I’d like to add my two cents about Carolyn Healy and John Phillips‘ “Limbic Pentameter.” (See Colette’s post for more.)
It’s fantastic.
I haven’t always been kind to their work in what I’ve written elsewhere, but I am completely enthralled by “Limbic.” It’s a piece that weds flashy materials to content both cosmic and humane. And along the way it keeps a kind of humbleness that’s endearing. (Image is photo of the piece by Catherine Wert.)
All this in a 17-minute video-audio-sculptural piece that must change 17,000 times during its quarter hour loop. Phillips told me that a viewer got lost in the experience and didn’t realize she had spent over an hour with the piece. She thought she’d been in there only a few minutes.
The artists wrote to tell me that they got permission to keep the piece — which was the only visual art sponsored by the Live Arts Festival — open for an extra weekend in September beyond its Live Arts run which ends this Saturday. That’s good news. Run don’t walk to see it.
This is the piece’s debut in Philadelphia, although it was shown last year in Harrisburg. It’s a big production — indoor fireworks, even — and who knows when it’ll be shown again. Personally, I think it would be great in PAFA’s Morris Gallery — or in the PMA Video Gallery and I’d love to see it in either or both.
By the way, here are the corrected hours for this week: Tuesday through Friday 6 p.m. – 10 p.m. and Sat. Sept. 18, 2 p.m.-10 p.m. The piece will NOT be open Sunday, Sept. 19.
Hours for the additional weekend, Saturday, Sept. 25, and Sunday, Sept. 26, are from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. both days.
For a warm-up, you can catch the piece’s flavor in a little Quick-time video on the artists’ website.
And catch my a-list in next week’s Weekly (PW) for more.
