pow pow power up




Images above: pow pow power up at the John F. Kennedy Center, May 2022
About
pow pow power up is a sound-installation project that utilizes an AI-powered muse, inspired by the artist, educator and social justice advocate Corita Kent, to write a collection of 29 scores for the voice and synthesized audio.
pow pow power up is based on Corita’s heroes and sheroes series, a collection of 29 prints made between 1968 to 1969, produced after leaving the Immaculate Heart Order. This project is made collaboratively by artist Liss LaFleur, composer Samuel Beebe, the Corita Art Center in Los Angeles, CA, and the tech collective Feminist AI.
The first score, titled green fingers, 1969 addresses environmentalism and was presented as a sunset procession on May 1, 2022 at the John F. Kennedy Center, performed by the choral ensemble Artifice. During this procession, audience members carried signs that were created during an art making event on Earth Day in Los Angeles, CA with the Corita Art Center. Signs were printed at Self Help Graphics & Art, with instruction by lead teaching artist Oscar Rodriguez. Signs traveled from Los Angeles to Washington, DC to be activated by participants in the first pow pow power up performance.

Image above: Earth Day printmaking event with the Corita Art Center at Self Help Graphics, Los Angeles, CA
Image right: screen for Earth Day printmaking event with the Corita Art Center at Self Help Graphics, Los Angeles, CA

Image above: photo during Mary's Day procession, photograph by Corita Kent, 1966, courtesy of the Corita Art Center
Image left: signs at the first performance of pow pow power up at the Kennedy Center, Washington D.C., May 2022




Images above: technical rider and first page of score for green fingers, 1969 at the John F. Kennedy Center, May 2022