Thursday, March 31, 2016

The Spoken Word Project: The Prayers of Shiva

by G. Jack Urso



This spoken word project utilizes a two-second sample from Terry Riley's classic ambient piece "A Rainbow in Curved Air" as well as various sound clips from the movie THX-1138 and the TV series The Prisoner with segments of my poem, "The Prayers of Shiva.” The sample from "A Rainbow in Curved Air" is looped for two minutes to provide an “aural mandala” that focuses the listener on the content of the piece. The visual element a wavering eye cycling through a color-saturated spectrum provides a focal point without distracting the viewer from the work itself. The number on the forehead reinforces the idea that we are just cogs in an organic machine  A Clockwork Orange along with all the sociopathy that name suggests.  


Heavily influenced by Ken Nordine’s Word Jazz, this piece explores the loss of individuality in the 21st century consumer culture.