Espacios Latentes/Latent Spaces is an installation of site-specific screendance works by Ana Baer at the TXST Galleries, curated by Margo Handwerker. The Exhibit will be up from October 24, to November 16, 2018, SMTX.
The team:Cheri Prough DeVol (sceninc/video designer); Richard Hall (composer); Robert Burton (fashion designer); Heike Salzer (choreographer/videographer); Michelle Nance (live performance coordinator); Brandon Gonzalez, Rocio Luna, Pat Stone, Michelle Nance and Heike Salzer (choreographers and dancers during live performance).
The space will be activated by a live dance and music pilgrimage performance from 6:30-7:00. The video installation will open at 7:00.
Site-specific screendance couples two contemporary dance forms: site-specific dance, and screendance, a hybridization of cinematography and choreography. Only in tandem, do the site specific and screendance forms convey the collaborative performative experience that occurs in the absence of a traditional audience on site. Espacios Latentes/Latent Spaces is a deliberative attempt to explore this medium further, to account for a singular project’s relationship to its multiple sites of representation: What is the relationship between the project’s site of origin and its range of presentations, whether a screen, a stage, an art gallery, or on-line? Espacios Latentes/Latent Spaces explores the role of the white cube in site-responsive arts discourse.
The project explores two broad themes within Baer’s site-specific screendance work: themes loosely categorizes as “extreme environments” and “identity, roots, and home.” The first grouping includes footage from The North York Moors, Iceland, and The Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary in Michoacan, Mexico. Gallery I will showcase Wild-er-ness, WECreate Ice and PARAKATA.
The second body of works, transpose the female dancer from these so-called “natural” environments to constructed ones. Gallery II will screen Homemaker and shift.
Most of my work has been created with the proscenium stage or a single screen in mind. The opportunity to show my work in a different context changed some of the fundamental modes of production. I am re-thinking, re-creating and re-editing my work, as well as creating new pieces inspired by the possibilities that a new venue offers. My network of collaborators has widened since the work demands new ways to relate to space, to each other and to the audience. This opportunity expands my reach, bringing me closer to the non-dance audience, and propelling my artistic career. Cheri Prough DeVol and Richard Hall will be collaborating with the design installation of the project.
By colliding screendances with self-referential installation art, I am layering and complexifying the audience’s experience. The content of the videos includes dancers exploring the connection between their bodies and different environments. Each screendance will be projected into a unique surface, and will be supported by scenic, lighting and sound design. Additionally, the exhibit will be activated by a live performance showcasing the same dancers that were filmed on location.
Live Performance (dress rehearsal 10/24/18):
anabaer 