Nancy Manocherian's the cell presents Sister Sylvester's DOLL DNA - a genetically modified performance event just in time for Halloween. The renown Cyborg Theater artist will create cocktails infused with DNA swabbed from dolls currently featured in fine artist Mikel Glass' critically acclaimed immersive art installation, FOUND. Part bio-hacker demo, part science lecture, and part post-human cocktail party, this chimeric performance is a continuation of Sister Sylvester's research into Genetically Modified Theater. Performances will begin this evening, Thursday, October 24, followed by Saturday, October 26 and Thursday, October 31 (Halloween night) at 9 PM. Tickets are available online at thecelltheatre.org.
Performed by humans and micro-organisms, DOLL DNA invites audience members to drink genetically modified cocktails and see human-jellyfish bacteria perform on a petri-dish stage, all while exploring Mikel Glass' art installation across four floors of the cell'sChelsea townhouse. DOLL DNA features percussion by Mike Perdue, Jude Traxler, and Drosophila, and video design by Alex Reeves.
Sister Sylvester's work, often essayistic performances, uses first-hand research and found documents, inviting disruption into both the performance and the process, while looking for dissonance and difficulty in text, image, and sound.
FOUND, presented by the cell and Mason Holdings (Founder / Artistic Director,
Tracy Weller), is a unique and wholly immersive theatrical experience that allows guests to step into the world of fine artist, Mikel Glass. Directed by Kristjan Thor, the theatrical installation has earned raves from critics and audiences alike. No Proscenium calls it an "entirely kooky and ephemeral experience" that is "highly engaging and creates an atmosphere of curiosity and ambition," while The Theatre Times raves FOUND is "deliriously engaging - a highly entertaining evening that offers up a refreshing alternative to conventional gallery and theatergoing experiences." FOUND is in performances now through Thursday, October 31, 2019.
FOUND explores an explosion of art, found and transitional objects, mysterious cocktails, and the wonders to discovered within our imaginations. FOUND is a revolutionary new way to consume the arts. Audience members are fully enveloped in an alternate universe from the moment they approach the cell townhouse, enlisting them as vital parts of the art they are stepping into. Utilizing every space on all four stories of the venue, audience members will be gently guided through the multi-disciplinary, full-sensory installation by an array of dynamic characters. Equal parts surreal, ironic, nostalgic, and profound, FOUND pulls you into the world of art in a way you never thought possible.
Sister Sylvester works with animals and technology to make cross species collaborations and cyborg theater. The first work was about a person who was part cardboard box. The most recent, the ways politics forces technology to create new hybrids where computer hardware stands in for a lover's touch. Housekeepers become their tools of labour with arms replaced by leather brushes. Humans, jellyfish and bacteria unite in a single organism on a petri-dish stage. Sister loves classic texts from theatre's underbelly, and her patron saints are
Jean Genet,
Bertolt Brecht and
Joan Littlewood.
Sister Sylvester makes work in both New York and Istanbul. Recent work has toured to Bozar, Brussels; Frascati, Amsterdam; Arcola Theater, London;
The Public Theater, New York, The Park Avenue Armory, NYC; Bomontiada, Istanbul. Residencies include: The Devised Theater Working Group, at The Public; The Public's New Works program, at Brooklyn College; and The Park Avenue Armory."
Mikel Glass is an internationally respected multi-media artist, based Hell's Kitchen for more than twenty-five years. He believes that an artist's responsibility is to document the zeitgeist in which he is steeped. As such, he spent the first several years documenting the plight of the homeless and addicted; and has always re-purposed found objects from his surroundings to create paintings, kinetic sculptures and installations. These interests culminated in a 2009 mid-career retrospective entitled, The Discarded at the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center. As HK gentrifies, Mikel has turned his attention to observing the art world. In 2012 he created Fairat (Art) Amalgamated in NYC, which exposed the mechanics of the art market, using the art fair paradigm as the vehicle of exploration. In the past few years he founded and curated a series of multi-media pop-up shows in New York, culminating with the (un)SCENE, which combined the spirit of a Happening with the aesthetics of a museum installation.
FOUND is currently in performances through Thursday, October 31, 2019 with several showings nightly. A complete performance schedule can be found online at
thecelltheatre.org. Tickets for FOUND are $25 each. Special performances, featuring
Sister Sylvester, will take place on Thursday, October 24, Saturday, October 26, and Thursday, October 31 with a special ticket price of $15.
For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit
thecelltheatre.org.
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