Meiko's Knole
A performative lecture given in the Spring, 2019 at EMPAC on the subject of Knole House, a storied estate located in Kent, UK. The lavish mansion was located next door to the Grove Finishing School for Young Ladies, where Muriel Orr-Ewing (aka Meiko) served as headmistress from 1947-1969. Knole House was the home of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the hunting grounds of King Henry VIII, the inspiration of Virginia Woolf's Orlando, and the setting for the Beatle's promotional films for Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane. Using archival film materials as a source of inspiration, Meiko's Knole blends performance, film and song in an attempt to collapse the opposition between fact and fiction. Techniques used in the performance featured video art (including the use of slit scan technology as pictured below), structuralist film, sound design that used EMPAC's ambisonic sound system, and karaoke. Produced in collaboration with J.T. Rinker and sponsored by a Production Grant from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.
