“Circumference Cycles” is a sound and light performance piece incorporating the sculpture/instrument of artist Robin Stanaway. This sculpture is called “Circumference” and is made of hand blown glass circular disks suspended by thin steel cables. Vibrations made from striking the glass and strings are amplified and processed while light is projected through the 30 inch diameter rondels. Light projected through the pieces generates mesmerizing reflections on the backdrop. The performers’ shadows become part of that visual imagery and change with each movement of their bodies in combination with the glass and refracted light.

The music created with The Circumference is both rhythmic and harmonic, resulting in a sound that is a blend of the tones of the glass and the “guitar” strings combined and resonating sympathetically. In June 2006, a new performance work including two rondels and two players (Strollo & Blaine), each processing their signal independently, will be featured at NIME '06 at IRCAM in Paris. Once in the digital domain, multi-timbral shaping and long repeated delays help to create a fabric of rhythms and tones to form a truly unique musical collaboration. The research and development for this project was sponsored with the generous support of the Berkman Faculty Development Grant and the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA.

The shows in Paris were followed by a 10 day artist residency at STEIM in Amsterdam and a performance on June 20th.

Bean & Chris at Point Ephemere in Paris - June 2006

artist bios

Robin Stanaway is an artist who designs and fabricates installation art pieces for public and private spaces. She invented the glass, light, and sound instrument called the Circumference. Chris Strollo and Tina Blaine are collaborating with Stanaway in the creation of the performance entitled Circumference Cycles. Strollo and Blaine are composing the music for the instrument and Stanaway is continuing to develop the distinctive visual and sculptural elements of the piece. Stanaway’s work has been exhibited at: the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Corning Gallery, Steuben, New York; Tucson Museum of Art; Queens Museum of Art, and the P.S. 1 Museum and Contemporary Art Center, New York City. As the recipient of a Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation fellowship, Stanaway created The River, a spectacular 77-foot installation for the 2002 opening of the Pittsburgh Glass Center, where she was the facility's first artist in residence. Her work is also part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. Stanaway recently completed a large scale, permanent public artwork for the State Museum of Pennsylvania, entitled Continuum.