BODY LIBRARY
BODY LIBRARY
Body Library is made up of a sequence of collaborative experiments that transform the joy and playfulness of art making and community into a sincere art practice. Working in different groups for the various workshops and assignments, you will develop unique processes to create self-driven interdisciplinary collaborative performances. The workshops of Body Library revolve around the themes of Ideation, EgoSystem, and Futurity, which will guide you through different stages of the process, from generating ideas, themes, and topics, through creative research to develop language and materials, to finally building a world to invite your audience into.
Consisting of the entire cohort, you will be each other's artists, audiences, critics, and dramaturges. In this rigorous community and culture, we welcome challenges and risks into our processes to explore the opportunities and possibilities they present, and to learn how to meet them with support, creativity, motivation, and innovation. Expanding on the long history and traditions of experimental art practices, we will visit libraries and conduct research to inform our creative process and gain cultural knowledge and inspiration. The course will include visiting artists, guided workshops, readings, public sharing of work in progress, and attending three shows.
Body Library will create self-driven interdisciplinary collaborative performances in groups to be shared with the Collaborative Arts community on two occasions: on Saturday, October 24th for an exchange with Art Palace, and at the end of the semester during the CA showcase on Tuesday, December 15th.
Body Library meets twice a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM. One of those meetings a week will be dedicated to work time in the classroom on the course’s assignments and projects.
1) WED 09/02: Welcome to Body Library!
2) WED 09/09: Block 1: Ideation
MON 09/09
3) MON 09/14: Block 1: Ideation
4) WED 09/16: Visiting Artist: Hannah Kallenback
5) MON 9/21: Block 1: Ideation
6) WED 9/23: Block 1: Ideation PERFORMANCE!
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7) MON 09/28: Block 2: EcoSystem
8) WED 9/30: Block 2: EcoSystem
SHOW
Arias with a Twist
Friday, October 2, 7:00 PM
-or-
Sunday, October 4, 4:00 PM
RSVP
9) MON 9/30: Block 2: EcoSystem
10) WED 10/07: Block 2: EcoSystem
MON 10/12
11) WEDS 10/14: Block 2: EcoSystem
12) MON 10/20: Block 2: EcoSystem
13) WED 10/21: Block 2: EcoSystem
Saturday 10/24, 2 PM: BODY LIBRARY X ART PALACE
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14) MON 10/26: Block 3: Futurity
15) WEDS 10/28: Block 3: Futurity
16) MON 11/02: Block 3: Futurity
17) WEDS 11/04: Block 3: Futurity
18) MON 11/09: Block 3: Futurity
19) WEDS 11/11: Visiting Artist: Raja Feather Kelly
20) MON 11/16: Block 3: Futurity
21) WEDS 11/19: Block 3: Futurity
SHOW
La Distance
Friday, November 20, 7:30 PM
-or-
Sunday, November 22, 4:00 PM
RSVP
22) MON 11/23: Block 3: Futurity
23) WEDS 11/25 Block 3: Futurity
24) MON 11/30: Block 3: Futurity
25) WEDS 12/02: Block 3: Futurity
26) MON 12/07: Block 3: Futurity
27) WEDS 12/09: Block 3: Futurity
28) MON 12/14: Block 3: Futurity
Tuesday 12/15, 12 PM: CA SHOWCASE
BLOCK ONE: IDEATION
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BLOCK ONE: IDEATION >
An idea can manifest itself to us in many forms, as a question, a problem, from something we read, something we saw, a sequence in a dream, a conversation (or an argument) with a friend, a visit to the Zoo, in the lobby of a museum, from a sandwich, on the road, or out of nowhere! An idea has much more to it than we think at first; its emergence is just the beginning. To best understand what an idea could become, we will need to meditate on it in our minds, bodies, and studios, in playful, intuitive, and creative ways. The first section of Body Library will make space for ideas to emerge, evolve, and transform.
Where do ideas come from?
How do we start a self-driven collaborative project?
What is the potential of this idea?
No Idea?
How to explore an idea?
How does an idea become a process?
Here is an idea!
Is this an idea?
Is this a good/bad idea?
Is there such a thing as a bad idea?
BLOCK TWO: EgoSystem
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BLOCK TWO: EgoSystem >>
An alter ego (Latin for "other I") means an alternate self, which is distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a different personality. Artists have long employed themselves as the subjects of their work, whether real or imagined, exploring multiple interior lives and modes of being in the world. In her review for Plaster Magazine, Katie Tobin says that artists and their love of alter egos speak to the idea that the self is mutable, a construct to be deconstructed, remade, and performed. For this section, we will explore examples of artists and their alter egos to construct one of our own, as well as collectives of alter egos. The section will begin with a workshop by Julia Proctor, a theatre maker, educator, and community builder, to explore the process of discovering alternative versions of ourselves and how to build community with them.
This Block will conclude with a performance for Art Palace on Saturday, October 24, at 2:00 PM.
BLOCK THREE: FUTURITY
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BLOCK THREE: FUTURITY >>>
In José Esteban Muñoz's Cruising Utopia: the then and there of queer futurity, "not yet here" is a concept of queer futurity in which queerness and queer spaces present new possibilities for identities and realities. In this block of Futurity, we will look at artists working with futurism through science fiction and fantasy to imagine, project, and manifest their version of the future as both a speculative tool and a means to reflect on, and often criticize, the present from which they work. In this block of Futurity, we will look at artists working with futurism through science fiction and fantasy to imagine, project, and manifest their version of the future as both a speculative tool and a means to reflect on, and often criticize, the present from which they work.
This Block will conclude with a performance for CA SHOWCASE on Tuesday, December 15, at 12:00 PM
THREE SHOWS
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THREE SHOWS >>>>
SHOW Three
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TWO PERFORMANCES
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TWO PERFORMANCES >>
Performance One
EgoSystem
Body Library
X
Art Palace
Saturday, October 24, 2 PM
Performance Two
BODY LIBRARY
Body Library
@
CA SHOWCASE
Tuesday, December 15, 12 PM