And all that Jazz…

Jillian Peña’s MOTHERSHIP lands at DTW.

Time Out New York
By Gia Kourlas
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Published: April, 16 2008

MOTHERSHIP is described as a “virtual metadance.” What is the structure?
There’s a huge screen placed really close to the audience, so the stage is pretty much blocked off. The primary elements are the video that plays on it and the voiceover, which I made, but Katy Pyle and Rebecca Brooks are also performing—and they’re making their own thing.And the lights, by David Ferri, are a huge component. We’ve rented all these moving lights. It’s made to feel that the space the audience is in is the performance space.

Have you worked with Pyle and Brooks before?
I’ve known Katy for seven years. I chose Katy because I knew she could carry the weight of the piece with me, and she asked Rebecca. But they’re really ornaments of the piece. They’re kind of like Vanna White. Vanna doesn’t even have to flip the little letters anymore. I don’t even know if she touches them—she just kind of gestures toward them. But somehow she plays an important role.

How important is color?
The colors of the lights that David is using—it’s very emotional. The way that I feel lighting designers can use light can completely dictate your emotions. And I think what I’m interested in doing is having that overall narrative be put on it, but without any kind of real content backing it up. So you’re like, I know I’m supposed to feel upset here, but I don’t—so you’re questioning your relationship with the work.

Is there interaction with the viewers in this piece?
There’s a voiceover that talks directly to the audience, and it’s kind of like a guided visualization; it’s also like a performance that asks the audience to get up and move around, but it doesn’t actually happen, so there’s something interesting in that for me. The audience gets put in a place of, Oh shit, I don’t want to do that. I hate doing stuff like that, and I always think, What’s my problem that I can’t engage with that kind of participatory art? In the piece, I don’t actually give room for it. I give room for you to think about it and to observe your reaction.

The voice is yours, right?
Yeah. It’s recorded. I used to like being in front of the camera, but I’ve done that less and less and now it’s just my voice. I feel ultimately that’s what this piece is about a little bit. It’s made entirely alone, but in looking outward and thinking that you see something. It’s that feeling where you see a mirage, and you’re like, “Wow, that’s a beautiful mirage, and I’m going to love this thing,” and as you get closer, it’s a mirror. I visualize going through that process alone. It’s anticipation, it’s hope, it’s desire. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Just like, “Here I am again, in the same place.” It sounds like a cliché, but I think I’ve abstracted it.

Were you ever a painter?
I wish! I was a ballet person. But my work is kind of painterly. I feel like I’m fulfilling that desire.
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