Live experimental audio performance, 2008 - present Film by Anslem Herelle “Ok, it’s as simple as ABC… I create a dark space; I’m talking pitch black, so anybody who enters can’t see us. We take our instruments into this dark space with the emphasis of improvisation, but we take it that step further. We rely on each other’s sense of sound and feeling to communicate with one another, meanwhile the audience becomes bound in this visual void, thus opening their senses of hearing and touch. Like the heat of a club night but without the sparkles, or like a spacious meditation in the presence of energy you cannot see. It’s personal and interpersonal engagement occurring at once. Letting go, giving back and receiving, a sort of cycle of service. JAM IN THE DARK!
• JAM IN THE DARK is a performance that abandons the visual sense in order to explore enhanced dynamics of auditory and somatosensory systems by housing a variety of musicians (each possessing and communicating with different instruments) in a visual abyss where hearing and feeling become the focus.
• The skill level of the musician does not matter (to a degree).
• The level of group-based experience the musician possess does not matter (to a degree).
• The look of the performer/s or viewer/s doesn’t matter.
• The first person experience of JAM IN THE DARK transcends that of the third person (i.e. archived footage). Like a one-time-only encounter, the vibes that are shared (from the musicians) received, (from the attendees) and visa versa will always differ rendering no performance the same since everything is improvised.
…The cover of the book is abandoned. The pages may take us anywhere.” © Larry Achiampong |