Tunneling- Project Details

Tunneling by NASSA

About NASSA

Nadav Assor and Surabhi Saraf formed NASSA in Chicago, 2008. Their individual practices are combined in NASSA to create a rich, disturbing, organic dichotomy between vocal and visual overload, centered around a single narrative thrust: that of peeling back the layers of the mundane, plunging through the subcutaneous depths beyond and within, to wherever the tunnel may lead.

Nadav is an inter-media artist, working with a wide range of temporal mediums- from sculptural installation to live video performance, all of which are utilized in his explorations of personal- technological mediation of urban, architectural, emotional and ideological structures. Nadav’s pieces often involve physical embodiment as a metaphorical or concrete live process that ranges from the absurd to the violent. Nadav has shown in  a wide range of venues: festivals, museums, galleries, clubs and concert halls in Israel, Berlin and Chicago, where he is currently pursuing his MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  http://nadassor.net

Surabhi is a new media artist, singer and noise maker whose work brings together elements from experimental sound art, classical music, choreography and video art.   She takes a compositional approach, punctuating her works by events and moments choreographed in time. Surabhi has a background in Indian classical singing and has used her voice in concert with familiar daily sounds in her recent video installations and live performances. Her works attempt to accentuate the audience experience, ranging from the subtle and pleasant, to the powerful and overwhelming. Surabhi’s works have been shown in various galleries and festivals in New York, Berlin, Chicago and India. She graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2009 with an MFA in Art and Technology. Surabhi currently lives and works in San Francisco.

About the project

Tunneling is a live performance rendered by NASSA. The visual narrative of “Tunneling” is defined through the process of cutting through the wall of the performance space from inside to outside, the different layers within the building wall slowly exposed until the outer, nighttime street is reached. This image is constructed in real-time by cutting miniature boards made of the different materials in the wall, combined through use of a specially constructed green-screen lightbox and custom software which “memorizes” the appearance of each layer of material as it’s being cut. The audio narrative consists of a multitude of voices singing verses, which are at first multiplied by many thousands, and slowly decimate while the wall is exposed until only one, the real voice of the audio performer, is left when the street outside is finally reached. An additional layer of domestic cooking sounds is intertwined with the voices, juxtaposed with the sounds generated by the cutting of the wall-layers.

Technical Requirements

Materials
  • small budget for purchase or otherwise availability of a small amount of common construction materials: plywood, brick, plaster board (drywall), tiles, insulation, white wall paint, etc.- to be finalized according to location, 6-7 materials altogether, about 1 sq. meter of each.
  • assistance in acquiring these materials on location
Tools
  • Availability of several tools for preparing the materials and for the performance itself:
  • Jigsaw
  • power drill
  • 2 large clamps
  • long straight ruler
Preparation space
  • Availability of a small workshop area for preparation of the materials for the performance, over the span of 2-3 days, with access to work table, electric power and water
Video
  • 1 video projector, high lumens and contrast ratio, with VGA input
  • VGA cable of sufficient length to connect the performer’s laptop to the projector
  • Projection surface: the entire surface of a white wall in the performance space (not a screen)
  • A Clamp for attaching to ceiling / lighting bars / etc., to which we will attach our video camera pointed directly down. Height must be  2.5 – 4 meters above center of large table (see below).
Audio
  • Four 15-20 inch powered speaker system with subwoofer
  • Cardioid Microphone.
Lighting
  • 3 dimmable, diffusable spot lights with “barn doors” or BlackWrap to prevent light leakage
  • 2 additional table-top work lamps
General
  • sufficient electrical power strips and extension cords
  • 4 Tables:
  • Table 1: must be 60-70 cm high, 70-80 cm deep, 200 cm wide. Ideally can screw my special frame in to the table, otherwise need to fasten it to table with the following:
  • 4 clamps, 1 wooden board, 70 by 50 cm
  • Table 2: standard height, ~120 cm wide, 60-80 cm deep
  • Table 3: standard height, ~120 cm wide, 60-80 cm deep
  • Table 4: standard height, ~120 cm wide, 60-80 cm deep
  • 2 chairs: 1 regular, 1 high