Visitor Talk: Alison O'Daniel

Abstract:

I will present the background information that has led up to and formed my project, The Tuba Thieves, and examine how complex embodiment is addressed in the aural politics of the production, highlighting shifting representations of identity and variations in audiences’ aural/visual reception of the film depending on their place along the spectrum of d/Deaf to hearing, and how this simultaneously  complicates and completes the project. I will describe my working methods utilizing visual musical scores, closed-captions, soundtracks, and storytelling as fluid modes of perception or as assistive listening devices that encourage the viewer to navigate between form, concept, object, sound, and narrative. I will discuss how the project has developed with Deaf and hearing musicians, skateboarders, marching

bands, composers, athletes, actors and artists whom I ask to navigate, de-construct and re-imagine sound. ‘Quasiclosed captions’ refers to the differences in content between information conveyed in subtitles for a Deaf or a hard of hearing audience, and the actual words or sound being delivered, despite the general subtext remaining the same for both. I am particularly interested in the poetic possibility

within these gaps of information. My presentation will trace the links between a particular call-and-response format of collaboration I have developed and the resulting confusion and at times disintegration of authorship that leads to the transformation of narrative. Finally, I will highlight the loss or re-creation of information as it passes through various channels and mediums, ultimately building a visual, aural,

and haptic vocabulary as a means to explode notions of perception and tell stories inspired by historic, somatic and quotidian interpretations of events.