Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Urban Ark (Performance Art)

Urban Ark was the name that Wendy-Bird and Dylan came up with for this
Performance Art Work for Harlech Biennale XI - 2014 Published on Sep 7, 2014
International Contemporary Art Wales (ICAW)
Exhibition: "In and Out of the Citadel"
To the song Earth Ship by Dylan Stephens
performed by the Stephens family: (Dylan, Wendy, Kes, Nirvana, Llyr, and Atira)
Sonotubes protected by Rainguard (Note the pun for Rain and God)
Filmed at Garage-Mahal located on Rainbow Lake, Bellingham, Washington.

The theme is a family who are building an Urban Ark to survive the coming catastrophe. It is built from Sonotubes which are cardboard molds used to make concrete pillars. It ends with Wendy trying to contact others, "This is the Urban Ark. Anyone there in outer space. Hello" Then the signal fades.

It is based on the song by Dylan Stephens:
Earth Ship (Published on Aug 20, 2014)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1PrBp4-Abs

Chorus:
Earth Ship, Pleasure trip, People overboard.
The whole world is drowning.
Won't you save us, Lord !
Money quest, Emptiness,
Drifting in the void.
It won't take much
To become an asteroid.

Flood gate,
Can't escape
Sickness of the mind.
It's only the naive
Believe a human could be kind.
Every day
Stories say:
People rape and kill.
We're abused by the news,
Yet we've never had our fill.
(Chorus)

Tick-tock;
Stop the clock;
We're growing old too fast.
Where's the treasured hope
That was always in our past.
Brave knight
Wins the fight,
But she can't be his bride.
We've grown so cynical
That we've even lost our pride.
(Chorus)

Olive branch,
Cosmic dance,
Peace must be proclaimed
And not just to the chosen ones
Of whom the church has named.
True love,
White dove
Flying o'er the sea.
Only with compassion
Can the world be truly free.
(Chorus)