MULTIMEDIA
and
PERFORMANCE
ART
The Snaxophone
The Snaxophone is an instrument I invented by taking a Pringles can and sticking a contact mic inside it, which creates a surprisingly beautiful feedback tone when held in front of an amp. Run through a Max/MSP patch I wrote, I've used the Snaxophone to improvise and perform music by composers from J.S. Bach to Julius Eastman.
Einstein in the HOUSE
It's so incredibly beautiful to be part of a community of people who, when you have an idea as insane as "Let's put on a full, free, student production of Einstein on the Beach--in my house", have no qualms about diving in and hopping right on the crazy train/bus/spaceship ride that is this show.
A lot of people (both audience and cast) asked me at one time or another what I thought the show was about, and I never really found a good way to describe it. But here's my best shot: I think Einstein on the Beach(/in the House) is about how the littlest things (counting numbers, basic human emotions, solfege, repeated musical cells, the atom) can grow to become complex and twisted systems (nuclear technology, the justice system, commercialism, gender roles)--and about how understanding that duality can lead us to appreciate the things that make life worth living--namely, love and each other.
See more at fifthwallperformingarts.com
Conductor - Victor Huls
Directors – Grey Grant and Karl Ronneburg
Choreography – Grey in collaboration with Dancers
Mise en Scene (making cardboard trains) – Levin Kim and Andrew Zick
Lighting - Karl Ronneburg and Sam Burck
Person 1 – Karl Ronneburg
Person 2 - Grey Grant
Train Conductor/Judge /Bus Driver – Phoebe Wu
Crazy Eddie – Thomas Kratofil
Kid Judge- Jacob Rogers
Stenographers – Kayla Mathes, Melanie Holt
Dancers – Melanie Holt, Daz Dandylion, Kayla Mathes, Grey Grant
Einstein -- Teagan Faran
Soprano Soloist – Hayley Boggs
Alto Soloist - Madeline Gotschlich
Soloist for “Building” - Rebecca Rosen
Chorus: Soprano – Christina Swanson, Maya Ballester, Hayley Boggs Alto – Madeleine Gotschlich, Rebecca Rosen, Marty Gray
Tenor – Grant Rossi, Walker Durell
Bass – Walker Durell, Dayton Hare, Thomas Kratofil
Flute 1/picc- Noniko Hsu
Flute 2/sop sax- Lisa Keeney
Bass Clarinet/ Bb clarinet - Jordan Kauffman
Organ 1 - Karalyn Schubrig
Organ 2 – Annie Jeng
So enjoy our adaption of Phillip Glass and Robert Wilsons' masterpiece!
Voice Piece for Soprano,
by Yoko Ono
Performed by Karl Ronneburg
Filmed by Alexander Ronneburg
Brooklyn, 2020
A pandemic rooftop performance of Yoko Ono's performance piece for Fifth Wall Performing Arts' Fluxus Fest 2020.
The 60s-70s Fluxus art movement had newfound relevance in 2020, when we performed our lives online during the coronavirus pandemic. Check out my article in New Music Box for the whole scoop!
The Dictator's Song and Dance
Dictator: Karl Ronneburg
Henchman: Johnny Matthews
2 February 2017, Power Center for the Performing Arts
From Meredith Monk's Quarry at the University of Michigan.
Squirrel University
by Zach Kolo, Thomas Kratofil, Phoebe Wu, and Karl Ronneburg
with guest squirrels Dee Perillo, Daniel Ghastin, Carlos Valls, Julia Gaynor, and Mia Massimino as "Boom Operator"
Duderstadt Video Studio
April 2017, Ann Arbor
A collection of promotional materials for any of you squirrels out there looking into your post-secondary options.
Something Actually Bad
by Julia Dooley, Melanie Holt, Thomas Kratofil,
Mac Porter, Cailin Ferguson, and Karl Ronneburg
December 2016, Ann Arbor
A mixed cast of inanimate and human actors ask the question: can performance be dangerous? Are humans onstage real people? Are boxes and stools? What’s the difference between something bad that happens onstage and Something Actually Bad? The answer may be a ghost story, a campfire song, an honest conversation--or something much worse.
The Story of Daniel
-Weak Staff Performance Art
Written and performed by: Phoebe Wu, Zach Kolo,
Karl Ronneburg, and Thomas Kratofil
Living Arts Lounge, Winter 2015
A set of bricks embossed with the name DANIEL reveal a set of stories about the mysterious man.
Washing Machine Explodes
in Super Slow Motion
severely edited video
Video/Audio Edit by Karl
Shown at the THREADS All Arts Festival, March 2018
For some reason, this is by far my most popular YouTube video.