THE PLANETS | 75 min. |2011 Music by Kyle Gann | Video by John Sanborn | Performed by Relâche
The Planets is an epic, 75-minute video feature commissioned by the new music ensemble Relâche. The score took composer Kyle Gann 12 years to complete and became a multi-media immersion into the myths and mystery of the planets when Relâche commissioned video artist and director John Sanborn to take viewers on a journey out into space, and inside the play between reality and fantasia.
The piece is richly orchestrated abstract storytelling that blends particle animation, poetry, dance (Margaret Cromwell and Joseph Copley, master improvisers) and video artistry to address our fascination with the planets; the mysteries we ascribe to them and the magisterial influence of the ancient gods the represent.
The film premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival in October 2011, before being shown at over a dozen film festivals, world wide. The work is also the media element in a live performance of “The Planets” by Relache. The first live performance was in September 2012, at the Barnes Foundation.