Valerie Skakun and P. Spadine - 2020 Spring Fellows
Valerie Skakun and P. Spadine have been working as collaborative partners since 2017. The philosophy of Skakun’s recent body of work began the moment she was struck by a car while on her bike and left unable to walk for a year. She has explored sculptures as objects of ritual and labor, ranging from time-based devotions to endurance trainings in order to transform mental and physical states of being. She received an MFA from Hunter College in 2019, and a BFA from The Cooper Union in 2009. Spadine has worked under Ashcan Orchestra, a pen name and performance ensemble as a vehicle for his audio/visual experiments since 2007. Informed by a sense of wonder, his work has sought to emulate, celebrate, and demystify the laws that govern the physical universe. Together they work in the realm in which the physicality of sculpture and sound overlap. Skakun and Spadine seek to explore the dual nature of labor and play, as a way to engage the world of wonder within the viewer through a physical catalyst.
While at PlySpace, Skakun & Spadine will researched stronger materials and building prototypes of new working components for their series of modular sound sculptures, which refer to an “organ” as both body part and musical instrument and require physical use of the entire body to play. They worked with Professor Rachel Cohn and her 4d students at Ball State University with the intention to design and build pump organs which generate sound through bodily motions. Unfortunately, the second half of the collaboration had to be completed online since the residency and university were locked-down due to COVID-19. Instead of completing the construction of a large pump organ, the students made their own instruments with items from around their homes. The Deep Listening Sound Performance video can be viewed at the link below. Skakun & Spadine stayed at PlySpace through the summer while sheltering in place. You can read about their experience and see the many new projects they completed in the PlySpace Gallery link below.
