Science class isn’t always for everybody. For some, it can be a complex subject that tries to inform about human life and the laws of nature. To others, it’s an interesting, enjoyable topic that can be thrown around to move conversation and express understanding of difficult concepts.
Sam Green, a documentary filmmaker, sees the subject of science as a melding of both hard facts and historical narrative. Since 2012, Green has performed his live documentary, “The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller,” for audiences around the country.
The documentary is performed live with Green narrating over photographs and video of Fuller, while popular indie band Yo La Tengo performs live accompaniment. Green’s decision to make “Love Song” was born out a previous exhibit about Fuller from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The museum approached Green with interest in moving the architect’s story further out to audiences.
The show’s subject, R. Buckminster Fuller, was a prominent theorist and architect whose work in the 20th century helped to establish concepts in architecture and design that remain in use today. Fuller was also the namesake to the buckminsterfullerene, which is used to describe carbon molecules with a specific shape.
Personally, Green has memories of Fuller from the 1970s as “the guy who made the domes.” His colleagues at the SFMOMA suggested exploring Fuller’s vast collection of work at Stanford for research on the show.
“His archive is the biggest collection of papers for one person anywhere,” Green said. “His papers are like a piece of conceptual art … but also, his ideas are more relevant now than they’ve ever been. A combination of those two things really hooked me.”
Yo La Tengo, who serves musical accessory to “Love Song,” has long held a reputation for covering popular songs and being an admired choice for writing soundtracks. Green’s decision to employ Yo La Tengo came out of his own experience listening to the band as well as a mutual connection.
“I’ve been a fan for a long time,” Green said. “The more I learned about Buckminster Fuller, the more I thought their music really fit. There’s a lot of sweetness to their music, but there’s also a little bit of melancholy and a kind of yearning quality.”
In the two years since beginning this project, Green and Yo La Tengo have toured “Love Song” in numerous states, making it a special event for each venue. Unlike touring bands and authors with lecture series, Green’s pacing allows the performance to be fresh and particularly special to each setting.
Green has taken “Love Story” all over the U.S., the most recent being in Burlington, Vermont. This loose schedule makes for a much less hectic environment for both Green and the members of Yo La Tengo.
Because “Love Song” combines the intrigue of live performances with a prominent figure like Fuller, Green sees his audiences containing people interested in both theater and science. The show is able to draw in even more spectators due to its implementation of Yo La Tengo. For some attendants, “Love Story” comes as a Yo La Tengo concert with an even more artistic twist. Often, Green comes across members of the science community who have attended lectures with Fuller.
Green’s decision to create this documentary in a live format was born out of a want to break away from the typical movie-watching experience. The show’s live aspect removes audiences from their personal obligations and forces them to pay attention to what is being presented.
“There’s something about the form that really intrigued me,” Green said. “If you’re making movies these days, people are watching your stuff on their laptops while they’re checking Facebook. There is a magic in cinema, and I don’t want my work to exist in that context.”
This sentiment of wanting to separate the documentary from negative experiences was reinforced when Green transformed the show into a documentary film. Even with his narrative, visual material and Yo La Tengo’s score, Green found the movie to be lacking in effect.
“The truth is there’s something missing,” Green said. “I honestly think with this, there’s just a secret ingredient. The liveness, the fact that we’re traveling all the way there. You’re going to come to the theater, turn your phone off. It’ll never be the same way twice. There’s a charge to that gets lost if you put it on DVD.”
You can reach Gerald Ducote on Twitter @GeraldDucote_TDR.