choreographing anthropocene
Working alongside the company’s dancers, lighting/scenic designer, and costume designer, audience members will be guided and separated post-show into a series of four art studios. To introduce the element of chance, the order in which audience members travel between art studios will be random. Each studio’s focus will be representative of one of the choreographic sections from the performance of Scene R-eco-ver, and will take place in waves of 12-person groups over a total of three hours. All text print materials will be sourced from books on forestry and lumbering along the California coastline, as well as the field notes of local park rangers.
See below for individual breakdowns of what activities are to occur in each art studio throughout the workshop.
WSD 2022 Proposal for Scene R-eco-ver can be found here.
More process notes can be found here (password: uhoh2020).
Title images by Camilla Dely
RINGS
an odyssey through the blip of human history inside the vastness of the geological timeline
One studio will be set up to facilitate a printmaking workshop with tree stumps, based on the first section of the piece, RINGS. Palm-sized stump slivers will be distributed to a maximum of 12 participants, who will then be guided through how to safely burn their stumps to form a thin layer of charcoal*. Before applying black ink to the slivers with small paint rollers, participants will brush off any loose charcoal. Lastly, they will be provided with text prints on thick card stock to print the wood slivers, and can then hang them on a clothesline to dry.
Facilitator: Camilla Dely
PROFIT
the economic takeover of sacred lands resulting in a hellish burnout
One studio will be set up to facilitate a flame-art workshop, based on the second section of the piece, PROFIT. Using the flame technique of Canadian artist, Steven Spazuk, a maximum of 12 participants will be given lighters, sample-size pieces of illustration board, a damp cloth, and a bowl of water. Participants will be guided on how to create their own drawings using the soot generated from the lighter and afterward, on how to manipulate the work using a paintbrush. All finished artworks will be sprayed with fixatives.
Facilitator: Steven Spazuk (?)
FALLING
a moment to briefly witness few out of the many long term consequences of ecological deterioration on our species
One studio will be set up to facilitate a chalk-dust printing workshop, based on the third section of the piece, FALLING. A maximum of 12 participants will be set up at covered workstations equipped with text prints on thick notecards, black and grey chalk pastels, popsicle sticks, and a shallow dish about an inch full of water. Using the popsicle stick to scrape flakes of different colored chalk into the water, participants may then dip the notecards into the water to generate unique speckled prints. All finished artworks will be placed flat at a separate drying area.
Facilitator: Hamilton Guillén
CHARCOAL
an evacuation from death through sustainable re-creation
One studio will be set up to facilitate a kinetic drawing workshop with charcoal, based on the fourth section of the piece, CHARCOAL, and inspired by New Orleans artist, Heather Hansen. A large roll of butcher paper will be laid out across the floor, leaving enough space for a maximum of 12 participants. Each participant will be given a piece of compressed charcoal and a large black t-shirt to protect their clothing from staining (optional) as they are led through a series of movement exercises that morph into the drawing activity. This specific studio requires more collaboration from participants, as the artwork will be a compilation of the work of 12 kinetic painters - it will then be hung in the lobby outside the theater where Scene R-eco-ver is performed.
Facilitator: Maxine Flasher-Düzgüneş
