ABSTRACT

Porch is a poetic short film combining 8mm home movie footage with Julia Wolfe's haunting minimalist score in an exploration of the changing shape of the American home. Porch is Morrison's only film comprised entirely of archival home-movie footage, a subgenre of found-footage filmmaking with rapidly developing theory and criticism. The impact of the evolving concept of collective memory on archival practice is considered as it relates to the appropriation of home movies into new films. Porch exemplifies the artistic possibilities for artistic and institutional collaboration in constructing representations of collective memory using home movies as a common language.

KEYWORDS

opera, shelter, collective memory, home movies

Bill Morrison's short film Porch originated as a component of the visual accompaniment to the staged oratorio Shelter, the third in a trilogy of collaborative works by composers Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe. The libretto for Shelter was written by Deborah Artman and the movement entitled Porch was composed by Julia Wolfe. Co-commissioned by The Next Wave Festival of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, musikFabrik, and Kunstiftung NRW, the production was first performed under the direction of Ridge Theater's Bob McGrath and conductor Brad Lubman. The initial conception of the piece centered around the idea of human shelter, both literal and metaphorical. The collaborators set out to explore the various meanings and connotations of the word, from basic protection from the elements to the building of an American home (Bang on a Can). Following a process of development, during which Morrison created a series of films in his signature found-footage style to integrate with Laurie Olinder's projection design, Shelter premiered in Cologne, Germany on 20 March 2005 (Ensemble musikFabrik). Variations of the production continue to be presented around the world, most recently in Los Angeles on 31 May 2015 (Los Angeles Philharmonic Association).