song for Awe & Dread
Tommy Becker
6 min
Airing Nov 22-28 and Dec 20-31, 2016
As part of the MARE program
It is AWEsome to be human and to be alive, but the evolution of human intelligence has also burdened our species with a self-awareness of life’s impermanence. The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard called these two uniquely human emotions, awe and dread. Through its symbolic meditation on mortality, this work attempts to find meaning between the fleeting flavors of bubblegum and cultural programming that entrenches us in our denial of death.
Tommy Becker is a poet trapped in a camcorder. He received his MFA in Film, Video, Performance from California College of Arts in 2001. Since that time he has continued to feed video poems into his never-ending saga, TAPE NUMBER ONE. His song length video work blends spoken word, performance, graphic design, and home recorded music.