Ian Douglas: Instant Realness from Marin Media Lab on Vimeo.

Since 2006, Ian Douglas has been photographically documenting New York City’s contemporary dance and performance art scene, regularly working with artists like Ishmael Houston-Jones, Miguel Gutierrez, Yvonne Meyer, and others.

He is house photographer for New York Live Arts/Dance Theater Workshop, photographer-in-residence for Danspace Project and Movement Research, and regularly photographs for the New York Times and others. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker, Art Forum, Dance Magazine, and various publications throughout New York City and the world.

Performance photographer Ian Douglas has been documenting American Realness since its inception in 2010. Through his iconic images, Ian strives to preserve and even intensify what is an essentially dynamic and ephemeral experience through the isolated instant. Taken as a whole, his work provides us with a comprehensive visual record of the energy, eclecticism and creative chaos that is American Realness. Now in the festival’s fifth year–having showcased the work of fifty-two world-class artists including Miguel Gutierrez, Ann Liv Young, Trajal Harrell, luciana achugar, and Ishmael Houston-Jones–it is the perfect time to revisit some of these historic performances through Ian’s images.

created by Sarah Maxfield in collaboration with Laurie Berg, Brad Kisicki, and Elliott Jenetopulos
lighting by Chloe Z. Brown
stories contributed by Laurie Berg, John Kelly, Salley May, Lucy Sexton, and more

Sarah Maxfield investigates contemporary performance and its history through practice, discussion, and critical theory. She creates live performance and, with equal focus, creates structures for viewing and discussing performance and its context. Maxfield’s work has been presented by The Chocolate Factory Theater, P.S. 122, and the Museum of Arts and Design, among other venues in NYC and beyond. Maxfield has contributed writing to The Brooklyn Rail, The Performance Club, and the Movement Research Performance Journal, and she was a Context Notes Writer for Dance Theater Workshop’s final season. Maxfield currently curates THROW, an ongoing performance development series at The Chocolate Factory Theater. She is also developing a festival to honor the work of performance artist Tom Murrin and collecting an artist-driven archive of experimental dance and performance in New York, titled Nonlinear Lineage, of which this exhibition is a part. Maxfield is currently a fellow at Abrons Arts Center at Henry Street Settlement.

Laurie Berg works in multiple forms including dance, performance, collage, jewelry, and video. She was a 2013 New York Live Arts Studio Series Resident Artist and a 2010 Movement Research Artist-In-Residence. Her newest work, The Afterlife, will be presented May 15-17, 2014 at The Invisible Dog Art Center as part of The Joyce Theater’s new Unleashed Series.  Laurie currently co-produces AUNTS, an underground platform for dance and performance, with Liliana Dirks-Goodman.
For more about AUNTS: www.auntsisdance.com
Performance: www.lauriemberg.com
Jewelry:  www.anotherbergcreation.com

Chloë Z Brown is a Brooklyn based lighting designer and production manager. She was the Director of Production at New York Live Arts and Dance Theater Workshop from 2002 – 2013. In her work as a designer she collaborates with great artists such as Ivy Baldwin, Andrew Dinwiddie, Jeanine Durning, Juliana May, Sarah Maxfield, David Neumann, Heather Olson, Brian Rogers, Vicky Shick, Chris Yon and many more. In 2005, she was honored with a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award for her lighting of Amanda Loulaki’s La la la la, Resistance (The Island of Breezes)at DTW. She loves her work.

Elliott Jenetopulos works in design and production of experimental dance and performance. As a lighting designer, Elliott prefers to use a holistic approach to making work, always striving to serve the work and the process. Elliott has worked with Jen Rosenblit, Sarah Leonard, Saifan Shmerer, Ursula Eagly, Kim Brandt. In the coming months, Elliott will be designing lights for niv Acosta, Tess Dworman, Jen Rosenblit, Lorene Bouboushian, and luciana achugar.
imyfeet.tumblr.com

Brad Kisicki is a Designer, Technical Director and Production Manager who has been fortunate to work with many wonderful organizations, companies and individuals. Currently he works as an Architect specializing in performing arts facilities at Auerbach Pollock Friedlander. Brad was the Production Manager for the Aspen Music Festival for 10 seasons and the Technical Director at Dance Theater Workshop for 5 seasons among many other great jobs. He holds a BFA from the North Carolina School of the Arts, an M.Arch from the Rhode Island School of Design and a monthly Metro Card.

Marin Media Lab Pieces:

Miguel Gutierrez: Extended Interview on myendlesslove from Marin Media Lab on Vimeo.

Miguel Gutierrez: myendlesslove from Marin Media Lab on Vimeo.

created by Miguel Gutierrez
performance by Miguel Gutierrez and Connor Voss
lighting design by Natalie Robin
assistant lighting designer Amanda Clegg Lyon
videos and text by MG and Bel Ami Personal Trainers 2
music by MG, Lionel Richie, Georgio Moroder, Sonique
video performers: Ryan David O’Byrne, Chris Tyler, Joe Birdsong, Devon Gallegos, Dominic Cloutier, Heathcliff Von Uchtrup

Miguel Gutierrez, a 2010 Guggenheim Fellow in choreography, is a performance-maker based in NYC. He has been called “one of our most provocative and necessary artistic voices” by Dance Magazine. He creates solos as well as group work with the Powerful People, an ever-shifting ensemble of artist, performer and design collaborators. His pieces include And lose the name of action, HEAVENS WHAT HAVE I DONE, Last Meadow (2009 Bessie Award), Everyone and Retrospective Exhibitionist and Difficult Bodies (2005 Bessie Award). His work has been presented by venues such as Festival D’Automne in Paris, ImPulsTanz in Vienna, Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, PICA’s TBA Festival in Portland, the Flynn Center in Burlington and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He has received fellowships from the Foundation for Contemporary Art, United States Artists, Lambent Foundation, and New York Foundation for the Arts, as well as support from Rockefeller MAP Fund, Jerome Foundation, Creative Capital, and the NEA. He received an additional Bessie Award for his work as a dancer in John Jasperse Company. He has choreographed and performed in music videos for Diane Cluck, Holcombe Waller and Le Tigre (which went viral and produced various memes), has worked as a singer with Antony and the Johnsons, Vincent Segal, and Holcombe Waller, and has released a self produced EP under the moniker The Belleville. He leads workshops in his approach to creative practice all over the world. He is a current faculty member of the New School Eugene Lang’s undergraduate dance program, Hollins University’s MFA dance program, and Movement Research. His book WHEN YOU RISE UP is available from 53rd State Press. He invented DEEP AEROBICS, an absurdist workout, which most recently has been used to warm up audiences for The Knife. He sits on the Artist Advisory Board for Danspace Project. He volunteers as a mentor for TDF’s Open Doors program and he is a Guild Certified instructor of the Feldenkrais Method’s Awareness Through Movement lessons. www.miguelgutierrez.org

Connor Voss was born in Takoma Park in 1991. He studied dance at the University of Maryland and the San Francisco Conservatory. Connor is the recipient of a Creative and Performing Arts Scholarship, the 2012 Meriam Rosen Scholarship, and the 2013 Nancy Law Scholarship. He performs with Pearson Widrig Dance Theater, and feath3rtheory. His work has been presented at the American College Dance Festival Gala, and the 30th Annual Metro DC Choreographer’s Showcase.

Natalie Robin is a NYC-based lighting designer of theater, opera, dance, music and performance art. She is the associate producer of American Realness, a founding company member of Polybe + Seats and an Associate Artist of Target Margin Theater. She is also an adjunct faculty member at NYU. Natalie is the winner of the Apollo Lighting 2011 Standing O Award and was chosen as a 2008 Young Designer to Watch by Live Design Magazine. Natalie is a contributing writer to Live Design Magazine and Stage Directions. Natalie also tours as a lighting supervisor and production manager, for artists including Miguel Gutierrez. This fall, she is collaborating with dancer/choreographer Michelle Boulé on several new pieces. BA: Columbia. MFA: NYU/Tisch www.natalierobinlighting.com

COMING SOON!