Webspinna Battle

                In our Webspinna Battle, the theme of Space and Earth (with a heavy emphasis on gravity) was used to essentially convey the power and inevitable nature of our humanity. Though we as a race have achieved great things that seem to transcend the bound of our Earth and even nature,  it seems Earth will always pull back and exercise dominance. Though we challenge nature in many ways, its power over us is amazing. The many different sounds of nature at the beginning of the battle are overtaken by the count down and rocket launch as mankind seems to conquer his environment. This is a victory though as man reached the climax of his voyage, the earth pulls back and inevitably brings man back down to the surface. This battle between man and nature is ongoing, and the silliness of it was symbolized by the track Space Tree (by Medium Troy) which asks if man will simply plant a tree on their space ship and watch the world burn. Man is not evil, but we do exist on a beautiful planet that should not be taken for granted. Though man achievements are great, the earth is our home and we should not abandon it in anyway.

                In order to relate specific themes for our project we had to draw upon some prescribed perceptions and connections made popular by the work of others. For example, consider the interplay of our piece that focuses upon the harmony and discord of Earth and human ingenuity. Forgoing the obvious connections between our project and actual events in aerospace history there exist other references from which we drew principle inspiration. From the simple build of our astronaut costume, loosely inspired by Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, to the actual act of our performance which portrayed a separation and a reunion visually inspired by Fantasia and a whole host of other cartoons so accurately structured to relay information through movement and position. The inspiration that developed our project is a product of decades of media exposure and personal navigation of particular texts. There were a thousand different angles from which we could approach our chosen theme, yet we selected a particular combination of elements and ideas that reflect our own artistic experiences. As Lethem stated in The Ecstasy of Influence, “one’s voice isn’t just an emptying and purifying oneself of the words of others but an adopting and embracing of filiations, communities, and discourses.” We proudly reconfigured concepts made familiar to us by other artists to create a unique experience reflective of our own navigation of the themes we find most appealing.