Correspondences - MIT

In the current performance installation, individual performers wearing gas masks are enclosed inside transparent chambers partially filled with sand. As the performers repeatedly try to stand atop the sand, machines attached to the chambers intermittently trigger a blast of sand causing the performers to sink back down to the ground, only to begin to rise again. The sand blasts continuously occur in the chambers, even in the absence of a performer. This work reflects on “the power of rising” during these times in which many of us are experiencing heightened uncertainty and political and economic turmoil. The aim is not to pin a singular meaning to this work; instead, its power rests in the juxtapositions of multiplicities and as the title implies in its correspondences. The first phase of the performance installation is extremely adaptable and through the development of its second phase during this residency, it will be expanded into a unique experience for MIT.

This project was initiated at Robert Wilson’s The Watermill Center, where the current 3 chambers of the installation were built. A phase of the work is dedicated to the presentation in urban plazas and parks. To date, the installation performance has been shown in Manhattan at Astor Place (in partnership with HERE Arts Center), in Queens at Socrates Sculpture Park, and in upstate New York at Hurleyville Art Center. The second phase will continue and expand the work in collaboration with leading cultural and academic institutions. This residency at MIT, and a potential future campus performance, will launch this new phase and be a vital part of the ongoing development and life of the piece

Why are existential questions of being, interdependence, and coexistence, vital in these times of readjustment of powers and values?