Big. That’s the first word I can think of to describe Tosca. Everything about the whole evening was big and dramatic. From the moment we got off the subway, there was this huge building, which conveniently happened to be Lincoln center. (it was actually the wrong building, but if you don’t get the idea, check out Teresa’s post.) The inside was big and grand, clearly designed as much to be impressive as it was to fit all the people in. You could tell it was really intended to impress because all the people working there were dressed in fancy clothes. Once you got inside, all the seats were red, a very dramatic color, and we could walk up to the orchestra and see all the instruments there. I’ve never seen a full sized harp before! It must have taken months of practice to get all those instruments to play together, and no one even clapped for them! And all this, of course, was before the curtain came up.
When the opera started, it was more of the same. Every gesture, every phrase, every note was just slightly exaggerated beyond what a normal person would do. That’s really the whole point of the opera, to give people their fix of drama. The two main characters, Tosca and Cavaradossi, are both people who see things through the artist’s lens, meaning they see how everything could presented in an excited way, which makes them the perfect people to have a dramatic love affair. (Incidentally, that’s probably why Tosca is so jealous; she sees everything in the most dramatic way, i.e. as evidence of Cavaradossi’s affairs. Either that or she’s just fishing for compliments.) Watching the fireworks of their relationship helps people understand their less dramatic lives better. All in all, a very exciting night.

I recently met up with a friend of mine who graduated from Parsons, an art school in NYC, this past spring. I asked her about college and the different things she was required to do. I was really surprised by some of the weird things she had to do in certain classes.

One specific class that she described to me was what i was most fascinated by. She said she had a very ‘creative’ professor who would give her a number of different tasks, much of which made no sense to the students. For instance, the sketchbook they were required to draw in consisted of old newspaper articles. The professor made sure no one was using a blank, white sketchbook to do their drafts and doodles. The next task they were given was one that I did not even realize was possible. They were required to draw using charcoal….underwater. They placed a white canvas within a tank full of water. They would then continue to draw a portrait of a friend or someone in the class using the charcoal they were given. The end result looked something like this (luckily she had taken a picture of it).

Last Saturday night, I went to a Benny Friedman concert. Benny Friedman is a rising star in Jewish music. His uncle is one of the biggest stars. I hadn’t been to concert in a long time, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I’ve listened to his CDs and they were really good, so I decided to go. Not only is he a great singer, but he’s also an amazing performer. He knew how to play to the crowd really well, singing a few really high-energy songs at the beginning to get everyone into it, and then singing some slower ones. He was also making jokes the whole time, which was cool because it showed that he was really focused on what was happening in who was there, not just playing a set list of songs. Maybe because he’s so new, he’s willing to do things other performers won’t do. Like when a kid got pushed on stage by his friends because it was his favorite song, Benny handed him the mike and let him belt out the last few lines. Not only must it have been really cool for that kid, but the kid sounded pretty good to. Later, when some other kids came on stage, he stepped aside so everyone could see some kid playing the air guitar. I thought that was pretty cool.
He didn’t play so many of his own songs, which was annoying, but its not that surprising because he doesn’t have that many. He opened with one of his own, and he closed with Yesh Tikva, which has become his signature hit. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIPCHjFC9yk). Alot of performs lose something when they perform live, because
they don’t have all the special effects, but he was the same live as he in his recordings. It was pretty awesome.

Hi all, so Joanna and I visited the David Zwirner gallery in hopes of visiting the Infinity Room but because of time we weren’t able to. But we were able to visit the other parts of the gallery that displayed some of her paintings. Her paintings are all very colorful and portray abstract images:

To give a background of her works: her main interest is in the cosmic realms and she focuses on pop art and minimalism. This would explain the abstract images in her paintings, which are all drawn in different directions and colors. We were wondering why she was drawing in all different directions and at first hypothesized that since the canvas she drew on was quite big (I believe at least 6 feet), she might have painted like this for convenience, but after doing a bit more research, this may have been her original intention. According to a biography, her works focus microscopic and macroscopic universes; I wonder what she was thinking while painting these? Was this her perception on different “universes” and “cosmic realms?” We also noted that for the third picture, the yellow paint looks like different pathways; did each of the different circles represent different cultures or people that she encountered throughout her life? Or perhaps different places, etc. There was a lot going on through my mind, mainly because I did not really understand the meaning behind the paintings.
Some of her pictures also showed signs of depth and dimension, as shown in the last picture. The eyes are spaced closer together as you move towards the center and left. A lot of the paintings made me think of optical illusions; especially since there was definitely a repetition of the eyes and circular looking faces in most of her paintings.
We also got to visit the Tentacle Room.

She also explores many aspects of form, space, and content. Since this room had mirrors all around, it  made me feel as if I was like in another world

Definetely recommend to check this place out

On December 10th, our IDC class went to view the opera Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera House. This was my first time every going to an opera so I was quite curious to what it would be like but I was also very excited to have this new experience. When we go to the opera house and entered the auditorium, I was taken back by the immense size of the theater as I looked up and the ceiling continued to rise. I was also taken back at the immensity of the set that was being used from transitioning to the church, to Scarpia’s house to the castle battlements, each looked almost realistic. We had seats that were fairly close to the stage so the large set seemed to completely fill our scope of vision.  Due to the subtitles on the backs of our chairs, following the plot was fairly simple even though the performance was in Italian. As in some cases, when stories are translated and some of the feeling is lost in translation, I felt that this was not an issue because of the emotion that the performers put into the opera. As they performed,  you could really sense the drama they were feeling. Along with that, personally, I actually like that this performance was in italian rather than english because it gave me a more traditional feel on the experience of seeing this opera.

Each of the actors seemed incredibly talented, especially the performer who portrayed Tosca. Some parts that stood out in my mind were when she would hold those long high notes. Due to the immense size of the opera auditorium, I was also very impressed at the ability of all of the performers to be able to project their voice out to the audience without the assistance of any microphones or equipment. Each performer must have been very dedicated and it must have taken years to develop that skill.  As the first opera I have ever attended, Tosca fulfilled all my expectations on what i imagined operas to be like in my head. Personally, operas are not my favorite forms of entertainment but I will admit that the performance was outstanding and it was a very enjoyable experience to attend this opera.

On November 26th, we went to go view the Complexions Ballet at the Joyce Theater.  Prior to our seeing the performance, Professor Eversley discussed with us some background information about dance and what we would see at Complexions, which fell under the category of contemporary dance.  When we got to the theater I was shocked at the seat we received which was in the first few rows. From all the live performances that I have attended (which is not many) I have never been that close to the stage. The performers were incredible and I can only imagine how much rehearsing, practicing and physical endurance the dancers had to put their bodies through to perform that flawlessly and be able to move in certain positions like that.  As I watched the performance I began to take notice on what we discussed in class and how Complexions ballet and contemporary dancing was very different from traditional ballet, which is what we think of when we hear the word ballet. The performers here were very mobile and and in terms of technique, there was a lot of strong leg movements. Sitting so close, we also were able to see the sweat flying off their bodies as they danced. Along with that, with every dance piece that was performed, the dancers  poured their hearts out and give the audience 110% of their effort. I could really feel the passion and tension of the performers based on their body language. Overall, Complexions was an incredible performance and an experience I will always remember

On November 19th, we went to visit the MoMA. This was my first time visiting the MoMa so I was not sure what to expect when I got there. After getting settled, a group of us went to check out the Magritte exhibit, which features paintings by René Magritte from the year 1926 – 1938. As I read the description outside the exhibit, I was a bit curious as to what his style would look like. The description was that Rene Margritte developed key strategies and techniques to defamiliarize the familiar. It also said that he was a surrealist and how he wanted to overthrow what he saw as oppressive rationalism. When I first walked in I began to understand what they were talking about. I noticed many abstract paintings like people kissing with cloths over their heads, wooden planks, scenes and all different kinds of paintings. I also noticed a lot of paintings of dismembered human body parts and of people with certain features exaggerated. Another theme that I noticed was the display of many cut-up paintings. One example was L’ÉVIDENCE ÉTERNELLE, a portrait of a human body that was cut up into 5 different sections. According to the description, it was painted in 1930 and appeared in many early Surrealists exhibitions. “The fragmentation underscores the tendency of the human eye to focus selectively rather than comprehensively in its vision.” As I continued to explore the Margritte exhibit, I came across a painting that should be familiar to all of us. It was The Key of Dreams, which is also on the front cover of our book Ways of Seeing by John Berger. Embarrassingly though, at first I did not recognize or acknowledge it to be the same painting but after Professor Eversley approached me and pointed it out, I began to realized where I had seen that painting before. Overall, the exhibit was very interesting and for my first time ever coming to the MoMa, I was quite satisfied with what I saw tehre.