Premiered at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, June 17, 2010.

Danijel Zezelj; painting
Jessica Lurie; composition, saxophone, accordion, voice
Marika Hughes, violoncello
Todd Sickafoose, acoustic bass

ONCE is a Live Painting + Live Music performance, a dynamic act of live narration, using sound and images as its language of expression and communication. The performance is built on an interchange of the elements of music and painting - merging rhythm and time of the music with the volume and space of the painting.
A series of large acrylic paintings is painted live, with images evolving and disappearing one over another. This visual metamorphosis is combined with live music that closely follows it through the stages of the process. The timing and rhythm of the music and painting create the atmosphere of a shadow play unfolding in front of the audience. As each painting is finished and dissolves into the next one, the sequence of images unveils the storyline. The paintings gradually blend with the music towards the narrative climax, an elusive finale that comes to life and then fades away - remaining only as a memory of the spectator.
The metamorphosis of paintings is photographed by fixed photo camera every 10-20 seconds, and the music is digitally recorded. After the live performance, hundreds of photos are digitally edited with the excerpt of the recorded music into a short animated movie. Starting next morning, this movie will be screened for a number of days within the same space were performance took place.
ONCE explores the quality of time, space and memory, challenging the idea of permanence of any physical object (painting) and space (gallery). The erasing of finished paintings assigns them the temporary dimension of the music. The video-audio recording remains the only permanent presentation of the creative process - but already transformed and edited into a different form. The original music and paintings belong to the memory of witnesses.
ONCE is a tribute and reflection on the power of constant change and the fragility of remembrance.