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, Alter-Ego, and Futurity, which will guide you through different stages of the process, from generating ideas, themes, and topics, through developing language and materials within the working groups, 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, site visits, readings, public sharing of work in progress, and attending three shows.
After working and collaborating on various workshops and assignments, you will create self-driven interdisciplinary collaborative performances in groups to be shared with the Collaborative Arts community at the end of the semester during the CA showcase on Friday, December 12.
Body Library meets twice a week on Mondays from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM, and on Wednesdays from 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM. One of those meetings a week will be dedicated to work time in the classroom on the course’s assignments and projects
WED 09/03: Welcome to Body Library!
MON 09/08: Site Visit: Library Of the Performing Arts
WEDS 09/10: Studio Time
MON 09/15: Block 1: Ideation
WEDS 9/17: Studio Time
THUR 9/18 7:30 PM: Park Avenue Armory
-or-
FRI 9/19 8:00 PM: Park Avenue Armory
MON 09/22: Block 1: Ideation
WEDS 9/24: Block 1: Ideation
MON 09/29: CARE: Alter Ego workshop with Julia Proctor
WEDS 10/1: Studio Time
MON 10/06: Block 2: Alter Ego
WEDS 10/08: Studio Time
*Tuesday* 10/14: Visting Artist: Camelita Tropicana
WED 10/15: Block 2: Alter Ego
FRIDAY 10/17 6 PM: Show for Art Palace
MON 10/20: Block 3: Futurity
WEDS 10/22: Studio Time
WEDS 10/22 7:30 PM: BAM
-or-
SUNDAY 10/26 3 PM: BAM
MON 10/27: Block 3: Futurity
WEDS 10/29: Studio Time
MON 11/3: Block 3: Futurity
WEDS 11/5: Studio Time
MON 11/10: Block 3: Futurity
WEDS 11/12: RYE GENTLEMAN, research as creative practice
MON 11/17: Block 4: Final project
WEDS 11/19: Studio Time
MON 11/24: Block 4: Final project
WEDS 11/26
MON 12/01: Block 4: Final project
WEDS 12/3: Studio Time
MON 12/8: Block 4: Final project
WEDS 12/10: Studio Time
FRIDAY 12/12 2 PM: CA SHOWCASE SHOW
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, studios, and libraries 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: ALTER EGO
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BLOCK TWO: ALTER EGO >>
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 Friday, October 17, at 6:00 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, where queerness and queer spaces present a new potential for identities and realities. In this block of Futurity, we will look into 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 as a means to reflect and often criticize the present time from which they are working. In this block of Futurity, we will look into 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 as a means to reflect and often criticize the present time from which they are working.
BLOCK FOUR: FINAL PROJECT
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BLOCK FOUR: FINAL PROJECT >>>>
We have four weeks left in the semester to work on an entirely student-driven project. Your final project can be inspired or informed by the work we did in class in the previous three blocks, or you can start a completely new process. We will begin this block with an introduction to research as part of a creative process for artists by Rye Gentleman, the librarian for Performing Arts, Division of Libraries at NYU, to inspire you to conduct your research and exploration of the topics and processes for your final project.
This Block will conclude with a performance at CA SHOWCASE on Friday, December 12 at 2:00 PM.
THREE SHOWS
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THREE SHOWS >>>>
SHOW ONE
Thursday9/ 18, 7:30 PM
-or-
Friday 9/19, 8:00 PM
MONKEY OFF MY BACK
OR THE CAT’S MEOW
Trajal Harrell
Park Avenue Armory
SHOW TWO
Wednesday 10/22 7:30 PM
-or-
Sunday 10/26 3 PM
LACIRMA
Caroline Guiela Nguyen
BAM
SHOW THREE
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-or-
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TWO PERFORMANCES
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TWO PERFORMANCES >>
Performance One
Alter Egos
Body Library
X
Art Palace
Friday, October 17, 6 PM
Performance Two
BODY LIBRARY
Body Library
@
CA SHOWCASE
Friday, December 12, 2 PM
