a flower grew out of the ocean

2023 — Lili Maya + James Rouvelle collaboration.

“Someone fond of paradoxes, sufficiently stubborn and guided by belief, could go on doubting that the ocean was a living being. But it was impossible to deny the existence of its mind, whatever could be understood by the term. It had become quite clear that it was only too aware of our presence above it…” 
“But what am I going to see?”
“I don’t know. In a certain sense it depends entirely on you. It’s visioning seems symbiotic, a form of communion: what you see is created from what it can see in you and what you are willing to know about both yourself and its consciousness.”

A flower grew out of the ocean is a music/sound/spoken text/media performance in four parts premiered on October 21, 2023 at the Crypt below the Church of the Intercession on W155th St, NYC. The text was excerpted from Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris.

Each section of the work is timestamped and the timestamps are visible by mousing over the timeline of the video.

Performers:
Handmade Electronic Instruments: Lucas Yasunaga (yasunaga.work/)
Vocalists:  
Hilary Baboukis (hilarybaboukis.com/)
Holly Druckman (druckmanholly.com/)
Live Video Projection Lili Maya (mayarouvelle.com)
Electronic Music/Composition: James Rouvelle (mayarouvelle.com)

Documentation by:
Azmi Mert Erdem (azmimerterdem.net)
Michael Wilson (michaelcoachandphoto.com).

For the text excerpts and more information visit: mayarouvelle.com/a-flower-grew-out-of-the-ocean/