Activating the Void: A Conversation with Naama Tsabar

Naama Tsabar stands still, though not passive, in her signature black jeans, black shirt, and red lipstick, a participant in and creator of Perimeters, her latest performance project. She moves into action slowly and deliberately, approaching one of several variously shaped openings in the walls, outlined in laminated maple stripes and varnished a deep red on the inside—string instruments turned inside out. She bends back and inserts her head into the cavity, seemingly devoured by the architecture. Her actions generate ambiguous and slightly eerie sounds that combine with a range of other sounds produced by eight musicians and dancers who are also creating by fusing their bodies with physical space. Thrusting their arms into the openings, plucking and strumming hidden guitar, harp, banjo, and violin strings, and singing into an embedded wall microphone, together they create a choreographed composition.

 

Perimeters, which features 11 interactive “Inversions” spread across three rooms and hallways, will be performed by Tsabar and a Miami-based crew of female-identifying musicians and dancers intermittently throughout the run of her current exhibition (of the same name) at the Bass Museum of Art; at other times, visitors can engage with the “Inversions.” Everything is playable and connected—there is order, elegance, and chaos, and female power rules.

 

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