Thingamajigs and San Francisco International Arts Festival presents: Self_less

Embark on a captivating journey with “Self_less,” a multipart series of musical works created by Edward Schocker and in partnership with the local community. Through a culmination of collective narratives shared by community members, we delve into exploring the question of “what is the self?” from a cultural, spiritual, and social perspective. These stories are harmoniously intertwined with music and songs composed by Schocker, brought to life by traditional Korean instruments played by the South Korean group, Ensemble PHASE, and accompanied by live video projections from the talented Keith Evans. Audience members will be immersed in a space enveloped and animated through visuals and music.

Audiences will be gently guided to explore themes of mental health and spirituality, occasionally treading upon uncomfortable subjects. Unconsciously, humans wake up, make our breakfast, and move throughout the day with a unified sense of self that we take for granted. We view our lives as linear. We have our past that we reflect on, we live in the present, and we plan, hope and dream of our future. Sometimes events take us out of that normal state of mind, and these experiences, whether lasting only seconds or for an extended period, can have profound effects on people. Through our call, we asked people to share stories from when their sense of self was changed or challenged, and over twenty community members of various ages (from an 8 year old up to an 80 year old) and socioeconomic backgrounds answered. Their stories ranged from body integrity identity disorder, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, visions and voices, to near death experiences. 

Through Self_less, we want to create an open, nonjudgmental, and safe space for community members dealing with mental health, neuropsychological challenges and end of life transitions to have a voice and share deeply personal and emotional stories. Audience and community members will have the opportunity to investigate and ask themselves who they are as a person. Is ‘The self’ what's there when we wake up and then slips away when we fall asleep? Do all the moments we remember, strung together in our life, define our sense of personhood? Do we control our thoughts or do our thoughts control us? When we lose our memory, whether through dementia, amnesia or Alzheimers, is our ‘self’ still there? Self_Less investigates these moments when we feel we have crossed over to glimpse an alternate state of being and uses abstract images, music and storytelling to reflect the emotions and experiences for the audience. 

About the Artists

Composer:

Edward Schocker is a composer and educator who creates music with made/found materials and alternate tuning systems, and is the co-founder/executive director of Thingamajigs. His music has been performed at Stanford Lively Arts, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Internationales Klangskunstfest in Berlin, Cultural Station Seoul 284, and Youkobo Art Space in Tokyo. His projects have been supported by UNESCO, National Endowment for the Arts, Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission, the California Arts Council, Korean Traditional Performing Arts Foundation and New Music USA. Currently, Edward creates work in a group process and is an ensemble member of the Thingamajigs Performance Group. 

Video Projections:

Keith Evans bridges the space between cinema and sculpture through his films, performances, and installations. His works include whimsically repurposed items, like turntables and telescopes. Evans’ creations frequently explore ideas of nature, science, and history, and much of Evans’ work belongs to the genre of “performance cinema” described as “an exciting and emergent genre of avant-garde moving-image art … arguing for the embodied, collective consideration of real-time, site-specific media experiences.” (Gray Area, 2016) 

Text Arrangement of Community Stories:

Erik Ehn is an American playwright and director known for proposing the Regional Alternative Theatre movement. Ehn is co-founder and co-artistic director of the Tenderloin Opera Company in San Francisco and also an artistic associate of San Francisco's Theatre of Yugen. He is a co-founder of the RAT movement, an international network of alternative theaters, and was the former Dean of theater at the California Institute of Arts, and former head of playwriting and professor of theater and performance studies at Brown University.

Performance Ensemble:

Ensemble PHASE performs traditional, contemporary, and experimental music on Korean instruments. They are passionate in collaborating with living composers and performers from diverse musical backgrounds. In order to expand the interest in writing for Korean instruments, ensemble PHASE has given workshops and lectures for composers and students to better understand Korean music and instruments, in and out of Korea. ensemble PHASE’s projects have been sponsored by the City of Seoul, Seoul Foundation of Arts and Culture, Art Council Korea, National Gugak Center and Studio Paju. This trip has been funded by the Arts Council Korea, and San Francisco International Arts Festival.

• Ensemble PHASE

  • Piri, Saenghwang: Minseop Song

  • Daegeum: Myeonggyu Park

  • Haegeum: Gyeowoon Jung

  • Gayageum: Nayeong Park

  • Geomungo: Minjoo Kim

• Guest Artists

  • Vocals: Sowon Kim

  • Percussion: Sori Choi

Other Collaborators: 

In addition to collaborating with community members, Elder Ashram, Jodo Shinshu Center, and Center for Sacred Studies in Sonoma helped consult, connect us with storytellers, and advise us on the best way to talk about this delicate subject matter.

About San Francisco International Arts Festival

Founded in 2002, SFIAF celebrates the arts by bringing together a global community of artists and audiences and by presenting innovative projects that focus on increasing human awareness and understanding within and across cultures.

SFIAF’s core values are based on principles of cultural and economic equity dedicated to coordinating the shared resources of multiple organizations to reach mutually beneficial goals. In addition to working with larger institutions, they place a high priority on the participation of smaller, culturally diverse entities whose communities have been left out of the prevailing American narrative. Supporting relationships between such organizations and artists is a primary commitment of SFIAF.