Chasing Shadows was a site-specific performance exhibition at The Onion (The Church of the Sepulveda Unitarian Universalist Society),
North Hills, CA. The work was inspired by Horace McCoy's 1935 novel They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, later adapted into the 1969 film directed
by Sydney Pollack, which dramatizes the grueling dance marathons of the Santa Monica Pier during the Great Depression.
Moreno created a performance using his father's metronome, set to the tempo of The Dorsey Brothers' song "Chasing Shadows" (1935), the
number-one song during the Depression. A small piece of charcoal was affixed to the pendulum, and Moreno stood over paper as the metronome
swung, leaving marks with each oscillation. A speaker and two microphones attached to his waist amplified and reverberated the sound throughout the
space. The performance lasted approximately 20 minutes.
Pops and I Keeping the Tempo, 1941–2011–2053, Cycles, Patterns, Mark Making and
Pathways traces the rhythm of bodily endurance, history, and family. The title references his father's life span (1941–2011) and projects Moreno's
own through 2053, reflecting a seventy-year cycle mirroring his father's.
The Dorsey Brothers Orchestra - Chasing Shadows
More Info:
Date: December 11th, 2011 Los Angeles, CA
Medium: Drawing | Archive | Performance | Music | Performative
Amp speaker, two microphones, metronome, charcol, 8" x 10" paper, Charcoal and tray, dimensions variable
