Postgravity Art :: Syntapiens
TICKETS $10: AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR
As part of the citywide biennial performance art festival, PERFORMA 09, Eyebeam presents Postgravity Art :: Syntapiens by the Slovenian artist collaborative of Dragan Živadinov, Dunja Zupančič, and Miha Turšič.
Signifying the 50-year time span of their multimedia theatre project, Dragan Živadinov, Dunja Zupančič , and Miha Turšič will stage a 50-hour event at Eyebeam. The performers will take the audience on a journey through the concepts of “theatre in zero-gravity” starting with the first “informance” on Tuesday, November 10, at 8PM, and continuing with hourly events through to November 12, which can be viewed during gallery hours, and followed on Eyebeam’s website and Twitter feed.
The November 10 “informance” will be a performative event combining live actors and multiple video projections, leading the audience through the myth of postgravity art and its historical influences: Trieste Constructivistic Ambiente, 1927; Malevich’s Planits, 1920; and Herman Potočnik Noordung, 1928. The succeeding events in the 50-hour cycle will present a selected array of topics related to the concept of postgravity art. Through gallery talks and audience interaction, in the Eyebeam gallery and in virtual space, audiences can expect a grand tour of work-life between Ljubljana and Star City, in search of the code of Zero Gravity.
Artists Statement:
Postgravity Art is not a style formation, it is not the zeitgeist, but the conditions in which art will be produced in the future. It therefore needs a new space of construction-a zero-gravity space.
In 1995, the 50-year theatre project, Noordung 1995 – 2045 began. By 2045, during the fifth and final reprise, cosmonaut Dragan Živadinov (trained at Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Centre, Star City) will use a spacecraft to send 14 satellites into geostatic orbit, where they will transmit signals representing the roles played by each of the deceased performers to Earth, and at the same time send high-resolution 3D projections of their faces into deep space. As images of cosmonauts, or “space sailors”, they will continue the act of searching for eternal truth.
Dragan Živadinov:
Candidate Cosmonaut, Co-founder of Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK)
Dragan studied theatrical direction at the Academy of Music, Radio, Television and Film in Ljubljana from 1980 – 1984. He was a cofounder of the art movement NSK in 1985. During the ’80s he constructed the style “retro-gardism”, where he constructed retro-gardist events and observatories. In 1983, he founded the retro-garde Theatre of Scipio Nasica’s Sisters, and in 1987, the cosmokinetic observatory Red Pilot. In the early ’90s, he constructed “informances” and transformed Red Pilot into the Noordung Cosmokinetic Cabinet. In 1995, he embarked on the 50-year theatrical process Noordung 1995-2045, through the style of “telecosmism.” In 1998 he became a candidate cosmonaut, and in 1999 realized Biomechanics Noordung, the first complete theatre production in zero-gravity conditions. Since 2000, he has been constructing post-gravitational theatrical abstracts, and in 2005, he staged the first reprise of Noordung 1995-2005-2045. The second reprise will take place in 2015.
Dunja Zupančič:
Mechatronic Artist
Dunja graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana in 1987, with a thesis on Eisenstein and the Russian avant-garde. During the ’80s, using processes involving the montage of abstract textures and the construction of composites, she produced pictures of monumental size. During the ’90s, using the engineering of pneumatic and hydraulic elements, she constructed mechatronic abstracts and art satellites (umbots). On December 15, 1999, she visualized and materialized Biomechanics Noordung, the first complete theatrical production performed in conditions of zero-gravity. Since 2000, she has devoted herself to substitutes of corporeality, which she translates into amorphous structures with the help of digital tools. In 2007, she devised an art satellite/technological demonstrator for a 50-year theatre production.
Miha Turšič:
Designer of zero-gravity environments
Miha studied industrial design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana from 1994 – 1999. He began his professional career as a digital visualizations designer at the digital production house ARXEL TRIBE.
In 1998, he co-founded the design company ASOBI. Since 2005, he has directed his research towards the design of zero-gravity environments. In 2006, the international design magazine I.D. proclaimed ASOBI designers of the year in the Lighting category; and he constructed a memorial centre in Vitanje dedicated to the pioneer of space technology, Herman Potočnik Noordung. His products combine design with cosmistic structures in conditions of zero-gravity. In 2008, he devises the GOD-Zero Gravity Design brand. Miha Turšič collaborates with the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Centre in Russia.
About Performa 09
Performa 09, the third edition of the internationally acclaimed biennial of new visual art performance presented by Performa, will be held in New York City from November 1-22, 2009. The three-week festival will showcase new work by more than 80 of the most exciting artists working today, in an innovative program breaking down the boundaries between visual art, music, dance, poetry, fashion, architecture, graphic design, and the culinary arts. Presented in collaboration with a consortium of more than 60 arts institutions and 25 curators, as well as a network of public spaces and private venues across the city, Performa 09 will ignite New York City with energy and ideas, acting as a vital “think tank” linking minds across the five boroughs and bringing audiences together for brilliant new performances in all disciplines.
Performa is a non-profit multidisciplinary arts organization established by RoseLee Goldberg in 2004, dedicated to exploring the critical role of live performance in the history of twentieth century art and to encouraging new directions in performance for the twenty-first century. Performa launched New York’s first performance biennial, Performa 05, in 2005, followed by Performa 07 in 2007. http://www.performa-arts.org
Supported by: Consulate General of Slovenia
Also featured at: Performing Revolution in Central and Eastern Europe (NYPL). A performing arts festival marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe, presented by The New York Public library for the Performing Arts in partnership with key New York City cultural organizations and academic institutions, November 2009–March 2010. www.performingrevolution.org
