Lebanese artist Teresa Diehl will collaborate with the Cornell University Chorus to create an adaption of her work titled Revolution. The work is a sound and light installation that will turn the Willard Straight Hall Art Gallery into a space of contemplation about the war in the Middle East. Over the course of her artistic career, Diehl has been experimenting with installation, photography, and sound sculptures that explore issues of conflict and war. Diehl’s strategic and poetic combination of media generates powerful and enigmatic environments that are beautiful and mesmerizing while simultaneously evoking a sense of menace and mystery.

For Revolution the viewer will be confronted with a series of juxtaposing emotions as they enter a space where bedtime lullabies are sounding in a soothing manners as to recall the innocence of childhood, while simultaneously being exposed to the moving shadows of the victims of war. As the visitor walks around the space, their shadows, too, are projected making their image implicit in the reflection of suffering that is presented. This sensorial experience metaphorically places the viewer in the place of conflict, fostering empathy as it prompts a critical reflection about the wave of terror, anguish, and misery that befalls thousands of innocent people on a daily basis.

The project has been curated by graduate student Sara Garzón and is realized with the support of Willard Straight Hall Student Union Board of Directors, and the Cornell Council for the Arts.

Teresa Diehl (artist) & Sara Garzón (curator)

Shade Ayorinde (PhD Student, History of Art and Visual Studies), Robert Isaacs (Director of Choral Music and Vocal Performance), Brigid Lucey (Cornell University Chorus ’18), Rachel Connolly (Cornell University Chorus ’17), Dedzidi Ladzekpo (Cornell University Chorus ’16), and Edison Emilio Penafiel Vera (Artist’s Assistant).