Portraits in Dramatic Time
July 12, 2011
Brooklyn-based performance group Radiohole in "Portraits in Dramatic Time"
On Sunday evening I made my way to Lincoln Center to see photographer David Michalek’s newest project, Portraits in Dramatic Time. For Portraits, which is projected onto a massive screen on the façade of the David H. Koch Theater, Michalek photographed actors at 3,000 frames per second, in ultra high definition. Five to twelve seconds of movement have been slowed down to last about eight minutes.
Qian Yi in "Portraits in Dramatic Time"
Just like in Slow Dancing, Michalek’s 2007 exhibit at Lincoln Center that featured projections of dancers from around the world, the beauty of Portraits is that it allows viewers to observe – or rather, scrutinize – every subtlety in the actors’ performances. The furrowing of a brow, or dropping a tea bag into a cup, is mesmerizing when seen at a glacial pace. Many of the actors used props, as well, such as a book, a pizza box, or photographs. The billowing of fabric or turning of a page is strikingly beautiful and intriguing at such slow speeds. Yet, without any context for the brief scenes projected on the screen, watching Portraits leaves viewers wondering why the characters are behaving as they are. You wonder, what is going on? Why was one woman about to punch another? And in another scene, is that man about to strangle an anxious-looking woman or pull her towards him in order to protect her? We never find out.
Alan Rickman was one of the actors featured in the project, and he happened to stroll up to Lincoln Center shortly before he appeared on the projector. I can only imagine how strange it must be to watch yourself on a screen at such a slow speed, but his range and power were fantastic. Concern, pensiveness, anger, and rage all came through in his performance, which included picking up a tea cup, throwing it, and then overturning a large table. It’s wonderful to witness nuance in a skilled actor’s performance, but Michalek’s project takes nuance to another level.
Portraits in Dramatic Time is certainly an exercise in patience, and to see all of the actors, it most likely requires multiple viewings. The project is on display at Lincoln Center every night from 8:45 to 11:45 PM through July 31st.
Alan Rickman in "Portraits in Dramatic Time"
Alan Rickman
STREB Performs ASCENSION
July 11, 2011
STREB Extreme Action Company in "ASCENSION"
On Saturday afternoon, a few hundred people gathered at Gansevoort Plaza just south of the High Line to see STREB Extreme Action Company in ASCENSION. The site-specific work was created by choreographer Elizabeth Streb as part of the series Whitney on Site: New Commissions Downtown. In over 90-degree heat, the audience squinted as nine dancers threw themselves onto a twenty-one foot rotating ladder. Working together and often shouting or cheering each other on to the dramatic thumping of a score by David Van Tieghem, the dancers fearlessly climbed the ladder, hung upside down as it rapidly rotated, or lay parallel to the floor as it came within inches of hitting them. Under the glare of the sun, it was wonderful to see their concentration and collaboration throughout this brief, daring piece.
ASCENSION is part of KISS THE AIR!, a new body of equipment-based Essential Acts by Streb, which will be premiered at Park Avenue Armory in December 2011.
the transfinite at Park Avenue Armory
May 26, 2011
"the transfinite", photo by Melanie Einzig
Last Saturday I visited the Park Avenue Armory to see the transfinite, a large-scale digital installation and sonic landscape designed by Japanese artist and electronic composer Ryoji Ikeda. the transfinite is stunning in size, mind boggling in its attempt to reveal the purity of a subject that fascinates some and is endlessly frustrating for others: mathematics.
In a statement by Ikeda, he said, “To me, the purest beauty is the world of mathematics. Its perfect assemblage of numbers, magnitudes and forms persist, independent of us…This project explores the transfinite (the infinite that is quantitative and ordered) intersection that lies between polarizations – the beautiful and the sublime; music and mathematics; performance and installation; composer and visual artist; black and white; Os and Is.”
Using data as the subject of his composition, Ikeda’s three-part installation creates an immersive experience – both visually and aurally. One side, called “test pattern” looks like a giant opened laptop with a stream of seemingly chaotic black and white material running across the screen, accompanied by the sound of blips. Viewers take off their shoes and can walk, sit, or stand anywhere on the floor. “test pattern” is both dynamic and dizzying, but what at first feels random is clearly much more. The patterns we see and sounds we hear are making sense of Ikeda’s data. There’s a rhythmic feeling to the sound, while the screen movement feels choreographed in spite of initially looking disorderly.
The back side of "the transfinite", photo by James Ewing
Walking around to the back of the installation, viewers are faced with a column of small, high-definition screens (called “data.scan”) that show streams of data, also visible on the larger screen (called “data.tron”). This back side reveals the mathematical order that feeds the front side. Only after seeing all the three parts did the installation start to cohere for me, and the orchestration start to make sense. the transfinite challenges viewers to understand data as an abstract experience – one that can be both seen and heard. It’s a struggle, and often beyond comprehension. But the beauty of the installation is its ability to reflect and explore the polarizations that Ikeda mentioned in his statement. the transfinite is both art and math, exhibit and live performance, planned orchestration but also interactive and highly personal. Data can be pretty black and white, but no two viewers will interpret the transfinite in quite the same way.
the transfinite continues at the Park Avenue Amory through June 11th.
Park Avenue Armory Unveils Ryoji Ikeda’s “the transfinite”
April 22, 2011
Park Avenue Armory’s latest installation, by Japanese artist Ryoji Ikeda, is set to open on May 20th. It sounds and looks like a gorgeously graphical, not-to-be-missed event. Excerpts from the press release are below, and check out the video.
Japan’s leading electronic composer and visual artist Ryoji Ikeda will soon unveil the transfinite – an immersive sonic and visual environment that subsumes visitors within abstract expressions of digital information and binary code. Breathtakingly provocative black and white projections keyed to a tightly synchronized musical composition explore how data defines the world we live in. Known for large-scale installations and public artworks around the world that push the limits of digital technology, Ikeda creates his most ambitious installation to date with the transfinite.
Following critically acclaimed installations by Ernesto Neto and Christian Boltanski, Ryoji Ikeda has been selected by the Armory for its third annual visual art commission in the Wade Thompson Drill Hall. Ikeda creates a visual and sonic environment where visitors are submerged in an extreme illustration of projected and synchronized data. His work uses scale, light, shade, volume, shadow, electronic sounds, and rhythm to flood the senses. In choreographing vast amounts of digital information, Ikeda conjures up a transformative environment in which visitors confront data on a scale that defies comprehension, experiencing the infinite.
This installation includes strobe effects and high volume. the transfinite is on view from May 20th through June 11th at the Park Avenue Armory – 643 Park Avenue at 67th Street. Tickets are on sale online.
Works and Process at the Guggenheim is continuing its successful live-streaming of sold out events this Sunday and Monday, March 6th and 7th at 7:30 PM EST. The evening is called “How Judges Judge – Youth America Grand Prix”, an inside look (and interactive experience!) at what judges look for in a ballet competition. Tune in live by clicking here on the 6th or 7th at 7:30 PM, and read more about the event below.
Youth America Grand Prix is America’s first and the world’s largest student ballet scholarship competition. Join YAGP jury members Gailene Stock, Director of the Royal Ballet School; Franco de Vita, Director of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre; and Adam Sklute, Artistic Director of Ballet West, to gain an insight into the selection process and watch as they critique dancers’ performances during an impromptu ballet competition, on stage, simulating a ballet scholarship competition and what happens in casting and dance auditions at dance companies and schools around the world. Each panelist will comment on each student’s performance and will give the audience a rare insight into their evaluation process. The panelists will also share the criteria which they use to select dancers to join their schools on scholarship. Audience members will be able to follow along with their own scoring sheet.
The program will be presented in anticipation of YAGP’s annual Gala, “Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow” at NY City Center on March 22nd, 2011, featuring YAGP winners and invited guest stars from around the world.
Students will dance classical and modern pieces along with solos and pas de deux, which will be interspersed with judge’s commentary.
