Intermissions: Camille Norment
Tuesday, December 10–Sunday, December 15, 2019
Open for listening during regular gallery hours
Saturday, December 14, 7PM
Live performance with Hamid Drake
Renaissance Society
Gallery
Camille Norment uses sound and music as means to reflect on socio-cultural phenomena or dimensions of public life. Her work creates experiences that are both somatic and cognitive—feeding both body and mind—whether she is delving into moments of dissonance or relating human speech to action. Norment’s Untitled (Flame) is an expansive, ongoing project that relates feedback and fire. In Chicago, it takes shape as two complimentary presentations: Untitled (blue heat), a performance at the Renaissance Society, and Untitled (red flame), a concurrent exhibition at the Logan Center for the Arts (Nov 15, 2019–Jan 5, 2020).
At the Renaissance Society, as part of the Intermissions series, the American-born, Oslo-based artist stages an exploration of audio feedback within the open gallery space. The museum’s distinctive architecture—with its high ceilings, hard surfaces, angular walls, and concave shape—forms an unusually dynamic acoustic environment. Thinking about feedback as both a sonic phenomenon and a metaphor with social and political resonance, Norment brings this space to life through an evening of performance alongside master drummer Hamid Drake. During the week, the staging for the performance is an active listening experience, open to the public during regular gallery hours.
As the project unfolds, Untitled (Flame) intersects with various histories including that of the Great Chicago Fire, the pioneering feedback experiments by sound artists like Max Neuhaus, and the contemporaneous activities of Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). These artists and musicians were part of a global reach towards socio-cultural revolution in the 1960s and 1970s. For Norment, revolution or enlightenment involves both heat and cool; it’s an activity that is both social and internal, active and meditative, echoing red and blue flames.
Curated by Karsten Lund.
This event is presented by the Renaissance Society as part of Camille Norment's solo exhibition, Untitled (Flame), co-presented by the Renaissance Society and Logan Center Exhibitions