Beginning September 13, 2011 atop the Gawker Media Roof, Performance Space 122 launches the first half of a 2 year walkabout with a focus on site-responsive work. Local presentations in the 2011-12 season include performances created by more than 20 artists from NYC, Chicago, Brasil, Argentina,
Spain, Belgium, Croatia and Lebanon during the Fall Season, 7th Annual COIL Festival, and Spring Season. In the fall, both Michel Groisman (Brasil) in September and Cuqui Jerez (Spain) in October challenge the tradition of live performance by involving audiences in the exploration of verbal & non-verbal communication and forcing witnesses to question the reality of the performance itself.
In addition to the local presentations, Performance Space 122 is pleased to announce that global programming continues in its second year with PS122 tours scheduled for London and Berlin in Spring 2012 and to Latin America, Asia and Australasia in the near future. Other touring presentations include continued participation with the Spalding Gray Award Commission which offers recipients a commission and tour with stops in New York (PS122), Minneapolis (The Walker), Pittsburgh (The Warhol Museum), Seattle (On the Boards). This award supports gifted writers/performers who fully realize all aspects of Spalding's legacy, who are fearless innovators of theatrical form, who reach into daily experience and create resonant, transcendent work that makes us all bigger, wider, wiser and, somehow, more than we were when we entered the theater.
Both Rabih Mroué (2010 Spalding Gray Award recipient) and Young Jean Lee (2011 Spalding Gray Award recipient) will be presented as part of the COIL Festival in January 2012. While for some artists including Michel Groisman (Body Installation), Cuqui Jerez (Dance / Theatre), Every House Has A Door (Theatre / Performance), Rabih Mroué (Theatre / Video), Mariano Pensotti (Theatre), and Davis Freeman (Dance / Performance), the 2011-12 season represents a long-awaited inaugural presentation by Performance Space 122, several companies return with their latest work including the TEAM (Particularly in the Heartland in 2007, Architecting in 2009), Temporary Distortion (Welcome to Nowhere in 2008, Americana Kamikaze in 2009), Young Jean Lee (Pullman WA in 2005, Church in 2007) and Palissimo (Le Petit Mort in 2006, Blind Spot in 2008).
At various stages in their individual careers, each of these companies has made game-changing work and Performance Space 122 continues to admire and invest in the ideas and practices by which these artists advance and comment on the world around us. Performance Space 122 is eager for the challenges of the upcoming seasons and has re-structured the entire operational modelto ensure a sustainable life for artists and their work thereby delivering audiences the quality of experience they deserve. With two Creative Producers now on staff, PS122 will maintain a far stronger connection to the developmental process, artistic practice and life-span of projects. Three special events (Season Launch in September, Red & White in January and the Annual Spring Gala) have been curated to provide festive and authentic PS122 experiences. A series of Long Table Discussions (a ‘live’ structure for artistic debate developed & lead by Lois Weaver) has been designed to contextualize live art within today’s society.
With plans to expand into the virtual world and offer live experiences online through a Transmedia Storytelling initiative, no matter what space a performance is best suited for, Performance Space 122 is determined to present finished work of the highest quality. As PS122’s historic East Village home undergoes renovations initiated and funded by the Department of Cultural Affairs, New York City Council and set to begin in Spring 2012, activities will be presented throughout the city and around the world. What follows is a detailed list of these performances, artists, and additional activities scheduled for September 2011 - June 2012 with a focus on the Fall Season in New York City.
