Reykjavík Grapevine - 15.07.2016, Qupperneq 50

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Music Or is it Art?50
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 10 — 2016
It took a few weeks to find a good
time to talk to Samantha Shay. In
the heart of the Icelandic sum-
mer, the long days and pink nights
bring out a kind of craziness that
doesn’t sit easily with the day-to-
day scheduling; over on Saman-
tha’s side of the world, on Ameri-
ca’s West Coast, she was often “off
the grid,” vanishing on a wilder-
ness retreat in preparation for the
Tjarnabíó-hosted premiere of her
art-opera, ‘of Light’.
“I was teaching out in a redwood
forest,” says Samantha, when we
connect on Skype. “It was also
kind of a preparation for the per-
formance—to unplug, go inwards,
ground myself—so I’m not just
running on calls and emails.”
Presence and
vulnerability
Mindful self-care is foundational
to Samantha’s practise, in which
she creates artworks, workshops,
performances and situations in
an intentional spirit of generosity,
inclusion and sharing.
Even so, modern life fights
back—the call of email and so-
cial media is constant. “It’s really
hard to do,” says Samantha. “Even
right now, I’m thinking: ‘Do I re-
ally have time to do that? What if
something goes wrong?’ There’s a
culture of overdoing it that’s not
conducive to making art at all.
Because art is—at its most power-
ful—about presence and vulnera-
bility. When we’re overworked and
overstressed, we’re in a defensive
space. It’s challenging, and a con-
stant negotiation. But I just know
I’ll be much more ready to handle
it when I’ve woken up in the forest
for six days."
Into the light
“of Light” is a multimedia perfor-
mance that includes dance, text,
and music, staged largely in dark-
ness. It was first conceived when
Samantha travelled to Iceland and
experienced the inverse extremes
of the intense winter darkness,
and the disorientating 24-hour
daylight of the summer.
“The first time I travelled to
Iceland,” Samantha remembers,
“there was a snowstorm three or
four times a week. Snow piled up
at the door. It was super dark, and
I got very introspective. Then Ice-
land in June was so bright that it
totally messed with my senses.
When I arrived, I didn’t sleep for
three days. I had a totally emo-
tional response to the extremity of
having been in the dark, and then
in the light. And I wanted to make
a piece about it.”
Passing the edges
Samantha rolled the idea around,
gathering source material and de-
veloping alongside collaborators
including poet Danielle Vogel, who
created a work entitled “A Library
Of Light” whilst working in Ar-
narstapi, and electronic musician
and composer KÁRYYN. She also
discussed its progression with her
mentor, Marina Abramovic.
“Marina has been a mentor of
mine since 2011,” she explains.
“I talked to her about it. I started
to realise I wanted to make a piece
about darkness, initiation, personal
transformation. What our relation-
ship is to darkness: emotionally,
psychologically, spiritually, and lit-
erally—scientifically. I made it into
a durational performance, where
darkness is the structure.”
“As the years have gone on it’s
gotten simpler,” finishes Saman-
tha. “Marina quoted Marcel Duch-
amp to me one time, and said: ‘The
public has to be able to complete
the piece.’ A lot of people come to
the theatre to see something, but
here they’re coming to listen—
they don’t see anything for about
25-30 minutes. So, that’s what I’m
hoping for.”
‘of Light’ will take place at Tjanabíó
on July 22nd. An accompanying mu-
sic event will take place at Mengi on
July 23rd.
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Out Of The Darkness
Samantha Shay delves inwards to reach outwards
Words JOHN ROGERS Photo VICTORIA SENDRA