music for shapeshifters
instrumentation | strings + piano & vibraphone (5 players+)
date | 2021
duration | c. 15'
premiere | upcoming on April 26th, 2021 with commissioning ensemble, earspace | video by Alex Van Gils
note | Portrayals of shapeshifting in mainstream media have an ominous tone — lack of control, monstrosity, & savagery are common associations with depictions of supernatural processes of change. It’s not surprising that the cis heteronormative patriarchy and its parallels in religious imagery depict proximity with sacred animals, altered states, and spirits as evil. Nor is it surprising that the historical and contemporary fascination and repulsion to shapeshifting reflects structural racism, transphobia, xenophobia, ableism, and colonialism.
In addition to the ancestral and cosmological qualities of shapeshifting and its meaning to many indigenous and immigrant communities, it’s also a powerful lens in queer & trans BIPOC spaces. The experiences of cultural liminality, ethnic in-betweenness, and transitioning identities along multiple intersections are reflections of what some forms of shapeshifting are today. How do we affect our form when we enter predominantly white settler spaces or other spaces that only recognize linear or binary shapes? When our resting forms are multiplicitous and in flux, there is a constant reorienting and reshaping based on who will see us, their capacity to make sense of what they see, and our own perceptions of safety.
Shapeshifting describes a set of experiences and practices that involve learning proximity, cultural codes, and ways to avoid standing out as survival mechanisms for Otherhood. However, shapeshifting is also a beautiful power - a flexibility and self-knowledge that allows us to continually grow past what has been into what can be. It’s a queer power and a BIPOC power, born of necessity but also proximity to the divine.
I think music for shapeshifters can tap into a little bit of that consciousness, the acknowledgement and engagement with limitations of space. I don’t expect players to be shapeshifters already or to mimic or ventriloquy these experiences; rather I hope through this process, players can build a small insight into what it means to be of infinite possibility and beauty and what it means to assume shapes for others.
date | 2021
duration | c. 15'
premiere | upcoming on April 26th, 2021 with commissioning ensemble, earspace | video by Alex Van Gils
note | Portrayals of shapeshifting in mainstream media have an ominous tone — lack of control, monstrosity, & savagery are common associations with depictions of supernatural processes of change. It’s not surprising that the cis heteronormative patriarchy and its parallels in religious imagery depict proximity with sacred animals, altered states, and spirits as evil. Nor is it surprising that the historical and contemporary fascination and repulsion to shapeshifting reflects structural racism, transphobia, xenophobia, ableism, and colonialism.
In addition to the ancestral and cosmological qualities of shapeshifting and its meaning to many indigenous and immigrant communities, it’s also a powerful lens in queer & trans BIPOC spaces. The experiences of cultural liminality, ethnic in-betweenness, and transitioning identities along multiple intersections are reflections of what some forms of shapeshifting are today. How do we affect our form when we enter predominantly white settler spaces or other spaces that only recognize linear or binary shapes? When our resting forms are multiplicitous and in flux, there is a constant reorienting and reshaping based on who will see us, their capacity to make sense of what they see, and our own perceptions of safety.
Shapeshifting describes a set of experiences and practices that involve learning proximity, cultural codes, and ways to avoid standing out as survival mechanisms for Otherhood. However, shapeshifting is also a beautiful power - a flexibility and self-knowledge that allows us to continually grow past what has been into what can be. It’s a queer power and a BIPOC power, born of necessity but also proximity to the divine.
I think music for shapeshifters can tap into a little bit of that consciousness, the acknowledgement and engagement with limitations of space. I don’t expect players to be shapeshifters already or to mimic or ventriloquy these experiences; rather I hope through this process, players can build a small insight into what it means to be of infinite possibility and beauty and what it means to assume shapes for others.