Tiffany Trenda
(Los Angeles, CA, USA)
Ubiquitous States
(duration 5 min)
Watch on 20th October at 00:00 am UTC
DESCRIPTION: Ubiquitous States is an interactive performance that combines live heartbeats into a data visualization by new media performance artist Tiffany Trenda, 3D Systems (the largest specialized 3D printing company) and designer Janne Kyttanen. Trenda dons a 3D printed dress that has an embedded computer screen. The image on the screen shows a data visualization of both the participant’s and Trenda’s heartbeat. In Ubiquitous States, the performance questions, if we can have authentic human connections using today’s vernacular technology? During the performance, the artist will approach a spectator and place a heart monitor (located at Trenda’s fingertip inside the glove) on the viewer’s wrist or neck. Once the sensor reads the pulse of the user, the imagery on the screen will change and show both pulses simultaneously. Trenda and the viewer will try and match their rhythms’ to create another change in the animation, making the performance interactive.
BIO: Tiffany Trenda received her BFA from Art Center College of Design and her MFA from UCLA Design and Media Arts. Trenda won Artist of the Year at the London International Creative Competition. She has performed at: the 2010 World’s Expo, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Boulder Contemporary Art Museum, and Art Miami Context, where she graced the cover of the Miami Herald for Art Basel 2012. Trenda was included in the performance program at the Metamorphoses of the Virtual – 100 Years of Art and Freedom during the 55th annual Venice Biennale. More recently, Trenda performed at The Broad Art Museum in Los Angeles and exhibited at the Faena Art Center in Buenos Aires for the highly publicized show, “Auto Body”. artist website
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DNA DANCE COMPANY
(Bologna, Italy)
Love in the time of Playmobil
(duration 50 min)
Watch on 20th October at 12:00 pm UTC
DESCRIPTION: DNA wants to embrace the theme of preservation and affirmation of the own uniqueness in a more intimate space, which is potentially more invasive; this is the one of the relationship with the own self. The choreographic research starts with the construction of two duets, two couples: two men and two women. The choreographic movement finds its roots from a conversation in which the dancers are blended in order to research the condition of disintegration of the multiples identities, to reset, in the physicality of the gesture, the differences and to accept the vulnerability. In order to find a new relation between audience and artist, DNA wants to bring on the scene other body in addition to the four professional dancers that are dancing in this project. The people that will be part of the choreographic composition will be amateurs that will construct the scenography through the honesty and the truth of their gestures.
BIO: Elisa Pagani has founded DNA Dance Company in 2009. Alongside the work as choreographer Elisa Pagani together with other members of the Company regularly teach workshops and classes at organisations, professional studios and dance schools. In 2015 the piece FRANCA MENTE (Franco Lies) has been invited to open Naples E45 Fringe Festival and it was awarded with a residency in Catania, at Scenario Pubblico by Roberto Zappalà. The residency also received the financial support of Emilia Romagna Region. The Company is represented by a unique style which is able to combine strong physicality, emotion and instinct. The choreographical research targets the displaying of the complicated interconnections in human relations through performing act, exploring the body consistency in a perceptive space forgetful for knowledge. artist website
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Katherine Leung
(Berlin, Germany)
White Lilies
(duration 6 min)
Watch on 20th October at 2:00 pm UTC
DESCRIPTION: \’White Lilies\’ choreographed by Katherine and filmed at a site specific location in Hong Kong. Our power of endurance, within harsh circumstances – leaves us with some tough and complicated emotions which are often left unexpressed. Drawn upon her own experience of grief when losing someone close to her, \’White Lilies\’ is an exploration of how to transfer unexpressed emotions into the body. Striving to describe the state of conflict within oneself from feeling something which you cannot escape from. Believing that our bodies are ever present in all that we experience in our lives. She chose to perform this piece herself, remaining true to her own emotions to retain a certain authenticity to the piece.
BIO: Katherine Leung is a choreographer, designer and performance maker. Originally trained as a dancer in both classical ballet and contemporary dance. She went on to pursue her passion for creating performance, through a masters in Performance Design and Practice in Central Saint Martins, London. Katherine is primarily focused on dance and stage design as her two chosen mediums for performance making, drawing from her past training in dance and influences from her previous collaborations. Her work utilises the two mediums to investigate and challenge the reception of themes and concepts both current and personal, from mixed media experimentation as well as collaborating with artists across various disciplines within her work. She is currently based in Berlin, and has worked in different venues across the UK including: Birmingham Hippodrome, Middle Temple Hall, London Coliseum, Wales millennium Centre amongst many others. Taking on various roles backstage, familiarising herself with the process of production from start to finish. Also devising original works overseas in collaboration with over 14 artists in Greece (Athens) and Italy (Ancona/Polverigi). She is currently a member of Mapped Productions and 9 Grams of Moon as a collaborating artist. http://www.katleung.co.uk
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Sylviatoyindustries/aka Sylvia Toy St. Louis
(San Francisco, CA, United States)
The Harpy Tribunal
(duration 7 min)
Watch on 20th October at 4:00 pm UTC
DESCRIPTION: The multi-media performance is approximately 7 minutes long from entrance to exit. There are three distinct parts. The performance (a) begins with the accused Harpy angrily intoning her distress and finally collapsing in tears; (b) continues she silently waits for her sisters; and (c) ends as she silently, respectfully listens to her sisters sing their accusation. Actions in the video and live performance are ritualistic, choreographed – i.e., very formal due to the solemn theme: a trial of a goddess by her sisters for the treason of disagreeing with them and saying they were wrong to create humans. The live performer will portray the accused Harpy. The effect should be theatrical; the live performer will not break the Fourth Wall – i.e., interact with the audience any more than a real-life accused would interact with spectators or the jury in a courtroom. The ongoing story of The Harpy is, ultimately, an exploration of what “peer” status is in society and how that status is affected when a member of society rejects decisions or standards that have been agreed upon or accepted by their peers as a group. In the Harpies’ world, law and punishment are relentless – in the end, the offending sister is condemned to a 10,000 year coma; when she awakens, her entire species including her sisters have become extinct. The story is also an exploration of whether in the big picture society allows itself to be affected by dissension/protest, and if so, whether the result is a positive or negative impact. I suspect the impact will be reflected in the responses and reactions of each audience member and his/her judgment not only of the Harpy, but also of the judges.
BIO: I am an actor and performance artist, and an award-winning filmmaker (2016 L.A. Neo Noir Novel, Film & Script Festival Grand Jury Award Winner). I have a B.A. in Art & English. I studied videography & editing under professionals via tutoring & on-the-job commercial experience. I have been internationally exhibiting video art since 2008. Most of my approximately 500 movies can be viewed for free somewhere online. My background includes: Professional theatre artist 1990-2010; Professionally represented sculptor & painter 1985-2010. I sell performance art movies on Etsy and Amazon. I am a bipolar peer blogger. I also write about artist self-promotion. artist website
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ARCOS
(Austin, USA)
(twelve-twelve-thirty)
(duration 30 min)
Watch on 20th October at 5:00 pm UTC
DESCRIPTION: (twelve-twelve-thirty) is a site-specific, 360-degree live performance by ARCOS. Online viewers are transported into a dimly lit warehouse. They can choose to look around in any direction from their vantage point atop the head of a dancer as she explores her surroundings, encounters others, and begins to look for a way out. Exploring the radical potential for the emerging medium of 360-degree video to function as an “empathy machine,” the piece immerses viewers in the subjectivity of a dancer, giving them a kind of access to the experience of being surrounded by and interacting with fellow performers as they activate the space through movement.
BIO: ARCOS experiments rigorously to discover adventurous new forms of contemporary performance inspired by questioning dominant understandings of the world, turbulent processes of traditions in flux, and the complexity of being human today. ARCOS has presented work at MacCallum Choreography Festival, SITE Santa Fe, Currents International New Media Festival, {254} Dance-fest, Barnstorm, Kansas City International Theatre Festival, and Edinburgh Fringe. ARCOS has participated in artistic residencies at Colorado College, Texas State University, University of Colorado Boulder, Connecticut College’s Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology, Playa Summerlake, Ucross Foundation, and KHN Center for the Arts. artist website
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Iskandar Dance Company
(Florence, Italy / London, UK)
“Beyond the Mirror”
(duration: 4:11 min)
Watch on 20th October at 6:00 pm UTC
DESCRIPTION: “Beyond the Mirror” The dancers play on subtle lines of contact and transition between theatre and movement accessing the inner space that touches the psyche and the body, the seat of all experience, memory, emotions and wounds. In the dialogue, the two characters mirror each other in a drama that unfolds into light and shadow, complexities and contradictions. Each person reciprocating, with openness and trust, begins to cross the threshold of boundaries. This powerful process of reciprocal mirroring initiates the true recognition and acceptance of each others authentic self. Music: Ludovico Einaudi
BIO: Iskandar Dance Company is distinguished for its strong and singular aesthetic line and purity of movement drawn from a musical, emotional and human expression. The choreographies delve into the different stages of consciousness expressing points of transition between theatre and movement. The Company works with music and rhythm that are intrinsically connected to the musicality of the body portraying the dance at its core; a cultural tradition reinterpreted as an integrated contemporary expression. Iskandar Dance Company formed in 2005, is a vibrant company that promotes excellent high quality dance that moves and inspires. The company, led by Artistic Director Alessandro Bascioni, makes exceptional critically acclaimed productions that tour internationally. Iskandar Dance Company believes dance has the power to transform and to bring people to a new awareness of themselves and the world; dissolving cultural and generational boundaries. This is achieved through their performances in theatres and unusual spaces. artist website
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The Best
(Zagreb, Croatia)
The Best – Online
(duration 30 min)
Watch on 20th October at 7:00 pm UTC
DESCRIPTION: The Best is an artistic entity which emerged out of the best intention to redistribute relations in the immediate surrounding, mainly addressing the steam of cultural production. The Best trough her associates, reexamines the forms and the performativity of her appearance and self-representation The Best using re-appropriation cheerfully negotiates the values by which we talk of something or of someone as of the best, continuously observing herself in her own act.
BIO: Born in 1982, 1990 and then again in 1992. In 2009 she graduates at the department of psychology at the Croatian Studies. In 2010 she acquires a BA degree at the University for Art in Berlin, at the Hochschuelubergreifendes Tanz Zentrum for “Contemporary dance, choreography and context”. In 2011. she begins promoting and advocates copyleft agenda trough the QuestionCopyright.org platform. From the same year she works as a pedagogue in the field of performing arts. In 2012 she enrolls in the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, at the department of animated film and new media. In 2013 she is a part of the organizational board (OOPP) of the Zagreb Pride (LGBT Pride Parade) and becomes a member of the coordination team of ekscena (Experimental Independent Scene/Eksperimentalna Slobodna Scena) association for development and affirmation of performing arts in Zagreb. From 2014 she is no longer associated with both of the above mentioned NGOs As a psychologist she partakes in ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), and from the 2014. she is an external associate of an association for prevention and treatment of addiction. In 2014. she partakes in the ERASMUS student exchange program, two times, at the Facultad de bellas Artes Complutense in Madrid. She is interested in the field of performing arts, film and its derivatives, contemporary artistic practices, comic-books and activism, storytelling, automatic writing etc. She is also focused on implementation of meditation practices in the process and the development of performative practices. She is currently practicing her knowledge at the department for human resources in one Croatian company, as well as completing her studies of animated film and new media at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. Artistically she cooperates with many local and foreign artists and artist groups. The Best is a precarious worker. artist website
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Xfinity Theater
(Northampton, USA)
My Cinemark
(duration 15 min)
Watch on 20th October at 10:00 pm UTC
DESCRIPTION: Through my arrangement of verbatim texts in performance, poems, & essays, I aim to humanize, to close the distance between fans of TODAY & their beloved anchors, between contemporary patriots & their founding fathers, by peeling back the skin on ingrained relationships to Entertainment. Whatever your aesthetic affinities, it’s my job to expose the horror in the familiar. In 2015, I founded Xfinity Theater, a fictional theatre company, as an affront to Comcast’s ubiquity, an appeal to social classes unaware of performance art, & as a comment on the institutionalized branding of avant-garde art. My work drags the dream, the ‘xfinity,’ off the screen and into the room, implicating myself & audiences as coconspirators in the entertainment industrial complex. Artist Mike Kelley says art must “flay the culture,” & while I believe that, I also defend fans of mainstream products, & fight the morally superior judgement of affluent audiences. After performances, audience members have said, “I can’t believe people were laughing at that.” I try to use laughter, the ultimate defense mechanism, as a tool to pry audiences open & attack their vulnerable preconceptions. This work, The Wedding, re-frames utopian visions of marriage & culminates with me marrying the audience. I recently debuted the piece in Florence, Massachusetts at Brushworks Gallery.
BIO: Patrick Gaughan is the director of Xfinity Theater & the writer of three full-length performances, Fast Five (2014), TODAY (2016), & #TheFlagWeLove (2016). He has performed work at Dixon Place, APE Gallery, Wendy\’s Subway, AS220, Flying Object, Colonial Theatre, & other venues. His poetry and criticism have appeared in BOMB, The Believer, Boston Review, & Prelude. He teaches at Smith College & Western New England University. In Northampton, Massachusetts, he curates the P L A T F O R M talk series with Jon Ruseski, artist website
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