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| Miasma has unfolded in phases. Each phase consists of a body of recorded work and related productions -- a CD, a theatrical, a touring show, maybe some video. Currently we are in the third phase -- Miasma 3. This page outlines the three phases to date. Miasma 3 (2001 - ) Themes Miasma 3, a limited edition CD (2002),
contains a Quick Time version of the 2001 documentary video, "Miasma
Spectacles of Fantasy," (2001) and new audio tracks. (CD available by
on-line order only -- In Europe through Miasma 3, new recordings,(2002), Inspired by Banff, (Tick and Lilac), and by Berlin, (Luft and Beach), the new story-tracks display Miasma's current style of relaxed sophisticated satire sustained by music. (available in MP3 files on this site and on CD as above.) The Miasma Berlin web site (2002) This site (that you are currently exploring), contains most of the Miasma audio recording catalogue in MP3 files, plus video, photos, an outline of the project's history and information on current and planned activities. "Miasma, spring in Vienna" (2002), Gut and Davies at "Hear I Am," an international festival of women in music produced by Kosmos Frauenraum in Vienna, Austria. Tick, Beach and Lilac, were premiered there. The show evinced Miasma's new gentle aesthetic -- less interested in monumentality and impact, and more interested in nuance, sensibility and lyrical narrative line. "Miasma, Spectacles of Fantasy," (2001), is a non-linear documentary video by Canadian visual artist, Allan Harding MacKay, with sound track by Gudrun Gut. From Miasma's archive of live performance footage, MacKay composed a lush dream stream of femininity in masquerade -- Carmen, Madam Butterfly, Anna Karenina, dainty ballerinas, warrior maidens; women engaged in exploration of feminine identities, archetypes, and desires ranging from self-sacrifice to murder. QuickTime of the video on this site. "Miasma, Greatest Hits," (2000), a retrospective theatrical production, marked Miasma's tenth anniversary. This was Miasma's third theatrical on the theme of deconstructing romantic female fantasies. Created by Davies & Gut at The Banff Centre, it featured an international cast from the Centre and the local community. The show was presented in Winnipeg by Groundswell New Music Society at The Gas Station Theatre with guest artists from the school of The Royal Winnipeg Ballet and from The Opera Program at The University of Manitoba. Miasma 2 (1996 - 2000) Themes of Miasma 2 "Miasma Canned," (1998-1999) was a series of solo cabaret performances by Davies in galleries and smaller theatrical venues in Canada -- some with Canadian sound artist, Steve Heimbecker. "Miasma, Fantasies of Place," (1996), a touring show for Germany, was a satirical examination of Miasma's bipolar home environments as portrayed by the popular media -- the dark and gritty hard edge urban chic of Berlin and Banff standing for purity and Nature as a benevolent moral force. The Miasma Vancouver web built during and for M2, this is now an archive site. In the CD, "Miasma 2, Clear and Cold at the Higher Elevations," (1996) Gut & Davies continued to explore, in a specifically female context, the dialectic between individuality and the influence of western cultural heritage. Compared to first CD, the humour here is gentler and more embracing. The narratives are less obsessive and relentless. Yet the teeth are still sharp and the wit cuts to the bone. "Miasma, Stupid as a Rose," (1996), the second mixed media music theatre production created by Davies & Gut, was produced by Maenad Theatre, Calgary and performed at The Calgary Centre for the Performing Arts. In this dream stream of fact and fantasies conjured up by Davies & Gut, and 19 guest artists, two eighteenth century tarts deconstructed.The Nornen, three ancients who twist the rope of fate, cast their single scathing eye over murderous brides, grasping widows, young girls in love, narcissists and monsters, parenticidal daughters and dainty ballerinas. And one woman navigated the obstacle course between puberty and menopause.
Miasma 1 (1991-1995) Themes of Miasma 11.Projection: Stripping gender conflict to reveal the war in the self. 2. The dangerous influence of Romanticism on female imagination. "Stupid as a Rose,"(1994), the first European touring show, featured video and film sequences by Davies, and "Killer Ballerina", a movement sequence referencing Pavlova, on the theme of the romantic ballerina. Videos of "No Time" and "Control," (1994), the first Miasma videos, were produced by Myra Davies and directed by Paul Wong (Video Inn, Vancouver). Video of "Taxi," (1994), by Myra Davies assisted by Roy Cross and Gilles TassŽ, produced at The Banff Centre. "Angry Women Live, Festival," (1993) at The Tempodrom in Berlin and at The Dinosaur Arena in Vienna, were the first live Miasma performances in Europe with sound by Gut and vocals and video by Myra Davies. Miasma 1 CD, (released 1993) was recorded at Banff in 1992 and in Berlin in 1991, and produced by Gudrun Gut. The Berlin influence is paramount. There are bright beats on some tracks and comic wit throughout, but overall this first body of work is dark and aggressive with clear vestiges of Eighties Sturm und Drang". Music and lyrics both speak strongly of gender conflict and women's struggle to survive in contemporary urban life. "Miasma, A Butoh Opera," (1992), the first Miasma large cast mixed-media music theatre production, was produced at The Banff Centre with music by Gut, script, staging, and projected media by Davies, and choreography by Japanese Butoh artist, Hiroko Tamano. A stream of legendary martyrs and murderesses -- La Dame auxCamŽlias (aka Marguerite Gautier, aka Violetta ValŽry), Madam Butterfly, Diana the Huntress, Anna Karenina, plus burlesque girls in garters and girdles, mud spirits, ballerinas, and valkyries on motorcycles -- was contextualised in Davies' poetically satirical spoken word and propelled by Guts music. Miasma began in the spring of 1991 with a recording session at Mega Studios, Berlin. Taxi was the first piece. Next came Control, and No Time. |