“Make Note” creates a sound board for people to have their say, listen, and play. The 10 foot wide by 7 foot tall installation consists of 14 giant painted, paper piano keys that look like a song as they move in the wind. People write their thoughts on post-its and stick them to the keys. As day turns to night, the developing post-it conversation begins to glow.
USC’s FemFest 2017 went down on Saturday, April 8 from 5PM – 11:30PM. I showed up at noon with my friend Sierra and a car full of installation. Sierra and I met ten years ago at an Americorps summer volunteer program in New Orleans. Though we hadn’t seen each other since then, (she has bopped around the country and was just visiting for the weekend) our rapport was seamless. She was game to help bring the “Make Note” installation to life.
USC is my alma mater, and the fest happened on the stage where I used to host night-time literary salons. I appreciated this familiarity with the site. It helped me visualize while planning beforehand as well as navigate parking, loading, and lunch on the day of. I walked down memory lane with Sierra while also literally walking through lanes I remembered.
Set up took three hours. I’d say we spent a good 50% of that time taping paper to the keys. (The previous sentence will make more sense if you click here to check out the process behind the making of the Make Note installation.)
The FemFest “Make Note” party started around 5PM to the tunes of
BAUM, Amindi K Fro$t, Inti Wawa, and Blushh. The premise/prompt for interaction was pretty simple: write something on a note and stick it to the keys.
The concert disappeared into a grassy dip in the ground.
But the “Make Note” installation was still visible from the stage. See it in the back?
People played with the installation in their own ways. They read the made notes as much as they wrote them. (Oooo #MadeNote might work for this installation. I’ve been looking for one.)
Part of me couldn’t wait for it to get dark so the UV light element could kick-in. I conceived and built the installation mostly at night time, so I was grappling with the experience of its daytime debut.
The stage glowed at night, too. Liphemra, Alina Bea, Miya Folick, and HOLYCHILD made the tiny brick stage much bigger. Sierra and I had heard Miya Folick during sound check, and were excited to see her in action. Power. House.
The UV illuminations in the dark revealed new ways to make note.
The keys looked really pretty glowing and blowing in the wind.
Sierra took a great video of the keys in action. I could watch/listen to this on repeat.
I took a few instagram videos that got lost somewhere on my cloud, but you can see them here and here. I tried to capture a feel for the event, perhaps clumsily.
The selfie game is a bit rough with the black lights, but many gave it a try, including Sierra and I. Ima think of a way to make selfies and impromptu photo shoots easier. It’s tricky because of the direction, position, and affect of the UV rays.
The notes we made:
I’m taking what I learned from my first go at “Make Note” and trying it again this Saturday, April 15, 2017 at The Echo for Play Like A Girl. You should come!
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