Exceeding the Object: Notes on Reverberations Five performances presented at SculptureCenter December 15, 2012 Is it possible for light, sound, or bodies in motion to become objects? And in what ways can objects be an open-ended proposition addressing space, time, and memory? These are the key ontological questions of Reverberations, a series of In Practice program per- formances spread out over five hours on December 15th, 2012. Each of the four new works presented progressed slowly and methodically, and required sustained viewership. Exploring the physicality of light and sound, Paul Clipson and Joshua Churchill com- bined 8mm film projection with live musical accompaniment. Using bass tones within SculptureCenter’s subterranean architecture, Churchill created a literal reverberation chamber against Clipson’s abstract light collages—layered patterns found in urban set- tings. Woody Sullender , meanwhile, positioned a range of props around a side gallery, including folding chairs and plinths found on-site and long sheets of reflective black mylar. Onto these, transducers were attached, turning the materials into sound sources that vibrated with the artist’s electronic tones. Moving around the space and shifting materials at will, he created a kind of quotidian symphony of objects until he finally unspooled a long thread of film into viewers’ hands, snaking through and outside of the space. They held the film, waiting for the artist’s next move, which humorously never came. Treating the gendered body itself as the object of inquiry, R. E. H. Gordon presented a series of sculptural tableaux, in which writers and other artists engaged in a succession of poses. Leaning against walls, bending over, and standing on concrete plinths, a slow sequence of interlocking arms and limbs put an emphasis not just on the body, but on whose body and what kind of body. Tasked to utilize SculptureCenter’s main gallery, Yve Laris Cohen and Park McArthur perhaps most dramatically challenged the parameters of performance, employing a pre- existing gantry crane with monumental aplomb. Attaching two long, black duvetyne curtains from the gantry’s wheels, the fabric draped 25 feet to the floor and was nearly as wide as the cavernous hall. For an hour, McArthur operated this industrial relic from her wheelchair, moving it back and forth down the length of the space while spectators watched from two center-facing rows of chairs. The alien whirring of the machinery—both SculptureCenter