Internationally acclaimed discipline-bending WaxFactory finally returns home to N.Y.C., after three years and sold-out runs in Europe, Latin America and Australia, to present the world premiere of its latest original creation, BLIND.NESS (Love is a four-letter word), an in depth and daring examination of what happens when love goes terribly wrong. BLIND.NESS reminds us that what we call "love" is defined perhaps even more by absence and yearning than by romance and fulfillment.
BLIND.NESS aims to reveal the deeply personal, intuitive, and emotional nature of its subject matter against some severely analytical views taken from the works of contemporary intellectuals, artists, and philosophers (in particular Roland Barthes, Marguerite Duras, and Sophie Calle,) who address love as a form of deficiency, or define it primarily by observing and studying emotional states engendered by its absence. Rather than quoting, BLIND.NESS will develop in reaction to such literary/philosophical references, by exploring a range of textual, visual and sonic material mined from the extensive vault of 20th century pop culture (such as "Crush #1" by Garbage from
Baz Luhrmann's Romeo+Juliet soundtrack, P.J. Harvey's "Rid of me", GG Allin's "I wanna f*** your brains out", etc.), and will play with juxtaposition: placing intellectual vs. emotional, high-brow vs. low-brow, presence vs. absence, while maintaining an unnerving edge of dynamic tension between the opposites.
Directed by Ivan Talijancic and co-written with Slovenian playwright Simona Semenic, BLIND.NESS follows a powerhouse all-female cast (featuring Melody Bates, Gillian Chadsey, Breeda Wool and WaxFactory's co-founder Erika Latta) on an emotional roller coaster ride across the dark and wildly humorous underbelly of love. Presented in WaxFactory's renowned interdisciplinary style, part-multi-media installation, part-dance theatre, BLIND.NESS brings together an exciting team of international collaborators including sublime video by Antonio Giacomin of Italy, the sleek architectural design of Minimart and the seductive sounds of electronica duo Random Logic of Slovenia. This technology infused tour de force will surely bend minds and break hearts.
Since its formation in 1998, WaxFactory has established itself as one of the most internationally active multidisciplinary groups to emerge from the New York downtown scene, creating new performance, installation, film and video works featuring a highly innovative blend of physical performance, audio visual, architectural and fashion design, and an integrated use of the new media and technology. In addition to site-specific works created for a variety of unconventional locations in New York and abroad, they have recently presented their work at such renowned international venues and festivals such as the ICA/Institute of Contemporary Arts (London, UK), the Gulbenkian Museum (Lisbon, Portugal), SommerSzene (Salzburg, Austria), OLTRE90 (Milan, Italy), FIT/Festival Internacional de Teatro (Caracas, Venezuela), MESS (Sarajevo, Bosnia), Cankarjev Dom center for the performing (Ljubljana, Slovenia), Adelaide Festival (Australia), Zürcher Theaterspektakel and La Bâtie – festival de Genève (Switzerland), among others. WaxFactory's current artistic directors are Ivan Talijancic and Erika Latta.
BLIND.NESS is a co-production of Performance Space 122 with Cankarjev Dom Center for the Performing Arts (Ljubljana, Slovenia).
More about Performance Space 122
Performance Space 122 is New York's ultimate destination for cutting-edge theatre, dance, music, live art and cross-media. Founded in 1979, Performance Space 122 is dedicated to supporting and presenting artists whose work challenges the traditional boundaries of dance, theatre, music, and performance. Committed to exploring innovative form as well as material, P.S. 122 is steadfast in its search for pioneering artists from a diversity of cultures and points of view.
BLIND.NESS runs Sunday, October 12 – Saturday, November 1 on the following schedule: Tuesday – Saturday at 8:00pm/Sunday at 6:00pm. Tickets from $20, $15 (students/seniors), $10 (P.S. 122 members). Tickets may be purchased online at www.ps122.org or via phone at (212) 352-3101. Performance Space 122 is located at 150 First Avenue at East 9th Street, New York, New York 10009.
www.ps122.org.
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