Tracy Jeanne Rosenthal
Listen to: Vertical Integration (of an Ex)
Does intimacy pollute the obligations of an interview? Does spite? Does a score manipulate its audience or just reveal the perspective of the composer? How could I love someone who hates his mother?
I conducted an interview after Bhanu Kapil Rider's The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers, using her twelve questions:
- Who are you and whom do you love?
- Where did you come from / how did you arrive?
- How will you begin?
- How will you live now?
- What is the shape of your body?
- Who was responsible for the suffering of your mother?
- What do you remember about the earth?
- What are the consequences of silence?
- Tell me what you know about dismemberment.
- Describe a morning you woke without fear.
- How will you / have you prepare(d) for your death?
- And what would you say if you could?
For "Vertical Interrogation (of an Ex)," I arranged the recorded interview text and a score of samples. The piece reflects the cringe humor of that relationship and of my attempt to document it.