Randy Gibson
Sound | Time | Art
Cebollas: Onions on Toast
1999
Structured Improvisation for Amplified Cleaver, Radios, Electric Frying Pan, Toaster, Text, Dance and Onions | ca. 20 Minutes
World Premiere: Irey Theatre, Boulder, CO - November 1st, 1999
Premiered by: Randy Gibson - Amplified Cleaver, Onions, Radio
Michael Theodore - Electronics and Video Processing
Avant Premiere: University of Colorado Lyric Theater - December 13th, 1999
with the dance by Courtney Krantz
Following early influences from the FLUXUS movement and the University of Colorado's revolutionary Interdisciplinary Performance Class, Gibson created Cebollas: Onions on Toast as an attempt to engage directly with senses beyond the sonic.
Gibson performed the work twice, chopping onions with a heavily amplified cleaver (by means of contact microphone) and, in the second performance, subsequently cooking the onions in butter before feeding them to the dancers on pieces of toast, also cooked in an amplified toaster.
In each performance, small fans behind the cooking-performance area wafted the tear-inducing scent into the audience.