Barbara T. Smith: 21st Century Odyssey

<p>When first launched the Biosphere 2 was sold by the media to an eager public as crucial scientific research that would save us when the earth became uninhabitable.  This was easier then explaining the complicated fact that many of its central ideas had come from an avant-garde theater troupe. But these performative roots were mirrored by Barbara T. Smiths “<span style="font-weight: 400;">21st Century Odyssey.” </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> When Smith’s boyfriend, </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dr. Roy Walford,</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> went into the Biosphere for two years she</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> traveled around the world doing performances and communicating with him through then cutting-edge tech like faxes and video chat. While he and the other Bionauts were figuring out if self-contained life was possible, she was the Odysseus to his Penelope.</span></p> <p>Images: sent via <span style="font-weight: 400;">VIDEOPHONE of Barbara T. Smith performing </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Pouring Out My Heart</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> at the Vajra Hotel in Kathmandu, Nepal and Roy Walford playing his Saxophone in the Biosphere.</span></p>