Steve Hilmy – This Space Occupied (by Maida)
Steve Hilmy
“This Space Occupied (by Maida)”
This Space Occupied (by Maida) was originally commissioned by the Washington Project for the Arts for a 5-hour endurance performance in an elevated glass cage at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC fall of 2012. It is an interactive performance of structured improvisation, stream of consciousness choices by Maida Withers as performer and dancer, and Steve Hilmy as musician and composer, that reveal the precariousness of life in the glass cage. The 5-hour endurance event was inspired by notions of the Occupy movement. Portions of Maida’s text are fragments of poetry of David McAleavey who is a professor of literature and creative writing at George Washington University, and Alex Caldiero a poet, polyartist, sonosopher, and scholar of humanities and intermedia and a professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Utah Valley State College.
In this recorded performance Maida Withers wears a headset mic and Steve Hilmy processes her speech and movement while performing on keyboard, computer, and miscellaneous controllers, making all sonic decisions in the moment.
