Jack Straw New Media Gallery

Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas

A Sound/Light Installation based on the Book of Changes
by Byron Au Yong & Randy Moss

Exhibition Dates: September 12 - November 21, 2008

Jack Straw New Media Gallery
4261 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle 98105

http://kwbo.wordpress.com
http://www.hearbyron.com
http://www.rmoss.com
http://sitespecificarts.org

Click the play button above to listen to our interview with Byron Au Yong. Click here to download the interview.

"Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas . . . exudes an exquisite darkness whose shifts, gradients, and strips of black bewitch the eye." —The Stranger

Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas is a sound and light installation that features footage and recordings of performances by classical and experimental opera singers and water percussionists in a ceremonial event that explores water and human migration. Created by composer Byron Au Yong, in collaboration with writers, media artists and musicians, the Bottled Operas were performed in rivers, lakes, fountains, sloughs, ravines, and other waterways as part of 4Culture's Site-Specific. During Bumbershoot, Kidnapping Water musicians found themselves in the DuPen Fountain singing and splashing through these 64 Bottled Operas that have a curious relationship to the 64 hexagrams in the I Ching.

Sound: Byron Au Yong

Light: Randy Moss

Video: Jean-Stephane

Libretti: Eugenie Chan, Bret Fetzer, Aaron Jafferis, Archana Kumar, Carola Luther, Caroline Murphy, Vivian Umino, Edisa Weeks.

Creative Vocalists: Josie Davis, Emily Greenleaf, Jeremiah Oliver, David Stutz

Water Percussionists: Stuart McLeod, Dean Moore, Ben Morrow, James Whetzel

Audio engineers: Tom Stiles and CJ Lazenby

Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas was created with support from Creative Capital's Multi-Arts Production (MAP) Fund, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation; 4Culture's King County Site-Specific Performance Network; Bumbershoot Festival of the Arts; and Jack Straw Productions.

Photos of the Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas installation:
(Photos by Jean-Stéphane)

Photos from Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas performances:

Josie Davis and Ben Morrow perform outside Seattle's City Hall as passersby listen. Photo courtesy of Nelly Schaffner.

Ducks enjoying a bottled opera at Mercer Slough in Bellevue. They especially appreciation Ben's foot paddle percussion.

Jack Straw Productions gratefully acknowledges The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, City of Seattle’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, 4Culture King County Lodging Tax Fund, Washington State Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, PONCHO, ArtsFund, Seattle Foundation, Creative Capital's Multi-Arts Production (MAP) Fund, and individual contributors for their support of Jack Straw Artist Programs.