Emerging through collaboration and improvisation under the direction of Josiah Cuneo, the musical group Dissemble will provide a live acoustic performance of aleatoric compositions to accompany the debut of Scenes, a four part video piece exploring the nature of personal transformation through contemporary dance and movement.
Written and directed by Josiah Cuneo in concert with New York based dancers, actors, and musicians, Scenes, evinces a world of daydreams and longing against the quiet backdrop of the quotidian. Here, sequences of narratives unfold on screen, contemplated in tandem with Dissemble’s complex system of extemporized musical scores.
Comprised of a string and percussion quartet, led by Josiah Cuneo on percussion, featuring Jessica Pavone and Leanne Darling on viola, and Dan Arnow on upright bass, Dissemble’s compositions involve melding arrangement and spontaneity, utilizing the video pieces as their inspiration and underlying structure while also taking visual cues from Cuneo; guiding time, cadence, and interaction.
While informed by the conceptual work of avant-garde composers such as John Zorn, Iannis Xenakis, and John Cage, Cuneo’s use of image sequencing through an amalgamation of photography, collage, video, and music composition, evokes the tradition of live orchestration from the silent film era as much as it conveys a romanticism of the everyday; situating his practice in lineage with filmmakers such as William Kentridge and Maya Deren.
Josiah Cuneo is a Brooklyn based video artist and composer. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a BFA in 2004 and has exhibited his work at Exit Art, New York, Satori, New York, and Hampden Gallery at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Cuneo’s work has been performed at ISSUE Project Room, Brooklyn, New York, and at the Montague Phantom Brain Exchange, Turners Falls, Massachusetts.
American Academy of Achievement – Inventory
Inventory is a long-form solo work for acoustic guitar.The themes are pre-determined, the durations and transitions are not. As the piece has grown, the second half has been reserved for Inventory proper: a hyper-minimalist study in concentration and stamina.
Dissemble with Josiah Cuneo + American Academy of Achievement is made possible, in part, with funds from GENERATE: The Frances Richard Fund for Innovative Artists of Promise. GENERATE, instituted in celebration of Roulette’s 35th Anniversary in 2013, aims to provide immediate, practical assistance to artists, helping them achieve ambitious work to be presented in our theater. For more information about how you can contribute to GENERATE, please call our Development Office at 917.512.2474.
