Experiential | Performance Space New York

Camp Summer Camp

It’s summer time, and that means another year at Camp Summer Camp. Come for the spiked punch, stay for the go-go fitness, arts & leathercrafts, and so much more. Just be careful not to wander off alone- there’s a killer on the loose!

Featuring the 2008 Camp Summer Camp Faculty:

Amy Overman
King Aswad
Ojay Morgan
Lauren Cavanaugh
Tim Bungeroth
TV
Annabelle Meunier
Caitlin Mehner
and
Jessica Delfino

With Special Guests: World Famous BOB, DJ’s Neal Medlyn, Joro Boro, Yehuda Duenyas and more!

Conceived and Produced by:
Eileen Goddard, Nick Bixby, Alex Reeves

Aug 21-30, 2008

Waves of Mu

waves
waves
“Just when you thought science geeks and art snobs had nothing in common, along comes Waves of Mu.”
– Sarah Henning, Anchorage Daily News.

“You don’t know what you’re in for. It’s a surprise that tells you something about yourself that you already know, but are not aware of. You experience what being human is all about.”

-Neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran

“Kick off your shoes (literally) and step into a universe like none other. Informed by the monumental discovery of mirror neurons and created alongside world-renowned neuroscientists, (according to neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran, “The discovery of mirror neurons is the most important unpublicized story of the decade,” doing for psychology what DNA has done for biology), Amy Caron’s beautifully complex two-room installation-performance drives multidisciplinary art headlong into new territory. Her warped lab/lecture/experiment gives a nod and a wink to hard science while cleverly activating her “test subjects” to cheer, cringe, and discover through experience, a new awareness of the profundity of our interpersonal world.

The Waves of Mu experience will offer a unique multidimensional education, demonstrating the scientific and empirical integrity of mirror neurons. It will also present thought-provoking connections between mirror neuron deficiencies and autism spectrum disorders, thereby challenging our cultural concept of normality and its effect on human evolution.

Photo courtesy of Trish Empey

Waves of Mu is co-presented with the PS122 Gallery as part of Room, a commissioning program created by Performance Space 122 to encourage artists to collaborate with experts outside the traditional performing disciplines. The exhibition has been made possible through the generous support of the New York State Council of the Arts, Painting Space 122, Inc. and the Friends of PS122 Gallery.

Fri, Oct 10 – Sun, Oct 19, 2008
Tue – Sat at 7:30,
Sun at 5:30

Special Events:
Thursday, Oct 9 6PM – 10PM: Free Opening Reception for the Installation, 6pm – 10pm*

Sunday, Oct 12:
Post-performance panel discussion featuring three prominent individuals in the field of neuroscience:
Lindsay Oberman PhD (Harvard): Mirror neuron researcher, co-author on many papers with V.S. Ramachandran;
Massimo Pigliucci PhD (SUNY Stoney Brook), Philosophy of Science, evolution, biology and representative for the Center for Inquiry;
Valentina Dilda PhD (Mount Sinai), cognitive psychology and motor systems specialist who was part of the Gallese/Rizolatti lab, where mirror neurons were discovered.

*The Installation is open to the public and free of charge at The PS122 Gallery (entrance on East 9th Street) Thurs – Sun, 12pm to curtain for the duration of the run. More about PS122 Gallery: https://ps122gallery.org

Democracy in America

Annie Dorsen, critically acclaimed co-creator and director of the hit rock musical on Broadway, Passing Strange, continues to break molds with her new performance event Democracy in America.

An episodic and juicy collage made from the cacophonous jumble of ideas, opinions and attitudes floating in the American ether, Democracy in America is a continually shifting 4-dimensional billboard advertising and animating the desires and dreams of the multitude. As a dynamic, interactive experiment in political performance, Democracy in America is not art about politics or ideology – instead, it is art made in a political way.

As a performance experiment, Democracy in America is continually evolving. During phase 1, the consumers were the creators. Through an online store that was open from November 26 through February 29, the public was invited to imagine and purchase the entire show – part and parcel – including the content. Any and all elements of what would be seen and experienced on stage were for sale. Shoppers submitted text, personal anecdotes, stories and jokes, physical or non-verbal actions, themes and concepts, and all elements of the design. One might’ve chosen to see a particular image or gesture, or performed a kiss, a dance, a cartwheel. Another may have chosen to buy a costume, a sound cue or a prop.

Now the shopping is over and Ms. Dorsen, together with her creative team, is tying it all together into a live art event that is sure to surprise.

Democracy in America will be performed by three of NYC’s most celebrated downtown artists, Okwui Okpokwasili, Philippa Kaye and Anthony Torn. The creative team includes video artist Kate Howard, lighting designer Sarah Sidmon, sound designer Bart Fasbender, and dramaturg Katherine Profeta.

Do you get what you paid for? Yes, you do. This wild ride will indeed include ancient Roman texts, a fan dance to Ride of the Valkyries, a tapioca explosion, and – O.K. people, who ordered the rim job?

Check out Behind the scenes at Democracy in America
Democracy in America is a co-presentation of Performance Space 122 and The Foundry Theatre

More about Annie Dorsen
Annie Dorsen is a director, writer and dramaturg. Dorsen is director and co-creator of the Broadway hit Passing Strange; a piece she developed with musicians Stew and Heidi Rodewald, which opened at the Belasco Theater in February 2008 to rave reviews. Passing Strange has previously been seen at The Public Theater and Berkeley Repertory Theater. She is currently developing Truckstop with string quartet Ethel for BAM’s Next Wave Festival in Fall 08.

Dorsen is the recipient of several awards and fellowships, notably the Audelco Award for her direction of Passing Strange, the Sir John Gielgud Fellowship for Classical Directors from SSDC, and both the Boris Sagal and Bill Foeller Fellowships from the Williamstown Theater Festival. She is a founding member of PAF (PerformingArtsForum), an artist-run research and residency space in St. Erme, France.

Photos by Yi Zhao

Sunday, March 30 – Sunday, April 20, 2008
Tickets from $20

Five in the Morning and Doublethink

5 in the Morning and Doublethink

DOUBLETHINK

★★★★&#9733 “A fascinating exercise in psychological puppetry… a supurb deconstruction of notions of relationship… a triumph of technological and conceptual prowess, in the guise of bare-bones avant-gardism.”
– Irish Times

Two completely unrehearsed guest performers – different every night – follow instructions from a recorded voice, with a divider between them. They can’t see each other; the audience sees both sides, and their differences. Twisted and mischievous, Doublethink is an epic story-experiment about freedom, the farce of self-knowledge and the times we prefer being told what to do.

FIVE IN THE MORNING

In Five in the Morning, three willing guests take instructions from the loudspeakers of Aquaworld, an enormous swimming pool complex. Clothed in swim suits, clutching towels, they do what they’re told. At first hilarious and fun, their predicament transforms slowly into a strange and powerful reality. Teeth-grinding, disturbing, hilarious and addictive, Rotozaza’s ‘minimal masterpiece’ explores the thin line between theatrical illusion and deceit.

DOUBLETHINK
March 29 – April 1, 2007
Thursday – Saturday 8pm
Saturday and Sunday 5pm
$20($10 Members)

FIVE IN THE MORNING
April 5 – 8, 2007
Thursday – Saturday 8pm
Saturday and Sunday 5pm
$20, $15 Student/Senior
($10 Members)

Tower of Babel

TOWER OF BABEL

“And while the stranger’s eyes and lips pour out a stream of incomprehensible words, you start feeling like a beloved child. Not a child of one mother or father, but of all these storytellers. A human child in a global bed.” – Marijn van der Jagt, Vrij Nederland

“Tower of Babel realizes a paradox: people who speak different languages at the same time do not produce a cacophony, but create a harmonious symphony… The Tower of Babel becomes no longer a symbol of opposites, but a foundation for solidarity. This is a unique experience in a time when our differences are increasingly being misused as political weapons.” – Nan van Houte, Artistic Director, The Nes Theatres, Amsterdam.

This one-of-a kind, interactive, full immersion, theatre experience transcends the boundaries of language. Dutch artists Lidy Six and Robert Steijn bypass distinctions of “us and them” and create a truly living and intimate performance ritual. Each audience member is individually greeted, embraced by an atmosphere delicately poised between dreaming and waking. Storytellers from around the world share secrets and tales as different languages converge and invent a new vocabulary for understanding. This exquisitely personal experience metamorphoses into a party for everyone’s ears. Featuring live DJ Cassie 6, live VJ Roberta Marques – and lots of tea.

Running time: Approximately 50 minutes; space is limited to 25 audience members per performance – advance reservations strongly recommended.

Tower of Babel show is a featured presentation in both the European Dream Festival and the Impact Festival.

Made possible in part by the Consulate General of The Netherlands in New York.

U.S. Premiere
September 20 – 23, 2006