Earlier this month, DCist spoke to arts activist Erik Moe about his initiative to “Make D.C. Weird.” On Thursday night we got a glimpse of his plan in action as he co-organized the local premiere of Unsilent Night, a participatory art event that puts an avant-garde spin on the tradition of Christmas caroling. If you’re judging based on the sparsely attended proceedings that unfolded in and around LeDroit Park, though, you might conclude that D.C. really just isn’t that weird and is showing few signs of getting weirder.
While the result was frankly underwhelming (due to lack of widespread interest, rather than any lack of enthusiasm from the intrepid few who did participate), the event certainly held potential, and had an interesting concept behind it.
Unsilent Night is a composition by NYC-based composer and sound artist Phil Kline (who has collaborated with such notables as Jim Jarmusch, Nan Goldin, and Glenn Branca). Intended to be heard outdoors during the holiday season, each performance of the piece takes the form of a public promenade through urban space, with each of an unlimited number of participants playing one of four recorded tracks of electronic music, originally on cassette-playing boomboxes and more recently with digital devices such as smartphones. The loosely synchronized tracks are meant to coalesce into a mobile “sound sculpture” which interacts with the urban environment as it reverberates across buildings and streets.
“Unsilent Night is like a Christmas caroling party except we don’t sing but rather carry boomboxes,” Kline says in a press release. “In effect, we become a city-block-long stereo system.”
Since Kline led the first performance of his piece in Greenwich Village in 1992, the event has gained a cult following and has been staged in 101 cities worldwide. Kline still personally hosts a flagship event in New York each December, and this year’s iteration seemed to draw a crowd of at least several hundred participants.
Here in D.C., by stark contrast, a grand total of ten people (not counting DCist) came out for the soundscaped peregrination as it made its local debut on Thursday, after being promoted via press releases and social media.
Waiting for participants to arrive at the starting point in front of the Howard Theatre, Moe (who has lived in the District for a decade) discussed his hopes for the event, and how it ties into his aim to “Make D.C. Weird.”
“My interest is really in promoting D.C. culture and events that bring people together,” he told DCist. “For me, weirdness is more of a conversation where I want people to think about that word and what kind of city they actually want, and maybe they don’t want a weird city, but I want people to come forward and advocate for the changes they want to see in the city.”
Co-organizer Philip Graulty, a musician who previously worked with Kline on another project and consulted with him on Thursday’s happening, added, “It was something that I always wanted to start a chapter in a city, and I thought D.C. would be the perfect place to do it because I have allies here, and Erik is one of my allies trying to integrate arts and cultural programming into public spaces.”
Participant Ashley Robbins seemed inspired by the holiday spirit. “I heard about it through Erik on Facebook, and I motivated because D.C. gets pretty quiet around Christmas, so it’s nice to spread a little joy. Most people leave D.C., you know? It’s a transient town.”
The streets were indeed fairly quiet as the 45-minute early-evening procession winded its way through the residential streets of LeDroit Park, around the Howard University campus, past the 9:30 Club, and onto U Street. The music emanating from participants’ devices (no old-school boomboxes were on hand, but Moe wielded a digital approximation) produced an ambient sonic shimmer punctuated by trebly bells and chimes, though the aesthetic impact was dampened by the small group’s inability to generate robust volume.
Participants kept up a convivial vibe—walking arm-in-arm, sometimes stopping to dance around trees and traffic circles. Except for a few confused glances, pedestrians paid little attention to the group. No one bothered to inquire about what they were up to, let alone cheer them on or join in.
As the march concluded at the African American Civil War Memorial, the 10 participants gathered for a group hug and photo-ops. Moe declared the event a success.
Undaunted by Thursday’s low attendance (Moe claimed he was actually pleased by the turnout), Moe and Graulty plan to collaborate on further projects aimed at “activating public space with art and creativity.”
Unsilent Night “was great,” Moe said. “Definitely, it was a very festive, celebratory event. I didn’t anticipate people starting to dance, which was a nice, spontaneous reaction to the music. Yeah, I’m just really happy with it.”
