When the residency at Civitella was coming to an end, Mark Dresser, the musician of the group, brought to the library ten or twelve CD’s of his former work. I was amazed when I realized that I had one of them at home, the sound track for the silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. I felt embarrassed for not remembering his name, but in fact I recognized the cover immediately. He said to me that maybe I was one of the twenty people that had this CD. I think he was exaggerating. Anyway, what a coincidence, considering that I had been working with him during that month!
After I saw Mark’s presentation at Civitella, I gave him three “scores” with no instructions about how to play them. They were paper-cuts from an Italian newspaper, with remains of words from three headlines crossed by the five lines of a stave. I knew he would know what to do with them. Everything ended up in an installation of the scores on the walls of my studio and a beautiful performance by Mark, reading them and playing his contrabass.
I wonder if the Caligari CD just came to confirm our artistic/familial relationship?
This is not the only thing I was working on during the residency, and Mark was not the only artist there, but I think this story illustrates what our intense month at Civitella Ranieri was like.
