ESTONIA
The first week of August I will be in Estonia with friends and collaborators Silvia Ruzanka, Katherine Behar, and Ben Chang to participate in an International Summer Art Symposium called PostsivkhoZ6. PostsovkhoZ started in 2001 as a forum for issues facing rural village life in post-soviet Estonia. Since then PostsovkhoZ has developed into a multi-purpose, cross-discipline artistic and social event encouraging both the exchange of ideas and the realization of short term artistic projects. PostsovkhoZ is hosted by MoKS, an non-profit artist-run cultural organization dedicated to local and international cooperation in the fields of arts, social and environmental research in a village called Mooste in rural southeast Estonia. The MoKS studios are located in the partly rehabilitated space of the manor house of an old Mooste farming estate. MoKS is also a residency where people working in all disciplines of art, e.g. visual, performing and media arts, music, criticism, research etc are encouraged to apply. Accepted artists can stay for a period of 1 to 6 months.
I actually participated in this symposium two years ago and presented a bubble performance that I made specifically for the theme: Isolation. There is a theme this year as well: Human Zoo. Take a look at the website - they have a great statement regarding the concept: http://moks.ee/
We are developing a project called ‘Information Farm’ - sort of a take off on George Orwell’s, Animal Farm. We are inviting individuals to contribute personal (and perhaps intimate) information on a voluntary and anonymous basis. Along with collecting stories, we are asking people to indicate the site of their memory within the village. Taken en masse, this information will provide a sentimental, collective portrait of Mooste. We want to track an animal in Mooste, maybe a cat dressed like a pig (yes, I know). By monitoring the movements of this animal, we will collect data about its whereabouts, which will be used to trigger the stories collected from participants. Because the animal will be free to roam about the village as it pleases, its movements will inject an element of chance and whimsy into the piece. Take a look at my other Blog for details, images, and developments: http://web.mac.com/jravens/iWeb/Site/Blog/Blog.html
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SERBIA
The second week in August I will travel to Serbia to participate in a festival called IMAF8 where I will be performing a piece from my repertoire (RAVENOUS). We will be presenting in three cities: Belgrade, Novi Sad, and Odzaci.
Here’s a link to that festival: http://www.imaf.org.yu/
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CHICAGO
After that I return to Chicago!
Very soon upon my return I will begin rehearsals for the American Premiere of SWEET RELEASE. I will be giving a sneak preview at the Cultural Center as part of my residency with the Dancebridge program Tuesday, Sept. 6th at 6pm. It will be basically an open rehearsal with a talkback afterwards - very casual. SWEET RELEASE will open at the Storefront Theater on Thursday, September 21 and run through October 8th - Thursday thru Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $20 but keep an eye open for coupons and discounts. Here’s a link: http://www.dcatheater.org/
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WORKSHOPS
I will be presenting a couple workshops in the near future. Links Hall is hosting a short workshop in conjunction with SWEET RELEASE where I will be demonstrating some of the techniques and technologies that we used to create the performance. The ‘we’ includes Katherine Behar and Marianne Kim - our collaboration is called ‘WHAT?WORKS’: http://we-are-what-works.org/
SWEET RELEASE is a combined effort of my company (RAVENOUS PRODUCTIONS) and our collaboration (WHAT?WORKS).
LINKS HALL workshop:
Sweetly Releasing: Movement, Text and Media
Saturday, September 30, 1pm-5pm
$30
The other workshop will be through Hedwig Dances. It will be a three-week workshop culminating in a performance. I will be developing some new material with the participants based on the theme: ‘Tempest in a Teacup’. I think it will be in October - more information to come.