“Love is one part feeling, one part thought, the distance between lack and
plenty.”
—L. Wittgenstein
“Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh baby.”
—A. Einstein
Birds are suddenly appearing, and Liminal may have something to do with it.
Liminal’s latest original work has arrived, this time in the form of a traveling multimedia lecture-opera entitled The Theory of Love. The Liminal Love theorists have been at the blackboard for over three years of research, testing, and experimentation into the hidden workings of Love. All of its constituents and behaviors have now been successfully identified and analyzed, and the resulting formula is no less than 100% pure Love. This is the stuff. Not tested on animals, this new mixed-genre product proves conclusively that everyone’s favorite emotion is more than mere hypothesis.
But hasn’t enough been said about Love already? “It certainly has,” says composer and project leader John Berendzen, “and Liminal would like to have the last word.” The Resurrectory (2005) was a complex and relentless investigation into Death. The Theory of Love tackles the only other great subject with equal passion and intensity.
Now available for mass consumption in a readily digestible musical lecture format, The Theory of Love begins its tour of public presentations aimed at educating the senses. Special host partners Reed College and Pacific Northwest College of Art provide the multimedia classroom facilities appropriate for the undertaking.
This classroom is no study hall, however, and Liminal assures audiences that there will be no risk of nodding off. Using alternative techniques of musical hypnosis for accelerated superlearning (pioneered by Soviet-bloc and Japanese researchers in the mid-20th century), audiences are invited into states of blissful, relaxed attentiveness as mind and sense hyper-saturate with full-spectrum vibrations of sound, light, and thought.
As the frequencies of the left and right brain synchronize with each other and to the total environment, The Theory of Love presents solutions to the long-sought equation of Love to the conscious and subconscious mind. You as the subject are ultimately empowered to choose your own outcome.
A multi-layered musical experience unlike any other, school has never sounded this good. Ease down into your desk-chair, and let your ears, eyes, and brain soak in the waves of Love.
Project Collaborators
Mr. David Abel (bass) and Ms. Leo Chapeau (alto) combine their sung and spoken voices, and charismatic personalities, to lead the public experiment. Mr. Abel, himself a poet, also serves as the piece’s author/librettist.
Metaplastic is the visual media design partner, supplying the rich framework of video, slide, and 16mm film content. The team, led by Anna Daedalus and Leo Daedalus, features the talents of Samuel Miller, Tomek Karwowski and Kate Sanderson.
John Berendzen is the piece’s composer, sound designer, and musical director.
Jenny Fern Anderson returns to Liminal to fashion the event’s attire.
Sponsors
The Theory of Love is funded with support from RACC, The Kinsman Foundation, and individual donors. Willamette Week is our proud media sponsor.