Artist-in-Residence

Lakshmi Ramgopal

Multidisciplinary artist and performer, Lakshmi Ramgopal, attended her artist residency with Edgar Miller Legacy in the summer of 2019. Over the past several years, Ramgopal has created and performed as Lykanthea, exploring musically electro-ambient pop idioms, often staged in non-traditional spaces. Her creative process combines methodical research with an intuitive, improvisatory approach, involving long periods of introspection and planning that are followed by bursts of creativity.

Composing and performing as Lykanthea with an ensemble, Ramgopal performed Some Viscera, in the spirit and mindset that collaboration is crucial to the creation of great art and community. The above video highlights some of the unforgettable performance piece as staged at the Glasner Studio on July 28th, 2019. Below are some of the intimate and incredible moments of exploration from within the frames of the Glasner Studio space.

Video Credits:
Music Composition, Arrangement & Performance | Lakshmi Ramgopal - vocals, movement, castanets, struti box, glockenspiel
Performance Accompaniment | Asha Rowland - vocals, movement, castanets; Johanna Brock - violin; and Erica Miller - cello
Cinematography, Direciton & Editing | Mark Pallman

Some Viscera

The piece, Some Viscera, explored instances of birth and death in her family through the frame of her childhood; birdsong; and the transmission of knowledge through reading, writing, lullabies, and storytelling. She and her ensemble showcased their experimentation with Carnatic music, Bharatanatyam dance, traditional song, and contemporary movement in the space of the Glasner Studio. These traditional performance styles originate from Ramgopal’s cultural motherland of South India. Her performance — which included the use of traditional instruments like the struti box and percussion instruments — led the audience to locations throughout the studio with a view to engaging its sight lines, color combinations, and interactions with light within the building’s internal architecture. The performance was arranged with the specific space of the Studio in mind.

Beckoning Higher

Lykanthea's performances took visitors throughout the space of the Glasner Studio, showing off various lighting of space at different times and playing with audience sight lines.

Shruti Box

A traditional and portable accordion-like instrument that creates melodies through the movement of air.

Traditional | Contemporary

Choreographed traditional dance motifs that bring in interpretative movements, playing with bird imagery.

Carnatic Vocalizing & Song

Traditional South Indian singing techniques with use of contemporary Western instruments.

Movement, Color, Light

Choreographed dance scene with Asha Rowland and Lakshmi Ramgopal, combining traditional Bharatanatyam movement with contemporary flourishes.

Space | Light

Harmonizing Strings

Violinist, Johanna Brock

Playful Poise

Dancer, Asha Rowland

Contemplation

A vignette within a lit alcove in the Glasner Studio.

Tranquility

Cellist, Erica Miller

Rhythm & Movement

Traditional steps and sounds.

Open Staging

Hidden angles allowed for audience to view an open stage where movement and sound played throughout.

“I'm interested in how birdsong and avian motifs tie sound and light with memory…”

- Lakshmi Ramgopal

“Edgar Miller's work juxtaposes spare minimalism with an abundance of maximalist studies of color, shape, and perspective. Miller seems to have been interested in making the experience of a space both coherent and tranquil, while also adventurous: there's always something new to see and feel. This is especially true of the Glasner Studio, which is an entirely different space depending on the time of day. Light moves throughout it, changes shape and color, and renders some rooms tonally calm and gentle, and others dark and nearly ominous.

“I was deeply inspired by how Miller's work plays with perspective and light. I'm interested in how birdsong and avian motifs tie sound and light with memory, and the Glasner Studio in particular has offered me a new way to think about those themes. I have also wanted to create a performance that takes over a building for years, and this residency brought that dream to life. I hope to find ways of doing similar work in the near future.”

- Lakshmi Ramgopal

RETURN TO RESIDENCY SHOWCASES

Interested in becoming an Artist-in-Residence? Learn more & apply here: edgarmiller.org/residency-program/