Birth changes us. Experience changes us. Art changes us. Our brains are one way before and another after. Before birth 250,000 brain cells are produced each minute of a pregnancy. After birth more than half of these cells disappear. The first few months of life are a delicate period of stimuli, response and editing of neuronal connections. The combination of brain cell over-production followed by a period of massive pruning is the fundamental process to the making of an individual. It enables a child to be completely adaptable to the environment within which they are born. What happens in the interval between birth and person; between idea and realization; between generations? INTERVAL poses questions about the gambles and investments that are made when one becomes an agent of genetic reproduction and creative expression.
INTERVAL’S first permutation was a public discussion in two parts Saturday, April 12, 2008 at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston MA as part of the Exchange event that included faculty and students from MassArt and the New England Conservatory. The participants in the first part are all aspiring and articulate female artists; Maura Jasper, Mariela Cerda, Shaina Hoffman, Jill Dommings, Caitlin Welby and Carolyn Shadid. The second part invited creative and productive mothers; Debra Vinci, Denise Marika, Nancy Davies, Amber Davis, and Ricki Scheeder. The same questions were presented to both groups. The conversations were recorded live and amplified into a public space at the college. You can listen to the conversations that occurred Before and After several other performances that evening.
The questions are:
- How do you know when to abort a project?
- What do you sacrifice by adapting to rapid change?
- When you take a risk, what are you afraid of?
- When do you feel the most secure?
- How do you balance openness with quality?
- How many minutes a day are you at rest?
- Is your creative process driven by a desire to feel good now or to leave a lasting mark on the culture later?
- How do you know when to stop cradling an idea?
Please join in the discussion on this web site by adding your comments to each question thread. Thank you!
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INTERVAL is a project by Nita Sturiale, an artist and mother based in Cambridge MA.
www.nitasturiale.com
Sound engineering by Marc McNulty.
www.earphone.org
www.artsound.org