Focusing on the terms “image” and “subdue,” composer Douglas Detrick and motion designer Kyra Odi respond to Genesis 1:27-28 in a collage of video and sound. A work looking at humanity and its role in the natural world, the piece is known as “The Genesis Project.”
Artists Detrick and Odi were commissioned by Spark and Echo Arts and “The Genesis Project” was premiered on June 20th, 2011 at M-1 Lounge in New York City.
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Year
Genre
Film
Music
Artist Location
Scripture
Genesis 1:28
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Doug Detrick and Kyra Odi
“The Genesis Project” is a nuanced statement about humanity’s role in the world, about time shared with friends, about mundane times we usually forget, and about the costs of the way we live our lives. It came from our personal need to explore and come to terms with what it means when we see ourselves as created in the “image” of God and to have “dominion” over the natural world as it says in Genesis.
Douglas Detrick: The project changed significantly of the course of its creation, and the only thing we knew for sure was that we were letting go of control of how the piece would turn out, letting it take shape on its own. Seeing the street scenes that Kyra had filmed encouraged a radical change in how I was hearing the music for the piece. The finished piece was quite different from what we expected, but we still feel it makes an important statement. We can’t say that there are any definitive answers offered by the piece, but we do hope that the piece encourages some thought in an ongoing conversation about what our duty is to the natural world.
Kyra Odi: We started at something in the beginning which was so so different from what it turned into. All I can say is that I just let go of the need to control the piece and let the subjects (people of the city) guide it as I explored our surrounding environment.
Douglas Detrick is a composer and trumpet player who resides in the Bronx, NY and was raised in Portland, Oregon. Equally at home as a performer and a composer, he creates unique music in the worlds of jazz, chamber music, electronic music and improvised music. Douglas holds degrees from the Lawrence Conservatory of Music and University of Oregon. Find out more about Douglas at DouglasDetrick.com
Kyra Odi, Graphic + Interactive Communication graduate from Ringling College of Art + Design in Florida, now resides in New York as a freelance designer / animator working at a variety of companies and learning from each diverse experience. Socially inclined, she feeds off the city’s energy which she then does her best to infuse into her personal work. See more from Kyra at KyraOdi.com
Kyra Odi Photo: Rasmus Keger
Sparks
Most Sparks for Genesis
