Video, Images and LA Times Review of Santa Ana Sites #5: Steve Roden

On the evening of Saturday, June 14th, GCAC presented the fifth performance in our Santa Ana Sites series, with a sound performance by artist Steve Roden.

The evening began with a reception at Downtown Santa Ana’s Q Art Salon, hosted by Jose Quant and Shell Martin. Guests gathered and connected with one another at this pre-event mixer.

At 8:15pm, GCAC Director/Chief Curator and Sites Co-Founder John D. Spiak led guests downstairs, up the street, and to a historic law building parking lot – having them facing a roll-up gate leading to an underground parking area. When all had arrived, the gate was opened and guests made their way underground, where they then entered another space – that of a subterranean racquetball court located beneath the law building, which is owned by Dennis Dascanio who generously allowed GCAC use of the space for the evening.

There, guests were greeted by Sites Co-Founder and Artistic Director Allen Moon and were introduced to Steve Roden for some brief pre-performance remarks.

GCAC invited Steve to perform in the Sites series, as we admired and respect him for the constant risks he takes – through his painting, installation work, films and sound performances. He is always challenging himself and the audience, allowing access to those slight moments in life that we often forget, or don’t allow ourselves to experience or enjoy – the slight mark, the capturing of an actual shadow, an adjustment or shift of a tone. It is what Steve does best and what makes him such a remarkable individual.

Over the course of his 5o-minutes performance, Steve didn’t disappoint, as he took the audience on a complicated sound journey – one that began with sound bleed from a cumbia band performing for a wedding at a nearby banquet hall, first collaborating with those sounds, then making that background beat truly disappear as his own synthesized composition took center stage. Through his skillful use and knowledge of sound, Roden was able to successfully transport the audiences to a place outside the confines of the Downtown Santa Ana location, to a space of “elsewhere” that was unique to each of the 108 individuals experiencing this live performance.

GCAC was fortunate to have in attendance Carolina Miranda of the Los Angeles Times, who wrote a wonderful review of the evening. capturing her own images and sound of the performance that she shares through text and slideshow, available through the following link:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/miranda/la-et-cam-steve-roden-sound-art-santa-ana-20140617-column.html

We were able to record video documenting some of the sound check with the artist during the afternoon set-up, so we thought you might enjoy it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLddMuVTJos&w=560&h=315

In addition, LA Times created this preview video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEbEIgX7bm4

We would like to also acknowledge and thank Dennis Lluy, along with his team at The Yost Theater for their continued support of Santa Ana Sites. Through their in-kind generosity, they have loaned equipment that makes each Sites performance possible.

Lastly, we thank all those who attended and who continue to support Grand Central Art Center, Santa Ana Sites and our community outreach activities!

More information on the Santa Ana Sites series, including documentation of past performances, can be found online at:
http://grandcentralartcenter.wordpress.com/santa-ana-sites/