Still life

Still Life is a multidisciplinary piece for piano and projected film by Danilo Ursini, featuring performance artist Nina Arsenault. Inspired by Arsenault's recent explorations into the spiritual and the ecstatic, the work depicts a microcosm of the various stages of a personal spiritual experience -- one person's attempt to raise her state of being through disciplined rituals. The piece explores each stage of the experience, from personal rites and manic rituals in the 'real world', through meditation and the revealing of one's sensuality, to transcendence and freedom. The music emphasizes the diverse senses of temporality associated with such an experience, contrasting ecstatic, manic states with moments of stillness and meditation.