2022 Roulette Commissioned Artist
Didn’t I see you, when I was peaking through
Peaking through the fog
The fog, so radiantly split
Split like the echoes of my mind
As if my image
Was shattered like pieces of
Pieces of
—
Shatter explores the splintered lives of five people, stuck in their own half-realities. Trying to find ways to come to the surface, they attempt to break free from their own shells, only to fall further into themselves. Paint, video, movement, and sound are all used as tools for their language as they journey to each other in the fog of crisis. Upon reunion, they find resolution and continue on together. Shatter is a piece about dissociation during a time of isolation and the power of community during struggle. Directly inspired by the events of the past two years, Shatter puts an abstract lens on mental health during the pandemic, exploring the emotional and physical boundaries that forced many of us to reflect on the vital importance of community and support.
We shatter and bits of ourselves are scattered on the floor. We look to pick up the pieces, only to find that we cannot alone. The edges are sharp, and our perception, limited. Only after finding each other do we re-create versions of ourselves, like a puzzle putting pieces back in different places, but just as a whole. And with that, we settle into a state that is not finalized, but for now, sufficient. We shatter the expectation. We continue on.
Marisa Tornello: voice, electronics, movement
Ezra Gans: voice alto clarinet, bassoon, movement
Magnus Løvseth: voice, tuba, movement
Shara Lunun: voice, electronics, movement
Julián Muro: voice, electronics, movement
Marisa Tornello (she/they) is a composer, vocalist, performance artist, poet, mover, and maker. From bodypaint to projection art, Tornello cultivates a platform for dialogue around mental health through the dual lens of trauma and healing. Their works have been shown at Roulette, the Tank, Jack, La MaMa ETC, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Vital Joint, Invisible Dog Arts Center, and Judson Church, and have been featured in the Flame Keeper series with Metropolis Ensemble, the Exponential Festival, and Ladyfest at the Tank. They are also a member of ECHO Ensemble, which just completed their most recent residency at Dragon’s Egg Studio. In 2022, they will performing with Queer Van Kult at Snug Harbor Cultural Arts Center and will have their graphic scores, raspy and sweet annie, featured in Peach Magazine. Marisa is a fourth-generation Staten Islander and stems much of their artistic focus on mental health from their family’s deep history of volunteerism and aid to the senior community of Staten Island. Marisa is excited to return to Roulette, and is deeply grateful to be a commissioned artist this spring season!
Ezra Gans (he/him) is a performer currently residing in Ridgewood, New York. His work is grounded in tenets of experimental improvisation, placing an emphasis on spontaneity and real-time communication between performers and audiences. Aside from performing on bassoons and clarinets of various shapes and sizes, Ezra incorporates live electronics, spoken word, and even, on occasion, fun costumes into his works. He is a member of slapslap, a performance-art-rock band consisting of two electric bassoons and two drummers, and BRIGE, a group alternatingly known as “a multi-disciplinary experiment in radical geometry” and “just four friends.”
Magnus Løvseth ( ) is a Norwegian multidisciplinary artist rooted in experimental music. Gazing into the future, Magnus is on a quest to find new and innovative collaboration formats. On this journey, he brings with him his dependable tuba full of sounds and noises, his fine-tuned electronic components that process video and audio alike, his ever-moving body, and his vandalous voice. While traversing on this path, the themes of his works tend to gravitate toward heavier subjects, often framed by internet culture. Magnus collaborates with artists from a wide range of genres and art forms, from avant-garde improvisatory music with electronics to conceptual performance art and audiovisual installations. Magnus has received several grants from various art institutions, including The Norwegian Arts Council and Arctic Arts Festival for projects such as LÄNGSTWELLE, an audio-visual live performance about childhood, and ArtSMR, an internet video art piece. He has a bachelor’s degree from The Norwegian Academy of Music and is pursuing a master’s degree from The New School in New York.
Shara Lunon (she/they) is the product of the evolution of Black American musical traditions. As a poet, vocalist, composer, and improviser, her art finds the ethereal in the chaotic. With voice as the foundation, Shara’s music is an exploration of text and sound that seamlessly weaves through the ceaseless relationship of struggle, resilience, and resolution. Her goal is to challenge lassitude and in its place, instill hope. Shara has performed with leading improvisers including Darius Jones, and members of the International Contemporary Ensemble. Her work has been featured in The Gothamist, Metropolis Ensemble, and has won residency with Amanda + James production company, the 2022 Audiofemme Agenda Grant, and is a featured composer in the 2022 MATA Festival and the 2022 Metropolis Ensemble Biophony series.
Julián Muro (he/him) creates music that is the result of the encounter between at least two personalities, the one of a singer-songwriter-poet and the one of a composer-producer-researcher. He has released two albums of songs and instrumental music, and has been featured as a composer, musician, and spoken word artist in albums in the US, Canada, and Argentina; a selection of his poetry was published in the anthology Breve Tratado del Viento Sur (Colombia). His wide-ranged artistic imprint has earned him the Raul Urtasun-Frances Harley Scholarship For Young Emerging Artists to participate at the Banff Centre’s BMiR 2018 program (Canada) and the John W. Kieley Endowment For Emerging Artists to participate at BMiR 2019. He is currently pursuing a Master’s of Music at the New School, where he received an Award for Excellence in Climate, Environmental Justice, and Sustainability from the Tishman Center for his multimedia project La Tierra, una criatura.
