reach-close (2 home): Connecting the Dots Between Reality and Art

a critical review of the virtual live stream version, by Andrea Isea Galindo

Stefan Nazarevich
photo: stefannazarevich.com

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the arts in both positive and negative ways, having been one of the hardest challenges we have faced as artists. With theatres being closed, artists all around the world have had to adjust to continue producing and sharing their art to the public utilizing the feelings, repetition and adaptations of what being in quarantine during a worldwide pandemic feels like. Some of these adaptations have involved adding onto their own skill sets, like self-taping and creating their own stage. In order to explore past normal boundaries, artists have taken this opportunity to bring back work as a virtual version influenced by the emotions and challenges of the pandemic. The interdisciplinary duo, olive theory, is one of the many artists that have taken on this challenge. On February 13^th, 2021, the pandemic-inspired reach-close (2 home) by olive theory, was live-streamed through YouTube. Based on their original live performance, reach-close, members of olive theory, musician Stefan Nazarevich, and dancer Shion Skye Carter draw inspiration from their Covid-19 pandemic experience to create an at home, live-streamed version of it.

olive theory is well known for challenging the artistic roles each member has developed as an artist and redefining these by pushing the boundaries. They achieve this exploration by “cohabitating the performance and studio space as equal partners and performers, rather than dancer and musician” (shionskyecarter.com). In this new version of “reach-close (2 home)”, the duet explores past this main theme and introduce new ideas relating to the pandemic as they explore the dynamic relationships the two have with each other and with the space. “reach-close (2 home)” opens in what seems to be a living room decorated with plants and earth tone accents also filled with piano wires crossed across each other in various angles. Before the artists enter the space, the combination of the pour-over coffee being prepared and the sun reflecting on the white walls introduces a sense of tranquillity. When we see Nazarevich and Carter enter the space and take a couple of violin bows from the wall, there is a slight pause that shifts the mood to a more tense moment before the chaos begins. They enter the space equally: both as movers and sound-makers. Balancing each other out, they each contribute to their research while maintaining a soundless discourse of sharing and negotiating the space we see, much like in the pandemic, society was forced to negotiate the space around with their own housemates.

Watching this performance through the screen was also a factor that contributed to making this environment strange to the audience. While the audience does not get to see the entire space empty, it is left to the imagination to complete the full space and the uncertainty of the room breaks the initial peace that the atmosphere created in the beginning. This uncertainty is very similar to the feelings that come up while on virtual meetings when participants only have access to a small window to each other’s spaces. Although obviously the performers know what is about to happen in the first moment of stillness, and the audience does not. The few seconds of tension remind the audience of what the repetitiveness of each day throughout the pandemic feels like, cohabiting with others in a small space, unable to do anything outside of the environment we are stuck in.

Shion Skye Carter
photo: shionskyecarter.com

Even though most of olive theory’s work focuses on re-defining artistic role, they also use the “technology that they work with is also a collaborator and performer, rather than simply an external element that highlights the performing bodies” (shionskyecarter.com). This is interpreted as a subtle nod to the pandemic: when the world shut down and everyone was stuck inside their homes, there was not much in each living space that could be used to create art. Under the circumstances, artists like Nazarevich and Carter, artists were forced to use household items in order to continue and explore their artistic practice. The violin bows held in the performers’ hands are then used to create sound against the piano wires very similar to that of a tuning radio or TV. The tension in the air becomes visible and the conflict is no longer just between the performers and the environment, but also between the bows and the wires. Later, the performers use their own body parts to produce sound with the wires, playing with the conflict between the elements that have already been introduced to the space. The friction between the wires and the other surfaces created sounds that you could never get from any other instrument.

After several minutes of the artists repeatedly exploring the sounds and the space, the piece begins its culmination by a light change to a nocturnal setting. The shadows of the performers and instruments bring the tension to a whole other level as the chaotic energy that the flashing lights along with the sounds have been building throughout the piece create a climax. Similarly, in the pandemic, as each day progresses the same way as the last, emotions of desperation and anxiety fill our own bodies. The visual aspects of these emotions are very much real and familiar to anyone. The piece concludes with a sudden quick change of lights and the collapse of the performers that alleviates the tension built up in the past 10 minutes. There is another moment of stillness in which the audience can catch their breath.

            A change of routine can be an unpleasant experience to live through, especially if you are not given a previous warning of such change. As a society, we are currently facing many hardships throughout this pandemic; however, these are the challenges that push artists to explore the limits and go beyond the guidelines of art in order to create new work. The Covid-19  pandemic can be seen as a negative impact, but if taken the opportunity, much like olive theory has done in this situation, it can be a great source of inspiration to bring innovative work into the field.

photo: vivomediaarts.com

“Olive Theory.” Shion Skye Carter, shionskyecarter.com/olive-theory/.