Introduction
Ari Benjamin Meyers’ first institutional solo exhibition in Italy, In Concert, curated by Valentina Lacinio and Judith Waldmann, fills the space of OGR - Officine Grandi Riparazioni from March 2 to April 14, 2019 with something that goes beyond music: a variety of social interactions and experiences. Originally trained as a conductor and composer Meyers carries the visitor past the limits and boundaries of classical western music, overcoming the distance between performers and listeners, here no longer understood as active senders and passive recipients. Meyers aims to create “a real relationship among the audience and performers and with the music.”
In Concert brings us back to the Latin roots of the term concert – meaning playing or singing together, without originally implying any division between performer and listener. Meyers creates an immersive space for musical encounters, exchanges, and experiments, involving everyone present in the given moment.
During the six-week exhibition, a group of eight performers will enact a selection of Meyers’ works. A meta-score composed by the artist provides the structure for the entire exhibition and gives rhythm to the succession of the arrangement of performances. Starting from the central piece of the show, the large-scale performance Serious Immobilities (2013), the unique path of In Concert unfolds. In Duet (2014), for example, the visitor is invited to sing along, face to face, with one of the performers. The New Empirical (840hz) (2013), consists of a modified grand piano. Solely through its presence, an invitation is extended to the audience to take the stage by playing it.