New spaces for new music: Chris Kallmyer at TEDxCalArts
Chris Colm argues that performance art functions by negotiating between its origins and its current environment, shifting the focus from "what I play to where I'm playing it." He illustrates this by recounting his work at the Hammer Museum, where transforming a coatroom into a two-seat theater revealed that intimate spaces amplify emotional connection, a phenomenon he connected to the social science concepts of space versus place. This suggests that manipulating performance containers can yield unexpected artistic and social intimacy. ## Speakers & Context - Chris Colm: An artist based in Los Angeles, formerly a classical musician who played the trumpet with orchestras. - Context: Speaking at an event where he was initially devastated that his intended TED Talk topic had already been presented by David Burn. - Key Shift: His focus changed from the music itself to the *location* of the performance, viewing art-making as a "negotiation between its Beginnings... and how it lives out here." ## Theses & Positions - Architecture/Context changes how music (and art) is created and received. - The "confrontation" inherent in performance (demanding attention) can be bypassed to achieve deeper connection. - The art of its best, in an ideal container, is "exciting and visceral new and fresh." - The most powerful outcome of work is the *moment* of connection or potential interaction that occurs after the performance ends. - New contexts can reveal latent community structures, as seen when community members maintain the act of lawn care after the performance. ## Concepts & Definitions - **Space:** Undifferentiated, open, potentially vast (e.g., the desert), signifying freedom; exemplified by the Mojave road trip. - **Place:** Enclosed, humanized space with value, giving comfort; the ability to give focus or a locus of identity. - **The Container:** The physical space that defines and influences the art created within it (e.g., concert hall, coatroom, igloo). - **Emotional Proximity:** The heightened sense of connection felt when there is both physical closeness and shared focus, amplified by the performance setting. ## Mechanisms & Processes - **Artistic Adaptation:** Transitioning from classical/orchestral performance to site-specific, non-traditional contexts. - **Performance Transformation:** Shrinking a performance from two hours to two minutes, incorporating diverse genres (classical, folk, jazz, cheese tastings). - **Material Innovation:** Developing new tools congruent with the context, such as using small sound installations (tea kettles as speakers) or micro-technology. - **Performance Choice:** Offering audience members the *option* to participate or be confronted, as with the personal soundtrack or the cheese sampling. - **Community Integration:** Commissioning music based on local, mundane activities (mowing lawns, operating lawnmowers) to create a new sonic texture. ## Timeline & Sequence - Early Career: Life playing trumpet in orchestras and traditional concert halls. - Year (Specific): **2010** — Spent an entire year at the Hammer Museum on a project redesigning visitor services. - Project Development: Creating the *little William theater* in a coatroom under the stairs at the Hammer Museum. - Festival Span: Running a festival of new music for **three full months**. - Site Visit: Working at the Walker Arts Center in a cold January, requesting and using an **igloo** as a performance venue. ## Named Entities - **Los Angeles:** Location where the artist lives and works. - **Mark Allen:** "Fearless leader" of the Machine Project. - **Machine Project:** A storefront and collective operating in Los Angeles. - **Hammer Museum:** Museum institution where the artist worked on visitor services. - **The little William theater:** A tiny, traditional theater that seats only two people, located in a coatroom under the stairs at the Hammer Museum. - **John TNA Dairy:** Dairy source for the "Devil's Gulch" cheese. - **Courgill Cravy:** Source of the cheese-making process information. ## Numbers & Data - Number of people seated in the *little William theater*: **two**. - Original performance length: **two hours**. - Shrunk performance length: **two minutes**. - Number of composers commissioned: **100**. - Number of new works commissioned: **350**. - Mower operating speeds/frequencies referenced: **111 Hz** and **103 Hz**. ## Examples & Cases - **The Hammer Museum Intervention:** Installing the *little William theater* in a coatroom, hosting diverse performances (poetry, jazz, cheese tastings) within a micro-container. - **The Walker Arts Center Project:** Performing in an **igloo** during a cold January, pairing a poet, singer, and the artist. - **Sound Installation:** Creating speakers from **four tea kettles** and using a fifth kettle to make tea, blending music and domestic ritual. - **The Desert Collection (Riy):** Collecting bottles from a ghost town in Death Valley and hanging them on a fence to create a "dense drone" with the wind. - **The Marin Headland Collection:** Collecting rocks and recordings of the specific locations where the rocks were found, paired with recordings of local birds (Eucalyptus Grove). - **The Personalized Soundtrack:** Allowing visitors to check out a "guitarist like a library book" to receive improvised music via earphones while viewing art. - **The American Lawn Project:** Creating a three-part musical score for the lawn adjacent to the Walker, featuring amplified sheep mowers, ride-on mowers, and a community group of real mower enthusiasts. ## Tools, Tech & Products - **Tea kettles:** Used as speakers in the Walker Center installation. - **Camping stove:** Used to heat tea for the Walker Center installation. - **Microphone:** Used in the "Ambient Den of Child Catharsis and Recycled Screaming" in a children's museum. - **Generative algorithmic computer composition:** Technology used for the ambient music in the children's museum. - **Bottle arrangement on a fence:** Used to capture the drone of the wind in the ghost town of Riy. - **Rock recordings:** Paired recordings of specific geological locations (Eucalyptus Grove) in the Marin Headlands. - **Mowers:** Two types used for the lawn score—amplified sheep mowers and ride-on mowers. - **Speakers:** Gigantic speakers used to play the music score for the lawn. - **Cheese container:** Small box placed under the chairs, containing the cheese. ## References Cited - David Burn: The speaker's stated arch nemesis who gave a relevant TED Talk. - Human Geographers: The field of social science geography that studies how cultures use spaces. ## Trade-offs & Alternatives - **Traditional Concert Hall:** Defined by thick walls, chairs, and a stage, which create a sense of distance and boring formality. - **Alternative Venue:** The *little William theater* (coatroom), which forces intimacy and focus. - **Performance Mode:** Choosing between confrontational performance (commanding attention) or subtle, optional engagement (like the library book concept). - **Milk Type:** The "Devil's Gulch" cheese uses **Jersey cow milk** (high in butterfat) rather than just general pasteurized milk, making it rich but not overly so. ## Counterarguments & Caveats - The traditional concert hall format is criticized for making the audience feel *"distant and it's boring."* - The work created in the *little William theater* was initially expected to be "serious" but was found to be unexpectedly funny and levity-filled. - The initial technological concept of the ambient den was praised for being "blissed out and very cool." ## Conclusions & Recommendations - To understand people and communities, one must investigate their "sites, our places, and our daily activities." - Artists should create "new contexts, new containers for performance" to elicit new modes of connection and community collaboration. - The ultimate goal is to find what connects us, hoping that this understanding will inform how we live where we are. ## Implications & Consequences - The physical architecture dictates the emotional potential of an artistic space, moving from formal distance to visceral closeness. - The power of art lies in amplifying existing emotional or social proximities, rather than just presenting a show. - Artistic exploration can map the social topography of a community, revealing latent patterns of care (like lawn care). ## Verbatim Moments - *"I was devastated to find out that my TED Talk the Ted Talk I had always wanted to give had already been given and it was given by a man I is no less than my arch nemesis David burn."* - *"The art at its best the art made in this container is exciting and visceral new and fresh."* - *"it's that moment I'm interested in finding in my work."* - *"reconsidering what visitor Services might look like if artists ran it."* - *"Instead of seating 250 people like this theater it actually seats two."* - *"it wasn't so serious anymore the work was really funny and it had a lot of levity."* - *"I began to see the little William not so much as a closet but as a dynamic container for social interactions a container that Amplified our closeness."* - *"Space is undifferentiated open and potentially vast... place is enclosed and humanized space it's space with value it's space that gives us Comfort."* - *"I want to tell you some things about this cheese as a musician."* - *"The American lawn and ways to cut it a three-part musical score for the lawn adjacent to the Walker."* - *"the vibe of this piece was more like the state fair."*