On November 15th, 2016, MDes Critical Conservation student Roseann Tariq Sijeeni did a public projection at the rear facade of the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts at Harvard University.
Sijeeni titled her projection: Summer Storm. A Different Kind of Storm. The projection was accompanied along with Antonio Vivaldi’s Summer Storm, on of the The Four Seasons’ violin concerti.
Sijeeni said:
“Antonio Vivaldi composed the Four Seasons, reflecting the beauty in each season, and the horror of the transformation from one season to another. I am specifically interested in his Summer Storm piece, which reflects a sudden change from a beautiful day to the darkness of a storm. The melody intensifies as the storm transforms the environment into chaos as people seek refuge in their houses for escape. I picked Vivaldi specifically because of the words of the sonnet for the summer piece: “Soft breezes stir the air….but threatening north wind sweeps them suddenly aside. The shepherd trembles, fearful of violent storm and what may lie ahead. Adagio e piano – Presto e forte His limbs are now awakened from their repose by fear of lightning’s flash and thunder’s roar, as gnats and flies buzz furiously around.”
Vivaldi describes a natural phenomenon, the storm, while I am juxtaposing his music with news coverage of refugees, which is another kind of storm, a man-made storm (war), and people are fleeing from their place of refuge, their homes, they are escaping the war.
I chose Carpenter’s rear facade because there is an element of repetition in Le Corbusier’s building, the squares and how they are designed. Using the same news coverage but from different news channels I showed how an event is depicted and repeated over and over, and how each news channel cover the same event differently in an attempt to attract viewers.”
