This piece began as a sculpture. I had the notion of being not just on the bed but inside of one. So I gutted the inside of a box spring mattress, fitted it with contact mics, florescent lights and a clear plastic top. I rigged the base so I could slide in and out of it. Then I found a piece of music that matched perfectly the sentiment of being trapped and yet finding a way to express that and then get free of it, thus I sang Joy Harjo’s ‘I Give You Back’ as the anthem of Inbedded.
The first performance was actually in the parking lot of Cal Arts, as a test run.
The second was more elaborate set up in the Modular Theater as part of the Cal Arts Interdisciplinary Festival.
(note: this clip is edited highlights from a full length performance, running time: 25 min)
Performance & bed by Julie Adler with Lisa Sylvester, piano & Joshua Jade, percussion
Featuring music : “I Give You Back” – music by Annea Lockwood, words by Joy Harjo and “The Heavenly Spheres are Illuminated by Lights” c) 1979 Somei Satoh with excerpts from the Sound of Music, Snow White, The Little Engine that Could and Fiddler on the Roof.
Here is an audio piece called ‘Untaped’ which was featured at the beginning of this:
The third performance of this piece took place in a smaller theater and included a presentation of Next to the Pale, an original video incorporating another sculpture/prop (see: Chair), along with other theatrical elements imbedded into the performance, such as a juxtaposition of Barbra Streisand imagery and that of myself through different stages of my life and hooded bodies inhabiting the desert, and the stage floor.
(note: this clip is edited highlights from the full length performance, running time: 32 min)
with Lisa Sylvester, piano & Mardhavi Rodrigo, percussion; Rande Dorn, dancer, and Leah Mercer & Wren Crosley as nurses.
Here is also the audio recording of the vocal performance of ‘I Give You Back’: