The Innocents Project Residency
February 14-17
Full schedule: http://willson.uga.edu/event/the-innocents-project/
The Innocents Project residency examines the issue of wrongful conviction in the American penal system through live musical performance and theatre inspired by the work of photographer Taryn Simon. Atlanta-based contemporary music ensemble Bent Frequency members Drs. Jan Baker and Stuart Gerber (Georgia State University), along with Dr. John Lane (Sam Houston State University) and Professor Allen Otte (Cincinnati Conservatory of Music) will lead the residency work, with participation by the director of The Georgia Innocence Project, a nonprofit dedicated to helping individuals who have been convicted of crimes they did not commit. Sponsored by a Willson Center Public Impact Grant.
ICE Conversation
Wednesday, February 15 at Noon
Lamar Dodd Building Room S160
A conversation featuring Atlanta-based contemporary chamber ensemble Bent Frequency and guest artists Professor Allen Otte and Dr. John Lane as they discuss the collaborative and cross-disciplinary aspects of their performance project The Innocents.
Presentation: “Collaboration and Community: Cultivating a Performative Voice”
Wednesday, February 15 at 7 PM
Hugh Hodgson School of Music Room 264
A conversation featuring Atlanta-based contemporary chamber ensemble Bent Frequency and guest artists Professor Allen Otte and Dr. John Lane as they discuss how their work as contemporary musicians has broadened into culturally and socially relevant interdisciplinary performance projects that inspire artistic development and purpose beyond the playing of their instruments.
School of Law Panel Discussion: “Social Justice and Music: The Innocence”
Thursday, February 16 at 12:30 PM
Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom, third floor, School of Law
A distinguished panel discussion, moderated by law professor Russell Gabriel, that features Clare Gilbert, interim director of the Georgia Innocence Project; Clarence Harrison, Georgia Innocence Project’s first exoneree; Ryan Swingle, regional capital defender; and guest artists Professor Allen Otte and Dr. John Lane. This panel will discuss aspects of the death penalty, the process of exoneration and how social justice can inspire art and music.
Culminating Performance: The Innocents
Thursday, February 16 at 6 PM
Lamar Dodd School of Art Atrium (located on first floor)
The first half of the concert features The Innocents work. Through the use of non-traditional instruments, such as found or street percussion (rocks, pots, pans, trash cans, etc.), and the use of electronics, the music and text illustrate some of the strong and complex emotions brought about by Simon’s original exhibit. The second half features Bent Frequency performing Coming Together (1971) and Attica (1972), by the American composer Frederic Rzewski. The text is taken from letters written by Samuel Melville, an activist and inmate killed in the prison riot at Attica State Prison in 1971.