Blog 10. Jean Michel Jarre “Rondez-vous"
Jean Michel Jarre’s 1986 live artperformance,“Rendezvous” in Houston, Texas ,was an unforgettable. The French artist chose the Houston skyline and sky as his canvas. Jarre projected light, music ,fireworks, and images on the downtown buildings to create artwork that was revolutionary for it’s time. The audience arrived early to picnic on the lawn. Soon after, night fell and the grassy field was covered in darkness except for the glowing skyscrapers of the city. The French artist stepped forward. He was only slightly revealed behind a veil of white smoke. He stood there in his red jacket, white scarf and sunglasses like a movie star approaching the Hollywood red carpet. There was anticipation in the air. “Good evening1” he greeted the crowd.”it is a good evening, yes?” The crowd roared. He stepped to an electric keyboard and began to play .Fireworks began shooting off of the top of the majestic skyline. They lit up the sky and clouds as well. As the show continued, bright color bathed each skyscraper and pulsed with the rhythm of the music. Each crescendo brought rapid light change. Each acceleration increased the pace of the light. Jarre then stepped forward to touch a fan of green laser light. As his hand touched each beam a different note played on the synthesizer. It was as if he was playing notes on beams of light in the air. In “Equinox” ,the next section of the performance , the artist played on a lighted electric keyboard. Images from Texas were projected on the mirrored surface of the tall city structures. There were photos from cotton fields, farm trucks and oil rigs on the modern city skyline. White glowing photos of America’s forefathers shot across the buildings at a rapid pace, while white search light beams swayed across the sky as if they were looking for some lost plane. The music suddenly stops. There is silence. The sky is black. Then a projection of an astronaut in space and the sound ofthe transmission to NASA. “Houston, the Eagle has landed” The crowd roared with delight. The music slowed and then swelled, in a dance with the light and the images. The heavens glowed, the buildings popping with rotating images that culminated in an extraordinary fireworks show that lit the sky with colors. A choir dressed in white sang with the pulsing music as if they were one of the chords on the electric piano. Jarre introducedRon McNair, asan astronautand friend, who died in the Challenger shuttle explosion that year. McNair was scheduled to play a sax piece livefrom space during Jarre’s concert . A musician began to play a sultry song on the sax while photos of Ron McNair in the space shuttle wrapped around the tall buildings likegigantic drive-in movie screens. The show’s finale was a recording of John F. Kennedy saying that we chose to go to space, not because it was easy , but because it was hard. The crowd cheered. The music bursts into a lively score and lighted geometric shapes danced across the backdrop of the stage. The sky filled with white search lights that also danced around. The performance ended. It left the crowd overwhelmed with inspiration. It was as if, for the first time, light, color, sound , technology and art danced together in the heavens. It was a celestial ball.