Individual Residencies
2022 | Paul Catanese
My artwork emerges from a hybrid and multi-modal creative practice that blurs the lines between fine, performing, and media arts, and crosses domains of knowledge including science and technology. For example, a current series of studies, collectively entitled The Responsibility of Breath, emerges from research conducted at the University of Michigan Stamps School in coordination with Michigan Medical Sleep and Circadian Research Laboratory.
Taking form as micro-performances, installations, videos, objects, sounds, texts, virtual environments, and musical gestures, these studies inform development for the next phase of my opera, Century of Progress / Sleep. These inquiries have been shaped by the events of the past several years. During this period defined by breath, watching breath as data, trying to hold breath (physically, conceptually, emotionally), the legibility, musicality, and potency of breath has emerged as a catalyst for generating form.
My motivation for applying for this residency was rooted in seeking time for reflection and research. I have been prototyping inflatable forms the past year, devised to hold breath, and function both as furniture for sleeping as well as sonorous sculptures. Created from heat-weldable fabric, the voicing for these sculptures is informed by harmonium, shruti, and bagpipe. Thus, it is fortuitous that the residency is near Scapoli, where I learned more about Zampogna (bagpipe) traditions and construction methods.