Drone and the Apocalypse

Drone and the Apocalypse (2020)

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In 2015 Joanna Demers wrote Drone and Apocalypse: An Exhibit Catalog for the End of the World. This is a work of literary non-fiction in which Demers relates qualities of specific drone works to pertinent moments in literature, philosophy and art which describe cataclysmic events, the end of empire, climate change, and eudemonia. In the book we meet Cynthia Wey, our protagonist who has recently died. She is a failed artist and curator who has settled on life in arts admin at UC San Diego preparing payroll for faculty and staff in the Music Department. She is struck by a car while crossing the street and dies immediately. After her death a masterpiece is found, a catalog for a yet to be seen exhibition of drone music complete with critical essays tying all the works to the theme of the apocalypse.

One of the pieces featured in Wey’s catalog is William Basinski’s The Disintegration Loops. In 1978 Basinski purchased tape loops estimated to be 10 years old in a junk shop. In 2001 Basinski is in the midst of an eviction and decides to digitize the loops to CD. The tape is old and damaged, the iron oxide flakes off the plastic for the duration of an hour, three minutes, and thirty three seconds, until it is completely destroyed. The result is the sound of the tape decaying in real time, which creates a natural reverb, burning, and dystharia of the sound. One morning in September, Basinski was listening to his finished recordings on his rooftop in New York City, and 9/11 started happening.

Considering this piece a choreographic disintegration loop, the score for Drone and the Apocalypse starts with improvisation from the dancer for 20 minutes while being notated live. The dancer then consults with the notator for the choreography for the second iteration.
The second time the dancer performs, he/she/they are notated live again, creating once again, another form of instructions. Again, the dancer consults with the notator for the choreography for the third iteration. The third time the dancer performs, he/she/they are notated live again. This time leaving the notation unperformed, open, and infinite.

This piece is a collaboration with Shawnee-Kiowa dancer Maggie Boyett, and artist Richard Zimmerman. Notated by (in order of appearance) Alicia Chesser, Ahimsa Timoteo Bodrán, and Christine Aria Hostetler.

This is documentation of the second movement, which is notated by Ahimsa Timoteo Bodrán.