“Though both Jean Sibelius and Bedrich Smetana are well-known for their contributions to the nationalistic movements in their respective countries, the semi-autobiographical quartets of both composers (two for Smetana, one for Sibelius) instead focus on dark, tragic aspects of their own lives. Smetana’s quartets highlight some of the positive events in his life, but are more a representation of the gradual march toward deafness and the decline of his career. Sibelius, who struggled with depression and isolation, writes an equally revealing depiction of his more private inner turmoil. Performing these three emotionally charged works is the equally emotive, demonstrative Dante Quartet. Conceptually, its playing is ideal for showing listeners the very raw emotions present in these scores.” [. . .] –Mike D. Brownell, Allmusic
Hypo Chrysos: Xth Sense Technology
“Hypo Chrysos (HC) is a work of action art for vexed body and biophysical media. During this twenty minutes action I pull two concrete blocks in a circle. My motion is oppressively constant. I have to force myself into accepting the pain until the action is ended. The increasing strain of my corporeal tissues produces continuous bioacoustic signals. The sound of the blood flow, muscle contraction bursts, and bone crackling are amplified, distorted, and played back through eight loudspeakers using the biophysical instrument Xth Sense, developed by the author. The same bioacoustic data stream excites an OpenGL-generated swarm of virtual entities, lights, and organic forms diffused by a video projector. The work brings together different media so a as to creatively explore the processes wherein self-perception, effort, and physicality collide. HC is freely inspired by the sixth Bolgia of Dante’s Inferno, located in one of the lowest of the circles of hell. Here, the poet encounters the hypocrites walking along wearing gilded cloaks filled with lead. It was Dante’s punishment for the falsity hidden behind their behaviour; a malicious use of reason which he considered unique to human beings.” [. . .] —Marco Donnarumma
Niki Ulehla, The Inferno (2011, 2013)
During a 2011 residency at Recology SF, San Francisco puppeteer Niki Ulehla began a multiple-phase project to dramatize Dante’s Inferno with her handmade puppets. The first performance, featuring puppets crafted out of discarded materials from the Recology Public Disposal Area, staged the first seven cantos of the poem.
This performance was followed by a second, at the Sanchez Art Center (Pacifica) in February-March 2013, in which a new set of puppets embark on the second part of the journey, Cantos 8-17. Sanchez Art Center describes the second performance as follows: “[Ulehla] combines traditional carved wooden marionettes with found object based ‘toys’ to create the characters inhabiting the hell described by Dante. [. . .] The performance will begin with the two travelers, Dante and Virgil, crossing the river Styx. They will pass through the fifth circle of Anger, the sixth of the Heretics and the seventh of Violence. This portion of their journey will end riding away on Geryon, the beast of Fraud.” —Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA
Video of both performances can be seen here.
9 Layers of Chocolate Heaven
“This is a recipe for a 9 layer cake – a play on the 9 circles of hell in Dante’s Inferno. While that cake is representative of hell it tastes positively divine.” –Dan Lipkowitz
“As a teenager, I fell in love with Dante’s Inferno, it paired nicely with the nine levels of hell in my dark, twisty, 16 year old, angst filled little mind. Make that a dramatically romantic, angst filled little mind. I’m an over achiever.
“I’ve read it countless times since, each time finding comfort in the rhythm of the words, moments of beauty contrasted in an intricately woven dark world. Of course it’s a love story, and what’s not to love about love…food is love after all.” [. . .] –Jessica, Positively Ravenous, March 14, 2011
Contributed by Dan Lipkowitz (Bowdoin ’14)
Eataly’s Birreria, New York
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“You’ll actually have one more story to climb once you arrive in the elevator lobby, where you can take a tri-level stairway adorned with some very fitting text from the three parts of Dante’s Divine Comedy. The first staircase is from Inferno (Hell), the second from Puragtorio (Purgatory), and the final from Paradiso (Heaven).” […] —Brew York, May 25, 2011
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