Oi! The 7 trains are running this weekend (thanks to the continued slushfest), so there’s no reason for you to miss multimedia/interactive designer and performer, Andrew Schneider’s riotous tonic to the endless winter malaise festering in your subconscious.  He’s at the Chocolate Factory tonight and tomorrow with “Wow and Flutter,” a frenetic, witty, disorienting explosion of linear time.  Despite my whiny pre-school roommate’s exasperated “why do you always have to go to a show?” I knew I was in need of a fix in the wake of Bruno Beltrao’s departure and this did it.  I’m still crackling and a little slack-jawed from the impact.

In Schneider’s hands, time gets trashed.  The work begins with a satisfying  jolt and ends in a beautiful meditation.  I don’t want to describe much of what he does because I found the surprising shifts to be a great part of the wild, palindromic rabbit-hole ride he takes us on. And, I’m expecting you to go – so catch up with me later and we can talk about specific moments. Schneider’s worked with The Wooster Group, developed a solar bikini that can charge your ipod, and weaves a great tale.  He’s a charming and disarming performer, the physicality is fantastic, and the break down of the rules of masculinity and memory are stimulating.  The integration of visuals, systems for processing live and pre-existing (what does that even mean in this work?) material, and the various methods and means of delivery satisfied both my visceral and nerdbot needs.

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Eyebeam is pleased to announce the recipients of its Winter/Spring Residencies and 2010 Fellowships. These nine artists and technologists will begin work at Eyebeam’s state-of-the-art new media design, digital research, and fabrication studios on March 1, 2010, in the areas of open source research, augmented reality gaming, open API development, museum data research, video and new media installation, advanced wearable technology, and musicological research and visualization. They will join continuing Senior Fellows Ayah Bdeir, Steve Lambert, Jeff Crouse, and Michael Mandiberg; and Student Residents.

Eyebeam’s 2010 Fellows are selected from an annual open call and receive an 11-month fellowship with stipend, full access to Eyebeam’s facilities, to undertake research and develop new work in the context of a highly collaborative working environment. Fellows at Eyebeam are selected based on the strength of their practice, vision and diverse skill set. At Eyebeam they receive the opportunity to engage in their own independent projects, work collaboratively with the Eyebeam community and research partners, and participate in our public programs. This group of three fellows was selected from a group of 84 applicants.

Eyebeam’s Winter/Spring 2010 Residents are selected from a biannual open call of artists, technologists and engineers for a five-month residency, which includes a stipend as well as access to Eyebeam’s facilities, equipment, and opportunities to develop new work. This group of six residents was selected from a group of 146 applicants based on their proven ability in spearheading new projects and areas of artistic research.

The combined group of selection panelists for both residency and fellowship processes included Sven Travis, Dean, School of Art, Media & Technology at Parsons; Rob O’Neill, Acting Director, Pratt Institute Digital Arts Research Laboratory; Valerie Tevere, Associate Professor, College of Staten Island; Eyebeam alumni Mouna Andraos, Evan Roth, and Benton-C Bainbridge; Eyebeam senior fellows Jeff Crouse, Michael Mandiberg, Ayah Bdeir, and Steve Lambert; Eyebeam staff Paul Amitai, Programming Manager; Emma Lloyd, Director of Technology; and Amanda McDonald Crowley, Executive Director; with process oversight by Roddy Schrock, Production Coordinator.

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2010 FELLOWS:

Kaho Abe
Kaho Abe is a designer interested in improving social and personal experiences through the use of technology, fashion and games. As a fashion designer, Kaho has worked for small couture houses to large corporate labels, as well as costume work for film and theater. She also designs and constructs custom evening dresses for weddings and special occasions. Kaho graduated from Parsons School of Design with a MFA in Design & Technology in 2005. There she concentrated on Physical Computing to combine with her experience in Fashion. During her studies she also discovered her interest in Game Design. Intrigued by the combination of logic and creativity, and the potential for games to be an enriching social experience, she has integrated games into various projects. Hit Me! is a two-player hyper-interactive physical game that tests speed, agility and the ability to take good snapshots. Kaho’s intent was not only to create a game that is fun to play and watch, but also one that creates face-to-face interaction between both the players and spectators. Her work has been shown in various shows and conferences in New York, Boston, Tokyo, Osaka and Beijing. Kaho’s projects have also appeared or been discussed in I.D. Magazine, NY1 and Asahi Shimbun. Her other passions include film, music and day dreaming.
http://kahoabe.net

Jacob Ciocci
Jacob Ciocci is a founding member of the east coast art collective Paper Rad. His work is concerned with the relationships between popular culture, technology and notions of transcendence. In his paintings, comics, performances, net art and videos, contemporary and recently forgotten cultural symbols confront one another inside a frenzied cartoon universe that is simultaneously celebratory and critical. Jacob’s work has been shown at the MoMA (Automatic Update, 2007), The New Museum, (ArtBase 101, Paper Rad & Matt Barton, 2005), The ArtReview 25 at Phillips de Pury, NY (2005), The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu (2003), Tate Britain, London (2003); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2003) and the Institute of Contemporary Art, London (2003). Jacob and Paper Rad have received critical acclaim in a range of publications, including: The New York Times, ArtReview, Artforum, Art in America, Rolling Stone, Mute, Vice, Issue, and Select. Publications include Internet Art (Thames and Hudson, 2004), and two artist’s books designed by Paper Rad: BJ and da Dogz and Cartoon Workshop/Pig-Tales (Picture Box Inc).
http://www.jacobciocci.org

Aaron Meyers
Aaron Meyers is a designer and programmer using generative strategies in the creation of software and moving image. Since earning his MFA at the USC Interactive Media Division in 2007, Meyers worked in the now-defunct Yahoo Design Innovation Team, taught classes at UCLA Design|Media Arts and continues to work on a variety of interactive projects for diverse clients that have included Digg, Radiohead, and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Aaron is a frequent collaborator of Jeff Crouse, Eyebeam senior fellow, collaboratively developing the projects Praying@Homeand The World Series of ‘Tubing.
http://www.aaron-meyers.com

WINTER/SPRING 2010 RESIDENTS:

Piotr Adamczyk
Piotr Adamczyk has been exploring the possibilities for exchange between practices in the sciences and evaluation techniques from the arts. With a background in Mathematics and Computer Science, Piotr holds graduate degrees in Human Factors and Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Piotr has authored papers and organized workshops for Association for Computing Machinery conferences centered on human-computer interaction, and served as a Program Committee member for ACM Creativity & Cognition in 2007 and 2009. His recent work is focused on the use of open/linked data in cultural heritage institutions. Based in New York City, Piotr currently holds an analyst position with The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

caraballo-farman
caraballo-farman is a two person team composed of Abou Farman and Leonor Caraballo, working in video, installation and photography since 2001. Working in a wide range of settings, from stadiums to hotel rooms, their work explores the relationship between individuals and groups, unit and structure, and how one enables or dissolves the other.  Their work has been shown around the world, including at The Tate Modern (London), PS1/MoMA, The Project Gallery(NY), The Whitney ISP (NY), Artists Space, The Havana Biennial (Cuba), Cuenca Biennial (Ecuador), and Impakt Festival (Netherlands). They have won several awards and grants including a Canada Council grant in Media Arts and The New York Community Trust.
http://caraballofarman.net

Jace Clayton
Jace Clayton is an interdisciplinary artist living in Brooklyn. Clayton’s interests include music, public space, and digital technologies/networks, with an emphasis on Latin America, Africa, and the Arab world. The New York Times calls Clayton “a thoughtful pipeline for music from countless distant and obscure outposts.” He has lectured at Harvard University and other cultural/educational institutions in Europe and South America. Clayton’s essays have appeared in The Washington Post, Abitare, and n+1, and he contributes regularly to Frieze, The Fader, and The National. As DJ /rupture, Clayton has performed in over 30 countries. His recent album, Uproot, was named one of the 10 Best Albums of 2008 by Pitchfork. He maintains a blog, Mudd Up!, and hosts a weekly radio show on WFMU.
http://www.negrophonic.com

Tahir Hemphill
Born in the Lower East Side, New York, Tahir grew up in a house filled with the artistic influences of his grandmother Clora Tee. Her drawings, which combined bible verses and encyclopedia entries, are spiritually resonant and scientifically verified. From a young age and with this as his backdrop, Tahir was groomed to be an engineer, and with that training he entered the arts. This pull between the profound and profane, between art and science informs his process and life. Tahir holds a Regents Diploma from Brooklyn Technical High School in Electrical Engineering, a B.A. degree in Spanish Language from Morehouse College and a M.S. degree in Communications Design from Pratt Institute where he authored and designed the book Visual Alchemy, a treatise on the work and processes of creatives who use traditional advertising techniques to promote subversive anti-consumerist or pro-social campaigns. Tahir currently operates the Brooklyn based creative enterprise Staple Crops.

Dustyn Roberts
Dustyn Roberts is mechanical engineer, teacher, and author. She started her career at Honeybee Robotics as a design engineer on a project for NASA’s MSL mission, scheduled for launch in 2011. After consulting James Powderly and Michelle Kempner for their Eyebeam residency in 2006, she founded Dustyn Robots and continues to engage in consulting work ranging from gait analysis to designing guided parachute systems.  In 2007 she developed a course for NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) entitled Mechanisms and Things That Move that is currently in its fourth year. This led to a book based on the class, Making Things Move, published by McGraw-Hill for release in Fall 2010. She also participated in the pilot of Battle of the Geeks where her team designed and launched a rocket across a canyon in Africa, and has attracted media attention by Time Out New York and others. Dustyn holds a BS in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University with minors in Robotics and Business, and an MS in Biomechanics & Movement Science from the University of Delaware. She currently lives in Chelsea with her partner, Lorena, and cat, Simba.
http://www.dustynrobots.com

Ted Southern
Ted Southern is a sculptor, costume maker, and inventor from Brooklyn, New York. For the last four years, Ted has been developing a new generation of spacesuit gloves, in coordination with NASA’s Astronaut Glove Competitions. In November 2009, Ted, along with his co-developer Nikolay Moiseev, outperformed NASA’s current Phase VI spacesuit gloves and won second place in this major competition.  While at Eyebeam, Ted will be digitally developing the complicated patterns for these gloves, including pressure restraints and the Thermal Micrometeoroid Garment, in preparation for the 2011 Glove Competition: a head-to-head event with stakes of more than $500,000.
http://web.mac.com/tedtedted2000/iWeb/Site/About%20Ted.htm

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Name: Adam Greenfield
Title/Occupation: Literary Manager, Director
Organization/Company: Playwrights Horizons
URL: www.playwrightshorizons.org

1. Where did you grow up and how did you end up where you are now?

I grew up nestled between two freeways in Orange County, California. I did my best to be one of those kids who skateboards around the mini-malls with blonde hair and a deviant grin, but I was far too Jewish and queer to pull that off. So around age fourteen, I started smoking cigarettes and wearing black, and I joined the drama club. I knew pretty quickly that I was more of a director/dramaturg type than an actor, but I strutted the stage in high school productions of “Pippin” and “Can-Can,” etc., and I ultimately went to the University of Michigan’s actor-training program, wanting to take an active, performative approach to making plays, rather than a critical or academic one. After school, I went to Seattle, where I thought I’d be pulling espresso for a year before moving to New York. But I started up at the famed, now-defunct Empty Space Theatre, first as Literary Manager and then as Associate Artistic Director. We produced new plays exclusively, and it really was there that my literary tastes and approach to producing were shaped. As it turns out, the Pacific Northwest is an easy place to fall in love with, and I stayed there for nine years before finding my way to this cubicle here on W. 42nd Street.

2. Which performance, song, play, movie, painting or other work of art had the biggest influence on you and why?

Without question, it was Len Jenkin’s “Dark Ride.” When I first read it as a freshman in college, this play absolutely blew my mind. It’s a dizzying, labyrinthine, high-speed chase into that nebulous space where fiction and reality blur. It was totally eye-opening to me not only how he subverts the way we experiences time and space onstage, but how he could completely rope us in along the way. How he could transport us not to a place we could imagine, but to a place that our minds had to work hard to make room for — and that, ultimately, that place was the very theater we were sitting in. Before Jenkin, and since Jenkin, a lot of writers changed things for me, but “Dark Ride” and “American Notes” really rocked my world. They were the first plays that helped me understand how a piece of writing, how a live event can bend space and time.

3. What skill or talent or attribute do you most wish you had and why?

I wish I could write a play. I can’t. I’ve tried. It’s not pretty. I read a ton of plays, and, whatever I think of each one, I take my hat off to anyone who can type “End of Play.” Also, I wish I could play the piano.

4. What do you do to make a living? Describe a normal day.

My full-time-plus job is Literary Manager at Playwrights Horizons, and I also try to find as many outside directing projects as I can. As a Literary Manager, I’m constantly reading new plays (we recieve approximately 1,200 submissions each year) and writing my thoughts about what I’ve read. Reading plays is a creative act, but a lot of my day-to-day is administrative. I produce 20-25 play readings and workshops each season, which each involve hundreds of tiny, detail-oriented emails which take up a surprising amount of time. Despite the cloud of administrative tasks, though this is about as much fun as a guy could have sitting in an office. …And yet, it is an office, which means fluorescent lights, staff meetings, memos; when i daydream, it’s about spending more time in a rehearsal room, or about being a park ranger.

5. Have you ever had to make a choice between work and art? What did you choose, why, and what was the outcome?

I think I’m constantly making the choice between work and art, trying to walk that line. The salaried position I currently have is artistic; it is work, and it is art. Is that an oxymoron, or is it a lucky break? Depends on the day I’m answering this question. I feel cheery that my life right now contains a balance, but it’s a tenuous balance, constantly see-sawing.

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MeanRed makes some crazy parties. Here’s one for Saturday night:

Saturday, February 27th 2009
Lose Your Shit loft party
w/ DJ Smallchange, Mike Simonetti, The Twilite Tone, Dirtyfinger

It’s back and we need it — Lose Your Shit — the dance party that mashes up NYC nightlife. The next one is coming up this Saturday with DJ Smallchange, Mike Simonetti, The Twilite Tone, & Dirtyfinger.

Lose Your Shit (the lovechild of DJ Smallchange and MeanRed Productions) is a loft party series for the music-obsessed. Artists as far-reaching as King Britt, Cosmo Baker, Jonathan Toubin, Fort Knox Five, Rub N Tug, House of House, and Michna have all graced the LYS turntables. The party was created to be
1) a showcase of NYC’s finest DJs, featuring a wide range of musical genres in the course of one night
2) a celebration of alt spaces in the city.
3) an excuse to bring different NYC communities together for some hot and heavy dancefloor interactions.

Those who attend never know for sure if they’ll hear Dubstep, Baltimore Club, Glitch-Hop, R&B classics, Funk 45s or Electro-Disco anthems. They never know where we’ll be, or who will be there, but they are always guaranteed to lose their shit.

:: built by MeanRed & Smallchange::

When: Saturday, February 27th
Where: 50. N 3rd St (Williamsburg)
10pm – 6am
Cover: $10 before midnight with RSVP, $15 after

www.loseyourshit.com

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While a long popular class destination for young and international dancers since it’s Dance Space Center days, Dance New Amsterdam has been effectively developing several platforms for bringing various artists together and to their 130-seat theater since moving to Lower Manhattan in the wake of 9/11.  There are various “Raw” and work-in-progress offerings, as well as formal presentations, artist residencies, and two gender related series – the self-explantory In the Company of Men (ICOM) and OBject obJECT, a shared performance program focused on female collaborations in dance, music, theater and new media.  On Sunday, I attended a matinee for the fourth edition of OBject obJECT and have to say I appreciate the Sunday afternoon time slot (as I’d guess the several overbooked AD/curators who I glimpsed in the audience would as well) when more nights seem to be spent out than in.

Marýa Wethers returns to the stage in a solo she commissioned from choreographer Daria Fain. TARGET::furnace (phase one) was conceived by both artists as an investigation based of the female action hero.  I’ve spoken a bit with Marya about our shared love of female martial artists and women who kick ass in the movies in general.  So, I was curious to see what would filter through a collaborative creative process with Fain.  Aside from several striking iconic visual images, the strongest transmission is of the churning and snapping energy of pursuit.  Fain distills the flash of Action into flashes of action in an intriguing way.  Wethers enters the space in a large, thick, white, 7 lb, terry cloth robe, appearing every bit the acolyte readying to leave the temple and as she strides through the space in a circular pathway, one can sense determination and impending peril.  After she slowly disrobes, she moves through the space bringing in swirling cloud hand gestures, snapping snake hands, and various kata inspired kicking sequences.  The movement quality reminded me of watching my own kids imitating the various kung fu videos we watch (I mean, we named our son after Jet Li – so despite our attempts at an Om Namah Shiva ya life style we still let our kids watch people beat each other up when it’s done with art and skill).  There was a busy-ness to this section that kept it from feeling somatically sincere, as if the physical effort was more exercise than an authentic movement expression.

But, then Wethers pulls out a pile of shiny, metallic darts and begins throwing them at the three “target-objects” by Fain’s collaborator Robert Kocik.  Suddenly, Wethers inhabits both the playful reality of pretending to be a super human female combatant and the considered consciousness of investigating movement in her body.  She follows this sequence by moving into another realm, as she crosses the line of side lights and moves into the visible “offstage” area where Katherine Young has been playing her score live on bassoon with Christine Bard on percussion and Erica Dicker on violin.  She removes her skirt, stands pressing herself against a wall of mirrors, removes her top, and leans against the mirrors in a deep knee bend with arms extended outward, as if returning to meditation in a deep cavern following an arduous uphill battle or rite of passage.

Guilia Mureddu, from the Netherlands, performed “Bava,” a duet with a large puppet by Ulrike Quade.  A naked Mureddu began entwined with the puppet and at points throughout the work the two shifted from individual entities to aspects of the same self.  Mureddu attempts to crush the whimpering puppet though it later bursts forth from a tightly held ball at her navel in a representation of some inner psychological struggle.  Movement Research artist, Mariangela Lopez/Accidental Movement brought together a large crowd for “Accidental #5,” an often aimless wander through group dynamics.  As large groups often tend to move, it would seem without direction but eventually get somewhere.  Sometimes the There that they got to was ecstatic and invigorating to watch and sometimes there was no There there for us to watch, but the performers appeared to be having a connected experience with one another and a few people from the audience joined in at one point which poked a little hole into the formality of theatrical-izing the communal.

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IT’S OFFICIAL: SOHO’S BELOVED OHIO THEATRE TO CLOSE AUGUST 31, 2010

(February 23, 2010) New York, NY – The Ohio Theatre, a pillar of New York’s downtown theatre scene for 29 years, will close on August 31, 2010. The new landlord has issued official notice and no further negotiations are scheduled.

Located at 66 Wooster Street, The Ohio Theatre was one of Soho’s pioneering performance spaces and is now one of the last remaining. The not-for-profit theatre company Soho Think Tank runs the space under the direction of Artistic Director Robert Lyons. Lyons says, “It’s where Tony Kushner produced his first play out of college, where Philip Seymour Hoffman made his professional acting debut, where Eve Ensler performed Dicks in the Desert, a decade before writing The Vagina Monologues. The Ohio Theatre has been an incubator and platform for New York’s most exciting and innovative theatre artists for almost 30 years. Its closing emphatically punctuates the end of an era in Soho, and stands as a high profile casualty in the relentless decimation of the lower Manhattan theatre landscape.”

To mark this traumatic event, the Ohio Theatre will be providing a space on their website, http://www.SohoThinkTank.org, where artists and audience members will be able to post their thoughts, memories and experiences at the theatre. Robert Lyons goes on to say, “There will also be a place for artists who have performed at the Ohio Theatre to post production photos. We especially encourage those with pre-digital photos to take the time to scan and post them. Literally thousands of theatrical events have taken place at the Ohio over the last 29 years and we would like to have them ALL represented. We also encourage people to make a donation to help us through what promises to be a difficult transition.”

In the meantime, the current season continues, including preparation for Ice Factory 2010, as well as plans for a MAJOR dance party some time this summer.

Soho Think Tank’s short-term priority is to find a home for their signature programs: STT PRESENTS and the Obie award-winning ICE FACTORY Festival. Toward that end, they are currently in discussion with other downtown venues, including HERE Arts Center, Dixon Place, PS122 and The Public about their next season.

As for long-term goals, Soho Think Tank has begun discussions with some of the core theatre companies of the Ohio Theatre community about forming a coalition to secure a new space.

Robert Lyons explains, “For 29 years, the Ohio Theatre has embodied the living history of the neighborhood of Soho, continuing the spirit of community and cutting-edge artistic practice that once defined the area. It’s been a host to a generation of the finest, most exciting and widely recognized companies working in NYC in the last three decades and has cultivated a diverse and growing community of artists who are collectively changing the cultural landscape of New York and beyond.”

The critically acclaimed work of these artists and companies has garnered innumerable OBIES, Drama Desk nominations, Off-Broadway transfers, national and international tours, including multiple Edinburgh Fringe First Awards. In 2002, the Ohio Theatre received the Ross Wetzsteon OBIE Award, in recognition of its sustained artistic excellence and contributions to the theatre community.

Today, the Ohio Theatre is one of the last non-commercial arts centers remaining in Soho. It continues to foster an environment of generosity, dialogue and inspiration, where artists take risks and try out new ideas, bringing their work to a new level. One of the most beautiful venues in lower Manhattan, it remains a boon to emerging artists and the viability of experimental theatre in New York City. For this, the Ohio Theatre is widely recognized as an indispensable pillar of downtown Manhattan’s cultural life.

“This is a great loss for the city on many levels. It is the loss of a historic institution, the loss of a vibrant ongoing platform for new work. And it is yet another contribution to the loss of Manhattan’s cultural identity,” says Robert Lyons.
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If I could, I would go back to DTW for the next 3 nights with someone new to see Bruno Beltrao/Grupa de Rua’s “H3″ each time.  I want to watch this work work.  And work it does, on so many levels.  It’s a physically brutal investigation of time, space, and energy.  It’s a collapse of discrete systems and a rebirth for hip hop and contemporary dance performance.  It’s compelling, frustrating and rousing.  Beltrao is doing something for hip hop that Forsythe did for ballet.  He’s moving it to new ground and getting it in front of new audiences.  He’s also providing contemporary performance with a fast and furious injection of what is probably the most common global movement practice of our times.  He’s beyond appropriation, fusion, migration or transmission.  He is full-on synthesis and he is banging apart the borders for the rest of us.

Beltrao has received substantial recognition in Brazil and Europe, but this is his first time to the US.  You do not want to miss it, though I’ll admit that I might opt for late seating for my own return visit as the first 20 minutes gets a bit tedious.   It begins compellingly enough but what starts as movement investigation begins to feel like filler (perhaps to achieve evening length status).  I have much more to say, but as I spent at least an hour and half (most of it freezing on a street corner) debating the merits of the work and the merits of contemporary dance with my b-girl/American Studies scholar/Dance and Journalism degreed/recovering former member of the “poverty circuit” (as she tells me the B’way dancers call it) guest, I’m now tired and chilled.

But, I had to first say GO! What else do you have to do on a Sunday night?

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Just got back from the COLLAPSABLE HOLE where I finally got to see Phil Soltanoff’s LA PARTY. I saw a bit of it in PRELUDE but had to keep running back and forth. Then I couldn’t get in to see it at HERE during Under The Radar because it kept selling out. And with good reason. It is a really fantastic, hilarious, entertaining and surreal freakout of a show. The premise is simple. Dave, a hardcore raw food vegan, goes from NYC to Los Angeles to celebrate his friend/cousin John’s 30th birthday. Drug-fueled antics ensue. But the story is channeled through three actors, projections and loopy sound fx creating a real sensory thrill ride through a neurotic’s bacchanalia. The show is short – I think it runs about 40 minutes? – and the storytelling is riveting. Not to mention hilarious. Tickets are cheap and include free budweiser. Its a friggin’ steal! Go see this show!!

LA Party
@ The Collapsable Hole
146 Metropolitan Ave. (Berry St.) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn 11211

Feb 18 – 20 and Feb 25 – 27.
8pm with 10pm shows on the Fridays and Saturdays 19, 20, 26, 27.
ALSO a benefit show for Haiti on Sunday Feb 21 @ 5pm
TIckets are 15.00 cash only
Reservations: LaPartyCo@gmail.com

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Moving Theater in association with
Park Avenue Armory presents

ARMORY SHOW
A new work by Brennan Gerard and Ryan Kelly

Performances by Jonathan Drillet, Davon Rainey, Marlène Saldana, Debra Ann Servider, Jose Tena, Anthony Whitehurst, and ICE | International Contemporary Ensemble

Original music by Nathan Davis, Mario Diaz de León, and Du Yun

Sat, February 20, 8 PM SOLD OUT
Sun, February 21, 5 PM ADDED PERFORMANCE
Sun, February 21, 8 PM TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE

Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Avenue at 67th Street
New York, NY 10065

Tickets: $25
Click here to purchase tickets

A performance designed for Park Avenue Armory’s landmark rooms, ARMORY SHOW is a reflection on questions of history, memory, the epic, and the ephemeral. Combining dance, text, and three musical scores commissioned by Moving Theater, ARMORY SHOW is a reverie and revision at the intersection of public and military space.

ARMORY SHOW is made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional support provided by American Music Center Live Music for Dance Program, Cultural Services of the French Embassy, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Moving Theater gratefully acknowledges Park Avenue Armory for residency in association with the development of this work.

Photo: Magnum Photographer: ROBERT CAPA © 2001 By Cornell Capa

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Caught this last night – Brian Rogers, AD of the Chocolate Factory is sharing his latest work-in-progress this weekend. There’s no 7 train – damn the MTA – but figure out how to get out there and have some free wine. I definitely caught that opening feeling of William Eggleston’s “Stranded in Canton” – the part with his extraordinary daughter simply staring at the camera – throughout the work. I geeked out a bit and sat right behind Brian to watch his process – he’s digging into MAX/MSP for real-time video processing and is playing with moving cameras and multiple projectors.  Having seen a very early version of this at the Prelude Festival, it was great to get the next look at a developing work.  Madeline Best maintains incredible focus as the solitary live body and subject.  When a ghostly projected Madeline appears on the cloth behind her, the doubling and tonal shifts imply nostalgic imagery.  As viewers, we are watching both the projected image and the projected image as backdrop for the live feed of Madeline as it is projected onto a head high screen.  The textural contrasts provide emotional and temporal variations in a single image. It’s kind of magical and meditative.

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