The Neck is a Bridge to the Body
An Innovative Multimedia Performance
(+ Soundtrack Album)
(Click HERE for a sneak preview of the show)
Provocative and moving, surprising and beautiful, “The Neck Is A Bridge To The Body” is Kaki King at her visionary best: deconstructing and redefining the role of solo instrumental artist though virtuoso technique, insatiable imagination, and boundless humanity. This groundbreaking new multi-media performance uses projection mapping to present the guitar as an ontological tabula rasa in a creation myth unlike any other, where luminous visions of genesis and death, textures and skins, are cast onto an Ovation Adamas 1581-KK Kaki King Signature 6-String Acoustic guitar customized specifically for this production.
Written by: Kaki King
Materials used:
VDMX software
Mad Mapper software
Ovation Adamas 1581-KK guitar
Adapted microphone stands
In The Beginning
Generative visuals, Strymon Big Sky guitar pedal.
The guitar awakens.
Thoughts Are Born
Sound response based on decibel level, Line 6 DL4 pedal ping-pong delay.
The first bumps, scrapes, and flashes.
Notes and Colors
MIDI Guitar software, MIDI grid, Strymon Big Sky
What would it be like to have synesthesia?
Oobleck
Corn starch, water, food coloring, subwoofer, Line 6 DL4 sweep echo, stereo track.
Shot and edited by: Meg Skaff
Sound taking form.
Anthropomorph
Shantell Martin, Wacom Intuos 5 drawing tablet, Sketchbook pro software, stereo track.
Growing eyes and ears.
The Surface Changes
Animation, found footage, still images, Line 6 DL4 rhythmic delay.
Guitar as shape-shifter.
Trying to Speak I
Generative geometric shapes.
Higher learning.
Trying to Speak II
California driving footage, Benesh movement notation, postcards, Strymon Big Sky.
There is a journey in every good story.
Carmine St.
New York City footage.
Shot and edited by: Meg Skaff
Where it all began.
Roaming Guitar
Morley mini wah, Strymon Big Sky, Casio SA-1.
Written and Directed by: Kaki King
Shot and Edited by: Meg Skaff
Cast:
Tough guitar 1 Gibson SG
Tough guitar 2 Gibson Flying V
Indie guitar 1 Fender Stratocaster Deluxe
Indie guitar 2 Fender Jazzmaster
Cute guitar Gretsch Roundup
Busker guitar Lowden
Grandmother Holloway Harp Guitar
Father Baritone Ovation Adamas
Mother Ovation 12-string
Baby Ovation ukulele
Extras:
Gretsch Electromatic Lap Steel
Gold Tone Weissenborn
Martin 1838 dreadnought
What were your teenage years like?
It Runs and Breathes
X-rays, animation, Moog Minifooger Ring Modulator, Roland expression pedal.
Further deconstruction.
Battle is a Learning
Korg Little Bits synth modules, Line 6 DL4, Boss RC-3, OCD pedal, Rat distortion pedal, Rainbow Machine, Roland EXP.
Frustration, nervousness, and excitement of learning something new.
We Did Not Create The Instrument,
The Instrument Created Us
Beth Wexler, Wacom drawing tablet, Adobe Photoshop, Strymon Big Sky.
Harmony, serenity, assurance, and no boundary.