Saturday, May 18, 2024

2024.5.18. Now Is When We Are (The Stars).

5/18, Saturday. I only learned about this installation The Stars on Thursday. All shows were sold out. Following the instruction on the website of On The Board, I sent an email to be added to the waitlist. On Friday, I was informed that they could squeeze me in at 12:15pm on Saturday. I adjusted my schedule, and confirmed.

I arrived ~12:10, after checking in, waited in the lobby. There were about 11 of us. We were led into the theatre after a brief instruction. The cycle is about 30 minutes (narration with music). We were allowed in stay however long we wish. We walk in total darkness to immersion in a room fitted with 6,200 reactive LED light with 496-channel sound bars on all 4 walls. The narrator speaks of time related tidbits from the speakers. We were allowed to walk around, sit or lie on the ground. Of course, in order not to bump into another perosn, you don't want to walk when it's all dark. The leds are on wires draped from the ceiling all the way to the floor. See this video for the thought and work behind this show.

I was a bit disappointed of how many people in the theatre. Maybe ~50 when I was there. Some of them walk around intentionally bump into the wire, and make the wires sway. I'm also not happy with the sound: too loud most of the time, so I couldn't hear the narrator. I like the speech, but it doesn't seem to hae a logical order. Could use someone with a deeper voice. The lights are cool. Doesn't like like stars in the night sky (more uniformly attached). It's an interesting exhibition.

I paid $29 on my way out.

Today, Seattle Center's culture festival is "A Glimpse of China". Dances, music, konfu, and taiqi. Traditional instruments feathered are: Guzheng, Erhu, Yangqin and various drums. This boy on Yangqin is 6! Dances are more fun to watch, especially for the colorful costumes.