My daughter brought a shell and bade me put my ear to it:
—That’s the sound of the ocean, I said.
—Is the ocean inside of it, she asked?
—The shape of the shell causes the sound, I said.
—Then the ocean is the shaper of things, said Sophia. You throw a stick out into the water and it comes back looking like a fish.

Notes:

“Cindy Cox’s piece ‘The Shape of the Shell’ was made in the anechoic chamber in the basement of Morrison hall at UC Berkeley, with assistance from CNMAT. The piece incorporates everything I asked for— theatricality, improvisation, abstract storytelling with text by John Campion, beautiful sounds that perfectly fit the instrument’s capacities, and my capacities, contained in a strong structure. When Cindy Cox wrote this piece for me in 2010 I was not a parent. Now I am. I have a daughter, and the piece takes on a new dimension. The piece becomes a new piece because of my own experiences and shifting perceptions. For me it brings awareness of cycles, of reoccurring patterns, of things you love and resist, coming back, the reality of interconnectedness. The choreography in the piece is essentially an outward and inward returning spiral. My child is young; for a parent with older children perhaps ‘return’ means your child continually coming home again, even though you thought you’d gotten them launched out the door. Or maybe you are the child, and see it from that side. We all have a point of view, and that changes over time. The text reflects a dialogue between the wonder of the child and the factual telling of the adult. These are stories we don’t often tell— especially for women, we’re not supposed to talk about our children— ‘unprofessional.’ It is not valid in public life, or academic life. ‘Be serious, stick to the content, don’t make it personal.’ But I think it’s very useful to break the rules, especially those unspoken ones. It’s radical to attempt to show up as your whole self— and I think we could all do with more of that, to let a different shaper of things emerge.”
– Laura Carmichael

back to full catalog
back to featured projects