Out of This World

Comments (0) By Keith Bowers Wednesday, Sep 29 2010

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Ralph Lemon takes unexpected routes to some of the most elemental aspects of being human. Loss. Connection. Solitude. Reflection. For example, Lemon spent eight years with 102-year-old Walter Carter, a former sharecropper, carpenter, and gardener in Mississippi. There are a lot of things you might expect to come of that time, but seeing Carter walking outdoors in a spacesuit is not one of them. Yet that’s what Lemon gives us, in a film on Carter’s life. He also gives context, however. Carter’s experience exploring the Mississippi Delta is compared to that of a cosmonaut in the 1972 film Solaris, which was a big influence on Lemon and this project. Lemon adds performance art and more video to bring us “How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere?” The combination of media and disciplines is no surprise for Lemon, whose background is in dance, choreography, and theater, and who is known for collaborating with musicians and visual artists. The dancers and actors in this performance employ turbulent movements “that push the boundaries of exhaustion,” according to the artist, “to create a visceral examination of what it means to be human.” On Sunday he adds an installation called “Meditation” as well as a screening of Solaristo help viewers complete the experience.
Oct. 8-9, 8 p.m., 2010