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    William Forsythe: Transfigurations at The Wex

    Press Release:

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    The Wexner Center presents William Forsythe: Transfigurations, an exhibition of the installation works of vanguard American choreographer and 2002 Wexner Prize recipient William Forsythe, April 2–July 26, 2009. This show marks the first significant group of Forsythe’s installations to be seen in the U.S.

    Forsythe’s bold, contemporary works have revolutionized classical ballet for our time, and he is widely viewed as the greatest innovator in this field since George Balanchine. With the formation of The Forsythe Company as an independent platform following the end of his tenure as artistic director of the Frankfurt Ballet in 2004, Forsythe continues to actively explore his multidisciplinary interests in new forms and new modes of presenting his work. His installations, whether or not they contain specific dance imagery, constitute progressive additions to his extensive oeuvre, which contains a hybrid performance installation; installations for galleries and public spaces; video works; digital media; and publications.

    The exhibition at the Wexner Center opens in conjunction with the launch of the web project Synchronous Objects for One Flat Thing, reproduced that Forsythe developed at OSU with Maria Palazzi and Norah Zuniga Shaw. All of these projects are part of a larger sphere of interest he terms “choreographic objects,” an idea that allows for the transformation of choreographic principles from one manifestation—a performance on the stage—to an array of other possibilities, including digital information, animation, and installations.

    Performances and a cross-disciplinary symposium are planned for the opening week.

    Notes Charles Helm, the exhibition’s curator and the Wexner Center’s director of performing arts, “We are pleased to showcase this range of the installation work of William Forsythe for the first time in this country. These works demonstrate his boundless creative drive and the connections that have evolved from Forsythe’s work as a dance maker—developing his concepts through working from the body—to projecting these ideas into new mediums and ways of presentation. The exhibition and web project also exemplify how a major university can leverage its diverse resources to integrate innovative arts initiatives and research to provide a model for the field.”

    Sherri Geldin, director of the Wexner Center, says, “This exhibition culminates a rich chapter in our longterm relationship with Forsythe, beginning with his award in 2002 of the Wexner Prize for innovation in the arts. Among the overarching goals for the Wexner Prize as expressed by our board chairman, Leslie Wexner, in creating the award: to not only honor and support the most compelling and pioneering artists among us, but also to foster further exchange among those artists, the Wexner Center, and other OSU departments. We are thrilled to be presenting this exhibition of Forsythe’s gallery-based installations on the occasion of the launch of his new web project, itself an extraordinary creative partnership with OSU’s dance department and the ACCAD facility.”

    WORKS ON VIEW

    This exhibition will feature Forsythe’s hybrid performance installation work Monster Partitur (drawn from his Bessie Award-winning work You made me a monster), which will be performed by dancer Alessio Silvestrin several times during the opening days of the exhibition in the gallery. The work’s sculptural elements will remain on view as an installation for the duration of the exhibition (see next page for a schedule). Visitors will also see the video work City of Abstracts; as they approach this piece, their images are projected onto a large screen, inviting interaction as their images are melded into a “dance” of stretched and spiraled bodies. Other video works include: his landmark work Solo; Antipodes l / ll, an illusionistic two-screen work whose gravity-defying action raises questions about our beliefs in physical reality; Suspense, a recent video where Forsythe creates potent images of a mover ensnared by his very need to move; and Thematic Variations on One Flat Thing, reproduced, in which William Forsythe and filmmaker Thierry de Mey reveal the classically modeled choreography of his tour-de-force work for the stage, One Flat Thing, reproduced, from multiple perspectives.

    Also featured in the exhibition will be Synchronous Objects for One Flat Thing, reproduced, a new web project developed by Forsythe in collaboration with Ohio State’s Department of Dance and Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD). To develop Synchronous Objects, Forsythe worked in collaboration with Norah Zuniga Shaw, director of OSU’s Dance and Technology program; Maria Palazzi, director of ACCAD; and a dedicated team of graduate students and ACCAD graphics research specialists. Starting with Forsythe’s ensemble dance One Flat Thing, reproduced as the research resource, Synchronous Objects reveals the deep structures of choreographic thinking in order to enrich cross-disciplinary investigation and creativity. The site invites a wide audience into understanding complex structures of interaction through an array of creative tools, expressive animations, and information graphics informed by the diverse team of collaborators from OSU’s Computer Science, Dance, Design, Philosophy, Geography, and Architecture departments and schools. Synchronous Objects is the first phase of Motion Bank, an overarching initiative that Forsythe envisions will become an accessible repository of advanced ideas developed through choreographic investigation.

    Material related to the development of Synchronous Objects will also be on view in the exhibition, as will Forsythe’s groundbreaking CD-ROM project Improvisation Technologies that uses Solo as its core material (serving as both a precursor to Synchronous Objects and a pioneering example of Forsythe’s early employment of new media).

    The exhibition William Forsythe: Transfigurations is organized by the Wexner Center for the Arts and curated by Charles Helm, the center’s director of performing arts. Julian Richter, producer for The Forsythe Company, will supervise the installation of the exhibition, which will also involve other collaborators and associates of The Forsythe Company, and students from OSU’s Department of Dance.

    More information: wexarts.org

    Photo: © Stephan Floss Photo

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    Walker Evanshttps://columbusunderground.com
    Walker Evans is the co-founder of Columbus Underground, along with his wife and business partner Anne Evans. Walker has turned local media into a full time career over the past decade and serves on multiple boards and committees throughout the community.
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