Mobility Device was a performance in which artist Carmen Papalia, who is blind, was accompanied by a marching band that replaced his white cane as his primary means of gathering information about his surroundings. As part of this site-specific performance for the Grand Central Art Center, Papalia explored Downtown Santa Ana while The Great Centurion Marching Band from Century High School in Santa Ana, under the direction of Scott Devoe, provided musical cues indicating objects, obstacles and other information that might be relevant to the artist on his journey. As a piece of music, Mobility Device was an extension of the musicality of the white cane-bringing attention to the things that the white cane, on any occasion, might touch into sound. With Mobility Device, fixtures such as curbs, lampposts and sandwich boards became notes in the soundscape of a place. Alternately, Mobility Device proposed the possibility of user-generated, creative process-based systems of access. It represents a non-institutional (and non-institutionalizing) temporary solution for the problem that is the white cane. The community was invited to join the performance.
19 май 2016
