Performance: Frozen Words Hot Air

John Roach, Aaron Moore, Brian Chase, Victoria Keddie, Ben Wright

Frozen Words Hot Air is a performance for live glassblowing, percussion, video, and manipulated recorded sound, inspired by a chapter of the satirical masterwork, The Life of Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais. When the giant Pantagruel sails with his companions through a sea clamoring with unfamiliar sounds, he tries to make sense of the ghostly voices and fierce noises. The captain of the ship attempts to calm him:

 ...don’t be afraid. This is the edge of the frozen sea, and at the beginning of the last winter there was a great and bloody battle...The shouts of the men, the cries of the women, the slashing of the battle-axes, the clashing of the armour and harnesses, the neighing of the horses and all the other frightful noises of battle became frozen on the air. But just now, the rigours of winter being over and the good season coming on with its calm and mild weather, these noises are melting, and so you can hear them.