Fanoplane debut at the Corcoran ©℗ Boilen, Busher, Gilmore, Herrero, Kallmeyer & Zook by Fanoplane

This is Fanoplane's (https://thefanoplaneproject.tumblr.com/) March 31, 2019 debut performance at the closing of "OPEN", Robin Bell’s ground-breaking exhibition of lights and projections.

Throughout the evening, guerrilla projectionist Robin Bell mixed content live on installations exhibited on the grand staircase in the Flagg Building’s atrium. Dancers and musicians reacted to the installations, collaborating with the artist to reflect on the exhibition’s themes: the struggle we’re facing as a country and in the world of how to remain open and transparent. For Bell, the Flagg Building’s location also has enormous resonance: it is directly across from the security gate by which visitors enter the White House. OPEN, the welcoming, familiar letters that glow from a favorite restaurant or all-night corner store, informs the show.

As the exhibition inside closed, the event inspired participants to create and take with them openness to the outside world. In the words of Robin Bell, "Openness is not a destination at which a society can arrive and rest; it is a constant effort.”

Fanoplane: In finite geometry, the Fano plane (after Gino Fano) is the finite projective plane of order 2. It is the finite projective plane with the smallest possible number of points and lines: 7 points and 7 lines, with 3 points on every line and 3 lines through every point. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fano_plane)

In this musical context, Fanoplane is an improvisational project focused on projecting the infinite gifts of the Muse.

Fanoplane’s seed was planted in a duo performance by Bob Boilen and Ted Zook (https://soundcloud.com/uberepic-productions/cd-cellar-boilen-zook). Following that, Bob sat in for a couple of performances with the Lost Civilizations experimental music project (http://lost-civilizations.tumblr.com/), then several performances with Heterodyne (https://the-heterodyne-project.tumblr.com/).

In addition to Bob Boilen and Ted Zook, Fanoplane’s March 31, 2019 debut at the Corcoran included Jerry Busher (percussion), Doug Kallmeyer (bass; electronics), Maggie Gilmore (vocalizations; flute) and Sonia Herrero (violin). The performance was unscored, unrehearsed and improvised extemporaneously on the spot; it was the first time that all of these musicians performed together.

Heartfelt thanks to Robin Bell and everybody else who made this possible!

For additional information: tedzook@hotmail.com