GRETCHEN AT THE SPINNING WHEEL

Based on Gretchen and Spinnarade op.2, D.118 by Franz Schubert and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's tragic play Faust (Part One, scene 15)

Gretchen weaves memories

On standby

Fragment first

[The music of Franz Schubert builds and is quickly consumed. Pause. The wheel locks. The silence is heard as an emotional breakdown. This is a pain. A listener closer might notice that this is the petite mort: not a result of the memory of ecstasy but its infinite gloom. She is thinking of Faust and all that he promises. The right hand mimics the perpetual movement of the spinning wheel, while the left hand imitates the foot treadle. The treadle-like movement of the left hand keeps her rooted in reality. Gretchen snaps out of this fantasy, her heart heavy as she surrenders to the hard truth. Goethe spoke about the burden of waiting, where land is petrified by bitterness. At this point, a grave is raised.]

Gretchen:

Crazy woman!

Locked in your room,

Looking out for him,

Weaving with clouds of omen, a new plot.

His proud steps,

His noble figure,

His smiling lips,

His powerful eyes.

Another Fragment

[To Meet:

The act or effect of finding something or someone.

A casual position face-to-face with a person or thing.

An unexpected confrontation between two bodies, a collision.

A duel.

The confluence of rivers.

The point of articulation of the wings of birds, or like two arrows that meet in mid-air.

A settlement.]

Gretchen:

Crazy woman!

Locked in your room,

Looking out for him,

I hear you at every turn of the wheel  

As I long to kiss him,

The way I wish,

So I might die,

At his kiss!

[To meet in suspension

To meet is to be suspended.]

MEET

Thinking With Our Hands

RABBITHOLE PROJECTS, 33 Washington Street, Brooklyn, NY, 2016

Single channel video-poem installation. 3:10m. 2014-2016

Video narration in Portuguese written in 2012

Wall Poems 1 &2 (2012-2013. revision: 2016)

Conceptualized, produced, and edited by Simone Couto

"Meet" is a video poem created by Simone Couto, and it offers an interpretation of a tragic tale that expertly blends music, poetry, and visual storytelling elements. It is inspired by Franz Schubert's Gretchen and Spinnarade op.2, D.118 and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's play Faust (Part One, scene 15). The video follows Gretchen, who is depicted through the artist's hands, as she creates two doll chairs under a retro-projector on a standby plot, symbolizing her waiting for love. The accompanying song alludes to the repetitive nature of her craft, the long wait, and the weight of reality.