{"id":5305,"date":"2018-01-20T11:07:12","date_gmt":"2018-01-20T16:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=5305"},"modified":"2018-01-20T11:07:12","modified_gmt":"2018-01-20T16:07:12","slug":"rainbow-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2018\/01\/20\/rainbow-collapse\/","title":{"rendered":"In \u2018Rainbow Collapse,\u2019 Fearing Ecological Destruction, Dreaming A \u2018Utopian And Impossible\u2019 Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cRainbow Collapse\u201d<\/a>\u2014part of the \u201cRun of the Mills\u201d performance series at the Boston Center for the Arts\u2014\u201cis a piece about working in the gap between what we want and what we can do, or between the vision and the reality,\u201d says Anya Smolnikova, who developed the ecological-technological show with Jared Williams. \u201cIt\u2019s about reconnecting with something true and magical.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dreamy, one-night-only, rainbow brite, performance art, dance, futuristic Western shamanistic ritual began last night with visitors invited to roam an installation in the BCA\u2019s Mills Gallery for about 45 minutes. There was a tent called \u201cThe Fheopery (Confession Hut),\u201d a sort of shrine made from a tower of televisions topped with antlers called the \u201cPyramid of Then and Now”; a table of sketchbooks to page through called \u201cThe Books\u201d; a nook of dolls and books and pillows and a glowing electric globe called the \u201cSafe Spaces\u201d; and a set made up like a snowy birch forest called \u201cThe Woods.” (The performance was just last night, but the installation remains on view for free from noon to 4 p.m. today.)<\/p>\n

Then the cast of eight plus a DJ planned a 30 minute performance. I photographed a dress rehearsal, a couple hours before the 7 p.m. public show.<\/p>\n

\""Rainbow<\/a>
“Rainbow Collapse” at the Boston Center for the Arts. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the rehearsal (lots of photos below), a pair of performers were pulled by ropes from the \u201cSafe Spaces\u201d to \u201cThe Theater,\u201d a bare, spot-lit corner of the room, as a DJ by the name of Dr. Bob played animal and water sounds and electronic hums. A woman cut beets in half and rubbed the juice on other performers\u2019 faces. The woman stood on a chair and wept as she read a speech in Russian from Anton Chekhov\u2019s 1896 play \u201cThe Seagull.\u201d (\u201cShe\u2019s talking about the soul of the world when everything\u2019s gone\u201d Smolnikova says.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Rainbow People,\u201d a pair of performers with glowing faces shrouded by long hair, sat in \u201cThe Woods\u201d and seemed to play a curious board game. Two performers danced a pulling, balancing, tangling dance. Other performers dressed or bound them in ropes and rags and tassels. They sang. The Rainbow People examined them and then they walked together to the forest and the lights went out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, the moon and the earth are the only two lights,\u201d Smolnikova tells me.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The \u201cPyramid of Then and Now” at “Rainbow Collapse” at the Boston Center for the Arts. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cRainbow Collapse\u201d is about fears and hopes while watching the destruction of nature and the idealization of technology. Smolnikova says it\u2019s a rumination \u201con screens, on nature, on extinction. All the stuffed animals in the corner are extincting species. The Rainbow People are folk who live in the forest, are the beings we imagine who could live in the world as it\u2019s going now.\u201d<\/p>\n

She adds, \u201cAll of us here, all of us on earth, are aware of a situation that may cause some destruction and may cause complete destruction or at least some pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRainbow Collapse\u201d is about imaging some sort of hybrid future. \u201cWe\u2019re not sure if people are there in the hope place. But something is there,\u201d Smolnikova says. \u201cWe want to offer ourselves and the audience hope now, to dream us into something that is utopian and impossible. \u2026 But we want to create\u2014we have to for ourselves as artists\u2014space in our minds to look into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

[Photos all copyright 2018 Greg Cook.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

\n

Help us keep producing our great coverage of local arts by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\""Rainbow<\/a>
“Rainbow Collapse” at the Boston Center for the Arts. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\""Rainbow<\/a>
“Rainbow Collapse” at the Boston Center for the Arts. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\""Rainbow<\/a>
“Rainbow Collapse” at the Boston Center for the Arts. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\""Rainbow<\/a>
“Rainbow Collapse” at the Boston Center for the Arts. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\""Rainbow<\/a>
“Rainbow Collapse” at the Boston Center for the Arts. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\""Rainbow<\/a>
“Rainbow Collapse” at the Boston Center for the Arts. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\""Rainbow<\/a>
“Rainbow Collapse” at the Boston Center for the Arts. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\""Rainbow<\/a>
“Rainbow Collapse” at the Boston Center for the Arts. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\""Rainbow<\/a>
“Rainbow Collapse” at the Boston Center for the Arts. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\""Rainbow<\/a>
“Rainbow Collapse” at the Boston Center for the Arts. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\""Rainbow<\/a>
“Rainbow Collapse” at the Boston Center for the Arts. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\""Rainbow<\/a>
“Rainbow Collapse” at the Boston Center for the Arts. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\""Rainbow<\/a>
“Rainbow Collapse” at the Boston Center for the Arts. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\""Rainbow<\/a>
“Rainbow Collapse” at the Boston Center for the Arts. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cRainbow Collapse\u201d\u2014part of the \u201cRun of the Mills\u201d performance series at the Boston Center for the Arts\u2014\u201cis a piece about working in the gap between what we want and what we can do, or between the vision and the reality,\u201d says Anya Smolnikova, who developed the ecological-technological show with Jared Williams. \u201cIt\u2019s about reconnecting with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5321,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,108,110],"tags":[37,223,232,61],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5305"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5305"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5338,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5305\/revisions\/5338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}