voICE set and photo by AC Petersen
September of 2004 took me to the A.I.R. Gallery in New York's Chelsea district, where I collaborated with Garrett Fisher to create a work that coincided with the opening of "voICE," an exhibit by sculptor Louise McCagg. The impetus for Louise's detailed tiny faces and bronze postcards was the letters from Hungarian Jews in Auschwitz 60 years ago. Of course, the postcards were penned by the Nazis, which made the content of the cards more disturbing and surreal: "My darling I miss you. I hope we can be together soon."


bronze postcard by Louise McCagg 2003
these are about the size of an actual postcard
to view more, click here and then click "postcards"

With the assistance of Andrash, Louise's colleague at the gallery, I wrote the English translation of a card onto paper, tore the words apart, and, for the performance, Ken Cerniglia read the words randomly and dropped the torn paper to the floor while Kamala scribbled on the wall. Soprano Anna Vinten-Johansen sang Fisher's original arias like an angel, then flung a life-sized frozen "head" against the wall (I stayed in Louise's studio and got used to opening the freezer to get some ice cubes and seeing several heads neatly stacked inside. At least their eyes were closed). I combined Louise's copper display stands with hanging icicles that dripped onto burning candles floating in shallow trays of water.

Before the performance, Garrett and I met and rehearsed with Kamala -- with her massive accordion on her back, the three of us barely fit in the elevator. Afterwards, Garrett asked the owner of our favorite coffee shop near NYU to translate his newborn lyrics into Italian, which she did, then looked at Garrett and exclaimed, "this is art!"

voICE: at A.I.R. Gallery, New York, Sculptures by Louise McCagg. Performance: AC Petersen, Set Design and Movement Director; Garrett Fisher, Composer and Lyricist; Ken Cerniglia, Dramaturg and Performer/Collaborator; Kamala Sankaram, Performer/Collaborator (accordion, voice); Anna Vinten-Johansen, Performer/Collaborator (voice); Taina Karr, English Horn; Garrett Fisher, Indian Harmonium