Levitation Ceremony & Z.E.R.O.

Performances, installations, and collaborative sound art at St. Eom’s Pasaquan and Georgia State University.

Levitation Ceremony at Pasaquan

Levitation Ceremony was a convergence of performance, installation, and collaborative sound art at the visionary environment of St. Eom's Pasaquan in Buena Vista, Georgia. Supported by Georgia State University, Columbus State University, and the Georgia Council for the Arts, this project explores altered states, mystical perception, and spatial memory through site-specific interventions.

The project was realized in 2023 as a series of performances and installations that activated the grounds of Pasaquan. Through experimental performance and ritual observance, I collaborated with a community of creatives to produce an immersive experience that honored the St. EOM's legacy while introducing contemporary experimental media. Eddie Owens Martin heavily influenced the visionary nature of the work, through both the incredible architecture he left behind and his enduring presence in the space.

Adam Sprague as Bird Man leading a guided meditation. — Individual performance at Levitation Ceremony. I took the role of the Bird Man, leading a peaceful guided meditation.

Bird Man leading the artists of ISL in a rhythmic procession. — Using the painted architecture as a visual score, Bird Man leads the artists of ISL in a rhythmic procession to activate the energy of the space.

The development of the project initially involved members of the Integrated Studies Lab (ISL) experimenting with environmental programming to dictate the performance. I developed a physical algorithm that encourages the human performers to render St. Eom's architecture and the art adorning it into an auditory space.

The procession performed on the day of the Levitation Ceremony was an improvisational march in which I guided participants in the guise of the "Bird Man," a shamanic figure who embodies the lightness of spirit required to achieve levitation. As we marched, we followed St. EOM's architecture as a visual score, sounding our ad-hoc instruments. At each of the great, sculpted faces of the compound, I would pause and raise my staff, conducting the entourage to invoke the beings presence with a great, rising clamor.

Each processioner was an artist who came in ceremonial costumes of their own design, with their own implements and shamanic goals. Before and after the procession, ISL artists conducted their own audiovisual installations and performances. My individual performance was a guided mediation in the Bird Man garb, in which I helped focus the minds of meditators with the help of a deeply reosnating, dish-shaped gong.

The text below is an example of one of the early visual scores I developed as we prepared for the ceremony:

Adam Sprague

            Pasaquan Visual Score Directions
Follow the visuals as they hit the left edge of the screen in the video.

Intensity of image = velocity. Height on-screen = pitch (if applicable).

            Red circles are guitar taps. Other circles can optionally be interpreted for accent taps.

Triangular forms are guitar plucks. Groups of diamonds count. Mountains don't count.

Red circles/curvy/wavy things are bottle blows. Red mountain slopes warrant a bottle blow and whistles to the peaks.

Things that remind of yellow flowers are the flower bell (cracked glass bell, lower pitch.)

Things that remind me of the ocean or rivers are the sand dollar bells (higher pitch).

White triangle waves are the brush and can rhythm. Large white areas are brushes rubbing on the can. White objects are optionally interpreted.

Audio recordings from the performances were made and subsequently released on 12-inch vinyl, accompanied by a booklet with images and text from project.

The physical vinyl record of pasaZ.E.R.O.quan. — The physical vinyl release of *pasaZ.E.R.O.quan*.

Flyer for the vinyl release party at The Frisky Whisker ATL. — The official flyer for the release party at The Frisky Whisker ATL.

Z.E.R.O. and the Integrated Studies Lab

The vinyl release also features Z.E.R.O., a two-set performance conceived of and performed by the Integrated Studies Lab (ISL). ISL was an interdisciplinary group of Art, Music, and Film students directed by Craig Dongoski, Stuart Gerber (Bent Frequency), and Neill Prewitt.

The performance took place at the Florence Kopleff Recital Hall at Georgia State University and was structured into distinct acts:

SET ONE: An experimental piece for voice using vowels as source material inspired by Pauline Oliveros' deep listening exercises and Karlheinz Stockhausen's scores for meditative performance.
INTERLUDE: An improvisation for spoken word and Ciat-Lonbarde, looping and processing a performance of the poem "Voyelles" by Arthur Rimbaud.
SET TWO: A score for the 1927 silent film The Love Of ZERO by Robert Florey, for spoken word, foley, and modular synthesis. Aaron Artrip accompanies with live oscilloscope visualization of the synthesis.

Members of 2023's ISL group: Aaron Baker, Maddie Bass, Jae Croker, Hannah Dell, Evan Kelly, Grainger Kennedy, Blake Leavy, Matthew Macy, Siobhan Nolan, Diana Castro Pantoja, Cedric Simmons, Adam Sprague, Nikolai Suszynski, with special guest Aaron Artrip.

ISL also received support from the Integrated Media Lab (IML), a program that studied the effects and uses of various media and transmissions. IML enthusiastically supported ISL's auditory and multimedia experimentation, and we based the organization of our group on their recommendations. IML also provided us with documentation to help design our media experiments and record our results, which we made available to them at the conclusion of the 2023 program. I would link to IML in appreciation, but I can't find any web presence. My understanding is that the Integrated Media Lab has been supporting creative audiovisual projects for over 70 years (!), and I hope to work with them again.

The official logo of the Integrated Studies Lab (ISL).

Professor Craig Dongoski demonstrating experimental modular synthesis. — Professor Craig Dongoski demonstrating experimental modular synthesis to the students of ISL.

Professors Craig Dongoski and Neill Prewitt assist students. — Professors Craig Dongoski and Neill Prewitt assisting students in preparation for the performance.

Members of ISL during the performance of Z.E.R.O.

During the performance, artist Aaron Artrip provided a real-time display of the ISL/IML logo modulated by a live audio feed via oscilloscope.

The flyer for Z.E.R.O. — The official flyer for the Z.E.R.O. performance at Florence Kopleff Recital Hall.

Note: The vast majority of performance material, collected audio, and audiovisual creations relating to these projects remain unreleased and in my personal archive.