When I is an experimental classical composition and performance art piece that explores the waves of a depressive episode and the artist’s journey through healing. Originally living as a graphic score (a visual piece of art interpreted musically), When I creates a sonic landscape for musicians to interpret images and instructions created during a moment of distress. This piece asks the question: how does one describe complex emotions that language fails to achieve? Through chaos, the artist falls into a state of disarray, and through an abstract lens, searches for the path back to the surface and to resolution.
WHEN: October 21 | 7 PM
WHERE: Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Main Hall Gallery, Building C
ADMISSION: General admission: $10.00 (includes gallery admission) | Snug Harbor members: $8.00 (includes gallery admission) | BUY TICKETS HERE
Marisa Tornello is a composer, vocalist, poet, performance + video artist from and based on Staten Island. Marisa’s work explores themes of mental distress through graphic score and structured improvisation. Stemming from a classical voice tradition, Marisa fuses various artistic mediums like live looping, bodypaint, sound poetry, and found objects into performance. In 2022, they premiered two graphic score performances through the Artist Commission at Roulette Intermedium via the Jerome Foundation (“Shatter”) and the Nafas Festival at the Invisible Dog Center (“Fruit Scores”). In 2023, they received the DCLA Premier Grant for “When I” and the Howard Gilman Performing Artist Residency Cohort Grant through Staten Island Arts. Previously, they have shown their works at The Tank (Ladyfest), Judson Church, Target Margin Theater, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Vital Joint (Exponential Festival), JACK, Gallery128, The Living Gallery, and La MaMa ETC. They have worked with Yoshiko Chuma’s School of Hard Knocks, ECHO Ensemble, Pioneers Go East, Queer Van Kult, and Infrasound. marisatornello.com
Musicians: Noah Becker, Comfort Cat, Alex Perry, Jenno Snyder
Dancers: Mizuho Kappa, Emily Marie Pope
Lighting Design: Brian Ellis
Pre-Show Talk about Distress Management and Low Income Mental Health Resources with Dr. Danielle Hernandez
Newhouse After Dark is a series that invites audiences to encounter the galleries up close after hours through performances, screenings, and social experiences. A venue for experimental and exciting performance, Newhouse After Dark invites artists to share their work against the backdrop of the landmarked Main Hall Gallery.
Newhouse After Dark is made possible through generous support from the Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, the Howard Gilman Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
When I is made possible by a DCLA Premier Grant from Staten Island Arts, with public funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
