New York City Ballet Releases Tickets To Art Series Featuring Santtu Mustonen

New York City Ballet will present the fifth installment of its acclaimed Art Series initiative during the Company's 2017 Winter Season. Launched in 2013, New York City Ballet's Art Series features annual collaborations between NYCB and contemporary visual artists who create original works for exhibition at the Company's home, the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center.

For the fifth anniversary of Art Series, NYCB has commissioned an installation from the Finnish-born, Brooklyn-based artist Santtu Mustonen. The centerpiece of Mustonen's commission will feature a large-scale video installation created from a series of original, digitally altered paintings that the artist has produced especially for New York City Ballet. Mustonen's paintings will also be displayed on the orchestra level of the theater throughout the winter season.

By combining abstract, handcrafted visual imagery with new technology, Mustonen makes visual art that literally moves. "I see a lot of connections to dance in my work," says Mustonen. "By using digital tools to animate paintings, I can make a work move almost like a dancer."

Mustonen, who figure skated while growing up in Finland, also briefly studied ballet to improve his skating technique. At university in Helsinki, and later in Amsterdam, Mustonen focused his studies on design and after receiving a grant from the Finnish Cultural Institute in 2011, he moved to New York and immersed himself in the art world. He first saw the David H. Koch Theater three years earlier on a visit to New York when he attended a performance of George Balanchine's The Nutcracker at New York City Ballet. Struck at that time by the theater's iconic Promenade, Mustonen explains that his Art Series commission will take advantage of the space's towering height and multiple vantage points, with an animated video installation that plays with scale and alters viewers' perceptions in an Alice in Wonderland fashion. "There's no ending, no start." he says, "It's a piece where you can choose to get just a little glimpse or jump into the rabbit hole and experience it all."

In recent years Mustonen has created work for The Academy Awards, the Brooklyn Academy Of Music, The MTV Video Music Awards, Flow Music Festival, and The New York Times. He is represented by New York based creative agency Hugo & Marie.

Mustonen's NYCB Art Series installation will be on display at the David H. Koch Theater from Tuesday, January 17 through Sunday, February 26 during all of NYCB's 2017 Winter Season performances. NYCB will also host free, open hours for the general public to view the exhibition on the following dates: Saturday, February 18 through Sunday, February 26 - Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon; Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.; and Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

In addition, NYCB will hold three special Art Series performances, which will take place on Saturday, January 28 at 8 p.m.; Friday, February 3 at 8 p.m.; and Thursday, February 23 at 7:30 p.m. All single tickets for these three Art Series performances are priced at just $30 and will go on sale at noon on Tuesday, January 3 at nycballet.com, or by calling 212-496-0600. Each Art Series performance will be followed by a post-performance party on the theater's Promenade open to all audience members, each of whom will receive a special limited-edition takeaway created by Mustonen to commemorate the NYCB Art Series collaboration.

ABOUT NYCB ART SERIES

Launched in 2013, NYCB Art Series was designed to produce annual collaborations between contemporary visual artists and New York City Ballet in an effort to showcase and celebrate the visual arts during NYCB performances at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. The first four installments of Art Series have featured acclaimed installations by FAILE (2013), JR (2014), Dustin Yellin (2015), and Marcel Dzama (2016).

Through the use of non-traditional marketing, social media engagement, and specially priced tickets, the NYCB Art Series was also conceived to engage audiences new to NYCB, as well as to cross pollinate NYCB's existing fans with those of the commissioned artists. During its first four years, Art Series has introduced tens of thousands of new patrons to New York City Ballet, helping to change the Company's demographic make-up with a 10% increase in audience members under the age of 40.

In addition to NYCB's unparalleled history of commissioning new work from numerous composers and choreographers, the Company also has a long tradition of working with visual artists such as Isamu Noguchi, Andy Warhol, Julian Schnabel, Francesco Clemente, HeLen Frankenthaler, Roy Lichtenstein, Keith Haring, Santiago Calatrava, Per Kirkeby, and others, all of whom have created artworks and other visual elements for NYCB performances. The lobby of the David H. Koch Theater, which was built for NYCB and opened at Lincoln Center in 1964, also features a Permanent Collection that includes several landmark works of art, including Jasper Johns' Numbers, Lee Bontecou's Untitled Relief, and Elie Nadelman's Two Female Nudes and Two Circus Women.

To learn more about New York City Ballet, or to purchase tickets for any performance, visit nycballet.com, or call 212-496-0600. The David H. Koch Theater is located at Lincoln Center, Columbus Avenue and West 63rd Street.

New York City BALLET is one of the foremost dance companies in the world, with a roster of more than 90 dancers and an unparalleled repertory of modern masterpieces. The Company was founded in 1948 by the legendary choreographer George Balanchine and arts patron Lincoln Kirstein, and quickly became world-renowned for its contemporary style and a repertory of original ballets that has forever changed the face of classical dance.

Now under the direction of Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins and Executive Director Katherine Brown, NYCB is committed to promoting creative excellence and nurturing a new generation of dancers and choreographers. For more information visit nycballet.com.

The 2017 Art Series and Access Evenings are supported by generous grants from the Howard Gilman Foundation and Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

The Travelers Companies, Inc. is the Global Sponsor of New York City Ballet.