Works & Process Continues Celebration of Pride with Premieres by Donald Byrd, Dan Siegler and More

This weekend, Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presented the premieres of new commissions from Donald Byrd as well as Dan Siegler and Dawn Sinkowski.

"Solanum Dulcamara" by Donald Byrd, Teri Jeanette Weikel, and Luke Wigren

Commissioned by Works & Process at the Guggenheim.

Co-presented by Meany Center for the Performing Arts, Seattle Rep, Seattle Theatre Group, and Spectrum Dance Theater.

Artist Statement by Donald Byrd:

"I am a Black choreographer... In this particular moment in history it is almost impossible not to feel compelled to create work that addresses this moment. Many have used the word 'reckoning' to define it, I would also use 'Black Exhaustion'. Exhausted by explaining and educating White people about resisting racism and White supremacy, exhausted by the pain and trauma of enduring the repeated, centuries old, and ever present acts of violence perpetrated against us. I am EXHAUSTED by it. Yet, I do not have the luxury of stepping away, I do not want to, nor will I. However, I can, must, want to, and do make other kinds of work. This piece is me giving myself permission to take a few minutes to pause that particular fray and enter another - my unreconciled history and relationship with a person vital to my beginnings as a choreographer. I must and needed to acknowledge that which was for over 35 years went unspoken... I have been refreshed and enlivened by this brief pause. I can now continue to fight the good fight."

Solanum Dulcamara by Donald Byrd, Teri Jeanette Weikel, and Luke Wigren, Lead artist and concept: Donald Byrd, Video editing and assemblage: Luke Wigren, Music: Emmanuel Witzthum, Archival footage: Andrea Star Reese, Performers: Donald Byrd and Teri Jeanette Weikel.

"Concrète Jungle" by Dan Siegler and Dawn Sinkowski

Commissioned by Works & Process at the Guggenheim.

Co-presented by Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA.

Artist's Statement by Dan Siegler:

" When I was a child growing up in New York City, my parents would take us 'rummaging'. We'd comb through vacant lots, marveling at all the treasures people had thrown away, carting boxloads back to our house in Greenwich Village, feeling like we'd gotten away with something. My father would create sculptures out of some of this material: worn-down baseball mitts, rusted toy cars, the contact sheets and polaroids of strangers. It's no surprise then, that my work is a continued exploration of discarded elements, the musical equivalent of found art (objét trouve). 'Concrète Jungle' is a musique concrète-inspired assemblage of New York City voices and street sounds I've collected, which are then micro-edited into rhythmic patterns that feature in-between breaths, linguistic filler and borough-specific accents. (Best enjoyed in headphones) The video, by Dawn Sinkowski is meant to capture this moment of isolation and reflection and to connect to the ghosts of the city's distant and recent past that are always with us."

Concrète Jungle by Dan Siegler and Dawn Sinkowski, Composer: Dan Siegler, Video: Dawn Sinkowski, Additional footage: Gemma Siegler, Robert Siegler, and Howard Silver.

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