Poto

Art does not seek to describe but to enact. —Charles Olson

Author Archives: marcia


by

Remembering Cole Heinowitz (November 27, 1974—May 24, 2025)

PEACE (Two of Swords)

This card is ruled by Chokmah in the Element of Air. This suit, governing all intellectual manifestations, is always complicated and disordered. It is subject to change as is no other suit. It represents a general shaking-up, resulting from the conflict of Fire and Water in their marriage; and proceeds, when Earth appears, to crystallization. But the purity and exaltation of Chokmah are such that this card manifests the very best idea possible to the suit. The energy abides above the onslaught of disruption. This comparative calm is emphasized by the celestial attribution: the Moon in Libra.

The Moon is change, but Nature is peaceful; moreover, Libra represents balance; between them, they regulate the energy of the Swords.

In the card appear two swords crossed; they are united by a blue rose with five petals. This rose represents the influence of the Mother, whose harmonizing influence compounds the latent antagonism native to the suit. The Rose emits white rays, producing a geometrical pattern that emphasizes the equilibrium of the symbol.


by

Remembering Kristi Elkins (August 10, 1970—July 24, 2024)

She is made one with Nature: there is heard
Her voice in all Her music, from the moan
Of thunder, to the song of night’s sweet bird;
She is a presence to be felt and known
In darkness and light, from herb and stone,
Spreading itself where’er that Power may move
Which has withdrawn her being to its own;
Which wields the world with never-wearied love,
Sustains it from beneath, and kindles it above.

   


by

Ulman in wasteLAnd

Erik is very honored to be the featured composer in wasteLAnd’s 2016-17 season, which will include performances of new works (including a piece for Élise Roy and Gnarwhallaby) and older ones, including the Third String Quartet (by the Formalist Quartet), “Tout Orgueil…,” and more…


by

Ulman in Mexico

From June 5 to October 12, the Museo Jumex in Mexico City is home to the first retrospective of the great Cy Twombly’s work in Latin America. As part of this occasion, Poto’s Erik Ulman is being honored with a portrait concert, which will be given at the museum on August 1 at 8 PM, and again on the afternoon of August 2 (time to be determined). Five works will be performed: Study for Eurydice, L’Extase de M. Poher, and Lacrimosa, the last of which is the “flute requiem” requested of Erik by Twombly; and the world premieres of Woodland Glade, dedicated to Twombly and named for two of his paintings, and Sinfonia Concertante, a large new work for nine instruments, which is inscribed to his memory. Several other members of the Poto community are taking part: Juan Cristóbal Cerrillo has been organizing the event, and cellist Séverine Ballon and pianist John Mark Harris will perform in the concert. There is little information as yet at the museum’s website:
http://fundacionjumex.org/explora/noticia/cy-twombly-paradise;

Announcement in La Tempestad:
http://latempestad.mx/concierto-dedicado-a-cy-twombly-sones-a-orfeo-juan-cristobal-cerrillo-erik-ulman-paradise-exposicion-museo-jumex-arte-contemporaneo-pablo-vargas-lugo

we will post more details here as they become available.


by

Remembering Adrian Kissler (1939–2014)

We are very sorry to have to announce that Adrian Kissler died on the afternoon of June 26, after a long illness. Participants in Poto’s summer festivals will remember him, his high spirits, his energy and curiosity, his practical ingenuity; and without his generosity and friendship Poto would not have been possible.

Our thoughts are with his wife Pam and his children Josh and Saralyse.


by Leave a comment

In Memoriam Danièle Huillet (May 1, 1936–October 9, 2006)

With Jean-Marie Straub, Danièle Huillet made some of the most beautiful and challenging of all films: films resolutely open to the radiance of the real, profoundly ethical, responsible to and extending the best in Western culture. Poto would like to pay tribute to these great artists—to Huillet’s memory, to Straub’s continuing, to their enduring work.


by Leave a comment

Merce Cunningham

In March 2005 Stanford University was host to the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for a week-long residency and tribute to Cunningham. This was an intensely inspiring and moving event: we had the opportunity to see Cunningham speak several times, in various interviews and panel discussions; and to watch the company perform and rehearse. Further high points included the participation of Christian Wolff as accompanying musician to the company, performing John Cage’s Music for Piano and ASLSP with Cunningham’s dances, as well as speaking to Mark Applebaum’s undergraduate composition class and participating in the opening night “happening” with dancers Jonah Bokaer and Julie Cunningham.

If Cunningham’s dance still seems to us preeminently interesting, other dance we like comes from some of the choreographers that emerged from the Judson Church—Trisha Brown, the contact improvisation of Steve Paxton in collaboration with Nancy Stark Smith…; though there’s also Astaire and Rogers, “Bojangles” Robinson, the Nicholas Brothers…