Monthly Archives: December 2012

PAI cordially invites you to “The Body as the Design”, a talk by Scott Summit inventor, designer and participating artist of “The Future Imagined: What’s next? The talk will be followed by “The Future is Design” a short presentation by Tim McNeil, professor of design and director of the Design Museum at the University of California, Davis, and a moderated discussion led by Jonathon Keats, experimental philosopher, journalist, art critic, and artist.

When we think of a prosthetic limb, the image that typically comes to mind involves titanium pipes, bolts, mechanical flanges, and a rubber, lifelike foot. The product, though a vital and intimate part of the wearer’s life, appears mechanical and utilitarian, devoid of individuality or personality. The forms appear disjointed and brutal in the context of the fluid forms of the human body. Why do we assume that this must be the definition for something intended to return normalcy to an individual’s life? 

This project set out to explore how design, technology, and a fundamentally new outlook may rethink the prosthetic limb. A combination of 3D scanning, parametric computer modeling, and 3D printing allows design and individuality to be infused into the product on a per-person basis. It invites design and style into an area previously defined only by mechanical necessity. It invites attention and engagement, attempting to celebrate the human it complements.

This panel discussion event is part of a series 2012 ZERO1 Biennial and “The Future Imagined” series of conversations that delve into an in-depth discussion about the intersection of art and technology, and the future of design.

This event is being promoted in collaboration with Codame (www.codame.com)

“Tfisa, Or—-?”, a contemporary dance performance.
January 11th, 8pm
tickets $10 in advance, $15 at the door.
To purchase tickets, click here.

“Tfisa, or—-?”, a contemporary dance performance, was developed at The Performance Art Institute and is directed, choreographed and performed by Yuriy Pestov, the artistic director of Cloud Dancing Enterprise.

It is based on cantorial and other Jewish music. Beautiful cantorial singing with raspy, ululating, sad and smiling voice creates high drama of existentiality with laughter through tears amid it.

A peculiar guttural, visceral and bodily quality reminds one of the humble position we humans occupy in our daily earthly life as the poor replicas of the Almighty. You can hear crying, laughing, and rasping of metal in this beautiful singing. Having in it this great drama and texture both lures a choreographer and suggests an abundance of movement material. In addition this material together with the addition of Jewish klezmer and other melodies, like nigguns, has a rich possibility for ornate and playful dancing. The merry klezmer dancing inserts roaring laughter into the high drama of the majority of the performance. Laughter through tears..

Says Pestov, “I was attracted to these pieces of cantorial music- mostly sung by Zawel Kwartin- by their performance quality, which is on par with the opera. Yet here the most important universal and existential values I have always been fascinated by come straight at you. These are basically prayers or conversing with God set on sublime melodies. A peculiar guttural, visceral and bodily quality reminds one of the humble position we humans occupy in our daily earthly life as the poor replicas of the Almighty. You can hear crying, laughing, and rasping of metal in this beautiful singing. Having in it this great drama and texture both lures a choreographer and suggests an abundance of movement material. In addition this material together with the addition of Jewish klezmer and other melodies, like nigguns, has a rich possibility for ornate and playful dancing. The merry klezmer dancing inserts roaring laughter into the high drama of the majority of the performance. Laughter through tears…”

Yuriy Pestov performed at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, ODC Theater, CounterPulse, The Garage, Shotwell Studios, Union Square, UN Plaza in San Francisco, Julia Morgan Theater in Berkeley, Mountain View Dance Festival, Mountain View, California, sjDANCEco 4th Annual Dancin’ Downtown Festival, San Jose, California and other venues. He presented his own choreography and structured improvisation at the Garage, Project Artaud, UN Plaza, and other venues including Russia and Finland. His work was commissioned by Independent Arts and Media.

pestov.wix.com/clouddancing

Shows run Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from January 24th through February 9th
all shows begin at 8:00pm
Tickets: $30 ($20 student rate)
For tickets email: boxoffice@thecollectedworks.org

The Collected Works (www.thecollectedworks.org), together with the Performance Art Institute, is proud to present the Bay Area professional premiere of Princess Ivona, the 1935 Absurdist comic masterpiece by the celebrated Polish playwright Witold Gombrowicz.

Princess Ivona (or Ivona, Princess of Burgundia) is the first, and most internationally performed, of the plays of Witold Gombrowicz, the influential Polish novelist, playwright, and diarist, whom
John Updike has called “one of the profoundest of the late moderns” and Milan Kundera “one of the great novelists of our century.” Widely performed and celebrated throughout Europe and on the East Coast, Gombrowicz’s timeless and wickedly funny allegory is finally being introduced to Bay Area audiences, by a brand-new company of gifted and experienced theatre makers, in the exciting new warehouse space of the Performance Art Institute.

Written in 1935, the play was published in 1938 but not performed until 1957, after which it was immediately banned by the Communist government in Poland. Professional productions of the play began to emerge in Europe in the 1960s, quickly establishing Gombrowicz’s status as a major Modernist playwright.

The play follows the bizarre intrigues of a self-confident Royal Court, whose members enjoy an unchallenged sense of privilege, luxury, and control – over both themselves and others. The presence of a strange, awkward, silent young woman who mysteriously wanders into their world soon throws the court into a tailspin – the King and Queen begin to unravel at the core of their being, and the rational functioning of the court’s administrators becomes increasingly lunatic. As the play spirals towards its astonishing ending, both the story and Gombrowicz’s inventive language become more outlandish and theatrical.

The Collected Works is a new, San Francisco-based producing company, comprised of theatre makers, performers, and scholars, who met and began working together when they were in doctoral programs in performance at Stanford and Berkeley. The group is committed to exploring new collaborative models, and to developing both experimental performance and strong, intelligent productions of classic texts. Princess Ivona is their inaugural production.

The core members of the company are Michael Hunter (director), Barry Kendall (producer and actor), Renu Cappelli (assistant director), Matthew Daube (actor), Florentina Mocanu (actor), and James Lyons (lighting designer). The cast features Tonyanna Borkovi, Ryan Tacata, Brian Smick, Atessa McAleenan-Morrell, Will Trichon, James Udom, Shaudy Danaye-Elmi and Jean Franco.

The production features a large and extremely talented team of designers, including sound designer Derek Phillips, architect Ariane Fehrenkamp, visual curator and furniture designer Brian Yarish, and textile artist Latifa Medjdoub.

In advance of the performance, Latifa Medjdoub has been fabricating a large soft textile sculpture at the Performance Art Institute, which will be used in the performance. The public has been invited to participate in the making of this abstract knitted-fiber piece built on a computerized loom and recalling living forms from the deep ocean.

The incredible local singer and string player Meredith Axelrod (The Get Happy String Band) will perform old American songs from the 20s and 30s as part of this innovative production of Gombrowicz’s classic play.

To celebrate the important debut of Princess Ivona in the Bay Area, leading Gombrowicz scholar Professor Allen Kuharski (Chair of Theater at Swarthmore College) and Lillian Vallee, translator of Gombrowicz’s influential DIARY (recently republished in a new edition by Yale University Press) will lead a talkback after the performance on January 25.

“Review your platitudes.” – Witold Gombrowicz

Latifa Medjdoub is a contributing member of The Collected Works, a dynamic collaborative producing company originally formed at Stanford. In the past three months the group has focused on creating a new dimension in the theater field with their respective skills in performance and visual arts, based on a play by the Polish novelist Witold Gombrowicz called “Princess Ivona,” directed by Dr. Michael Hunter and assisted by Renu Capelli.
One of the key parts of the performance is the making of a larger soft sculpture at the Performance Art Institute in the SOMA district.The cast, together with the general public visiting “The Future Imagined: What’s Next?” exhibit, curated by Hanna Regev, is invited to participate in the making of the abstract knitted-fiber piece, built on a computerized loom.

The artist is inviting you to be part of the experience of fabricating this soft sculpture piece. Your participation is symbolic and does not request any artistic skills rather than you being part of its conception and eyewitness. Medjdoub will document the process by taking a portrait of each person involved. This material will be then projected during the performance and in other future venues.

From Sunday the 16th to Saturday the 22nd anytime from 10am to 3pm.
Thurday and Friday the 20th and 21st from 10am to 7pm.

Medjdoub has collaborated in a number of theater, opera, film, dance and performance art projects with leading artists Philippe Guillotel, Yvonne Sassinot de Nesle, Christian Lacroix, Gabriella Pescucci, Marina Draghici and directors Raul Ruiz, Yves Angelo, Marcel Marechal, Philippe Decoufle. Her work has been shown at the Museum of textile and fine arts, Roubaix France; Cheongju Art Center, Korea; De Cordova Museum, MA; Santa Fe Art institute, NM; National Building Museum, DC.

http://www.thecollectedworks.org/latifa_s_textures

A panel discussion organized by Hanna Regev and moderated by JD Beltran Thursday, December 13 at 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

“Women, Art, and Technology: An Uneasy Alliance?” is presented in conjunction with the exhibition, “Future Imagined: What Next?” part of the ZERO1 2012 Biennial. “The Future Imagined” highlights the interplay between artists, technologists and scientists as they converge to test the artistic limits of the possible in a technologically driven world. This complementary public forum brings together a diverse set of practitioners who are forging the creative edges of art, science, and technology. The focus will be on the triumphs and challenges of being a woman working in a technology-based art practice. The women on our panel will recount the contributions they make as innovators and entrepreneurs and will share their perspectives on how to prosper in a technological environment in which men predominate. The forum also seeks to find answers to underlying questions, such as: “Is the presence of successful women in the current digital boom causing a power shift?” “Are successful women breaking gender and cultural barriers and advancing an agenda that will benefit women as a whole?”

More information can be found at: http://thefutureimagined.com/programs/

As part of the 2012 ZERO1 BIENNIAL, the performance Art Institute presents: The Future Imagined: What’s Next?, an exhibition curated by Hanna Regev.

Creativity, innovation, and evolution are the hallmarks of the Silicon Valley, a world leader in technological breakthroughs that often bring progress and societal benefits. Silicon Valley is hub of invention, innovation and discovery where great ideas become greater realities. The Future Imagined: What’s Next? is an exhibition that will offer glimpses of uncharted territories in our, “new brave world.” That is changing in fundamental ways as we navigate in unchartered territories. Inspired by innovations all around the globe, invited artists will engage emergent technologies, to create new visions and imaginative objects for the future challenging us to experience the enigma called Silicon Valley in new terms. The Future Imagined salutes the invention and vitality that defines Silicon Valley and how it interfaces with industries such as genetics, MRI, energy, robotics, augmented reality, information design, architecture and urban design. The exhibition highlights the interplay between artists, technologists and scientists as they converge to artistically test the limits of what is possible in a technologically driven world.

The Future Imagined will feature interactive models, electronic objects multimedia digital video, augmented reality, sound installations, emerging forms and new genres installations. These works will seek to facilitate a fresh discourse about contemporary art in the Digital Age: One that is deeply rooted in the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit of the Silicon Valley.

Artists contributing to the exhibition include:
Kirk Amyx, Michael Bartalos, Chris Bell, JD Beltran (in collaboration with Nigel Poor), Philip Alden Benn (in collaboration with Peter Belkin), Guillermo Bert, Antonio Cortez, Nicholas de Monchaux, Ala Ebtekar, Michal Gavish (in collaboration with Yigal Blum), Roey Shaviv, Ruth Stark and Etty Yaniv, Daniel Joshua Goldstein, Laura Greig, Farley Gwazda, Robin Hill (in collaboration with Janco Gravner), Theodora Varnay Jones (in collaboration with Penny Olson and Rosa Anna de Filippis), Pantea Karimi (in collaboration with Daniel Konhauser), Carrie Katz (in collaboration with Sesh Mudumbai), Indira Martina Morre, Penny Nii (in collaboration with Mohammed Alabababidi and Enrique Gavidia), Luke Ogrydziak (in collaboration with Zoe Prillinger), Renee Rhodes, Tim Rosoborough, Paolo Salvagione, DC Spensley (in collaboration with Peter Spangler), Scott Summit, Yumika Tanaka, Tiffany Trenda, Corinne Whitaker, and Kenneth Wilkes.

Click here for the Press Release

More information can be found at: http://thefutureimagined.com