slide between genres with the piece and see how much the screening context shapes an audience’s expectations and experience.
I’m booking a lot of shows for the fall and will post details here as plans develop.
Images: Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, John Wiseman via Flickr; Moore Theater Interior, Bob Cerelli via STG Presents