Muna Tseng Dance Projects Responds to Chuck Ginnever Sculptures at Riverside Park Today

Cynthia-Reeves Projects, The New York Department of Parks & Recreation, Chuck Ginnever, and Gayle Maxon-Edgerton, GME LLC, announce two special evening performances by the Muna Tseng Dance Projects today, May 17 and May 24 at 7pm, whose newly commissioned choreography will directly engage with an exhibition of monumental steel sculptures by noted American artist, Chuck Ginnever. Medusa and High Rise, currently on view at Riverside Park at 145th Street, is situated overlooking the metal ice breakers and the George Washington Bridge, and has inspired the dance troupe's second collaboration with the artist, nearly thirty years after their first project together.

This event is free and open to the public, and is another expression of the multi-platform public arts initiative by Cynthia-Reeves Projects. This exhibition is made possible by Cynthia-Reeves Projects, The New York Department of Parks & Recreation and Gayle Maxon-Edgerton GME, LLC, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Muna Tseng and Chuck Ginnever's initial dialog in art and movement began in 1981 at the artist's Vermont farm compound, where Texas Triangles served as the pivotal performance backdrop. The piece, a dynamic large-scale geometric abstraction in steel, is currently on loan to the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. Given the nature of Ginnever's sculptures, which "represent a vitalized Minimalism that stresses complex forms within the work, as well as perceptual relationships between the work and viewers", Tseng's beautifully articulated choreography of fluid movements seek to address this visceral experience in elaborate dance form. With High Rise and Medusa, Tseng's latest performance will maintain a formal design, as dancers and a musician play with Asian cosmology while actively engaging these sculptures. The dancers' organic movements interact with and contrast against the sculptures' rigid steel, all while mimicking the Hudson River's fluid movement. Performers include: Maura Donohue, Asami Morita, Gilbert Reyes, Edisa Weeks, and Perry Yung (shakuhachi flutes).

Muna Tseng is a choreographer acclaimed for her seamless fusion of Asian aesthetics with Western-cross performance ideas, and a dancer celebrated for her eloquence and passionate precision. She has created, choreographed and performed over 40 works in over 100 cities and festivals throughout the States, Europe and Asia. Tseng has received a "Bessie" New York Dance and Performance Award, repeat fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, and from the New York Foundation for the Arts, along with numerous commissioning grants from the New York State Council on the Arts. Honors include "Best Choreography" for The Silver River in Philadelphia's 2000 theater season, "Distinguished Service in the Arts" from New York City Council President Andrew Stein, and "Artist of National Merit" from The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Tseng gratefully acknowledges that this production was made possible in part through a residency grant offered by Armitage Gone! Dance and Mana Contemporary in Jersey City, NJ.

For more than fifty years, Ginnever has created large-scale sculptures in steel and bronze that are concerned with challenging and expanding visual perceptions. "Mysteries of Perception" have always been an issue with Ginnever and he was one of the first artists to probe the nature of spatial experience using predominately abstract forms. Critic Carter Ratcliff states "Ginnever's sculptures will always be different, for each viewer, each time it was seen." Ginnever's work is included in numerous public and private collections around the world, including Storm King Art Center, which owns three works as part of their permanent collection in Mountainville, NY; the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO; Runnymede Sculpture Farm in California; the San Francisco Museum of Fine Art; the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC; The Martin Z. Margulies Sculpture Park in Miami;Walker Art Center in Minneapolis; the Laumeier International Sculpture Park in St. Louis, the Seattle Art Museum, and the Australian National Gallery, Canberra, Australia, among other noted institutions.

New York City Summer on the Hudson is Riverside Park's annual outdoor arts & culture festival that takes place from 59th street to 153rd along the Hudson River and features a mix of music concerts, dance performances, movies showings, DJ dance parties, children's shows, special day-long events, wellness activities, and more. All programs and events are free to the public and no registration is required. Summer on the Hudson is supported by the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation and the Riverside Park Conservancy. NYC Parks & Recreation's Art in the Parks program has consistently fostered the creation and installation of temporary public art in parks throughout the five boroughs. Since 1967, collaborations with arts organizations and artists have produced hundreds of public art projects in New York City parks. For more information visit www.nyc.gov/parks/art, www.cynthia-reeves.com, chuckginnever.com.

Muna Tseng's performances, which are funded by the New York City Parks & Recreation's Art in the Parks program, Cynthia-Reeves Projects, Chuck Ginnever, and Gayle Maxon-Edgerton GME LLC, are free and open to the public. The exhibition is located just north of Riverbank State Park along the waterfront, which can be accessed by entering the State Park on West 145th Street and taking the stairs or elevator down to the lower level to access the lawns; or, by taking the stairs at Riverside Drive and West 148th Street, and walking south along the water.

The Tseng dance project is another expression of the multi-platform public arts initiative under the auspices of Cynthia-Reeves Projects. The installation of Ginnver's monumental sculptures is one of three projects along the Hudson River facilitated by the gallery. Currently, LIGHT/ DARK, an exhibition pairing site-based black granite sculptures by Jonathan Prince, are on view at Pier 64 adjacent to the Chelsea Art District; and, upcoming, Waves and Particles, an installation of six kinetic stainless steel sculptures by George Sherwood, to be installed on the pedestrian walkway at 11th Street, also on the river. The latter two projects are in collaboration with the Hudson River Park Trust.

For more information on the performances, Ginnever's sculpture and the gallery's public art program, please visit us online at cynthia-reeves.com or call the gallery at 212 714 0044.