Artist Meredith Monk returns to UCLA for a weeklong residency

Equipped with the power of voice alone, Meredith Monk mimics the sounds of acoustic percussions and creates haunting vocalizations, techniques that have gone on to influence musicians like Bjork, DJ Spooky and Lukas Ligeti.

Composer, singer, director, choreographer and UCLA Regents’ Lecturer Monk has been a pioneer in exploring the vast range of abilities vested in the human voice. According to Monk, the human voice is an ancient instrument that can convey and shape feelings with a dynamic palette of emotions.

“(One day when I returned to vocalizing), I had a revelation that the voice could be like a body, male and female, with landscape and character, different ways of using sound (and) different ages in it,” Monk said. “I felt that the voice is a language more eloquent than words, uncovering fundamental energies and feelings that we don’t have words for.”

This week, Monk will return to UCLA for a weeklong residency not only to interact with students in revisiting her legacy of contributions to the arts, but also to develop a brand-new piece, a work focusing on meditation, the environment, ecology and the events of the natural world, all of which she said she considers important concerns within our contemporary society.

But Monk said she emphasizes the meditative purpose of her piece as opposed to the political statements hidden underneath, emotional abstractions versus the literal meanings of each topic.

“(For) the last number of years, I’ve been really trying to make work that is really a benefit to sentient beings … (and) works that you can’t make a piece about. My last work was about impermanence and another piece was about mercy, so I like the idea that it’s trying to make a form that is impossible,” Monk said.

According to Dan Froot, long-time colleague of Monk and associate professor in the world arts and cultures/dance department, Monk has always tried to get people to experience her music on a spiritual level, incorporating philosophies of Buddhism and transcending national, ethnic and social boundaries to build universal appeal in her art.

“I love the idea that you come in as an artist and you can interact with students in the art but also bring in people (and topics) who are not in the arts, (including universal) concerns, thinking about science,” Monk said.

According to Meryl Friedman, director of education and community programs at UCLA Live, the residency is unique in emphasizing not only Monk’s works, but also the interaction with students on campus.

“With the Monk residency, we (were) interested in (providing) an environment where a master artist is able to pass on what they know that also gives them a safe place to explore and work with the next generation of artists,” Friedman said.

Among the workshops and classes featured throughout the week, there will be a lecture and demonstration by Monk titled “Archeology of an Artist.”

Although this will not be Monk’s first residency, Monk said she is excited to do a lecture demonstration in hopes of inspiring students to pursue their passions in a world where the pessimism of practicality seems to constantly discourage the next generation.

“We (come) to art out of sheer love, and that’s what I’ve done my entire life. I feel (that there is now) a lot of fear about whether or not you can survive. (There are) a lot of no’s. “˜No, you can’t do that,’ or “˜No, you can’t follow your dreams,'” Monk said.

The rest of the week will include workshops and exhibits that will feature Monk’s previous works, films about her influence within the arts and student interpretations of her various pieces. Students in all fields of study have the rare opportunity to experience Monk’s work firsthand and to see for themselves what the work may mean to them.

“She is a singular artist. It’s like seeing Bach or Mozart live. She’s that influential of an artist among musicians, dancers and theater artists,” Froot said. “It will be amazing for people to see what the human voice can do. The sheer scope of her work and the breadth of both the subject matter and what the individual performers are able to do will expand people’s ideas of what personal potential is.”