Meredith Monk is an exceptional figure as a composer, singer, performer and multidisciplinary artist who has influenced artists such as Björk and David Byrne. Monk faced a sexist and often dismissive world to become a recognized pioneering and unique voice. A film that looks into her past, but also onto the future, an anticipation of how her work will survive in her absence.
After giving two sold-out and unforgettable concerts in Portugal at the beginning of the year, Meredith Monk returns, this time in film format. Composer, interpreter, performer and interdisciplinary artist, Monk is a visionary, recognised and awarded as one of the most peculiar and influential artists of our time. As her contemporary Philip Glass says: “She, among all of us, was – and still is – the uniquely gifted one”. However, the first reviews of her work in the 1960s and 1970s were far from such recognition. Early reviews in The New York Times were vicious and sexist, with Clive Barnes calling her ‘a disgrace to the name of dancing’.
Monk in Pieces is a mosaic or set of pieces that reflects the original structure and diversity of this artist’s work, never accommodated in her 60-year career and 82 years of age, crossing singing, musical composition, theatre and opera. Here, we enter her daily life in her loft in Tribeca, where she has lived and worked since 1972, learn about the creation of her most recent work, Indra’s Net, delve into a rich archive of films and photographs and hear testimonies from artists who recognise a profound influence from Meredith Monk, such as David Byrne or Björk. (Helena César)
