paraphrase/NEXUS
paraphrase/NEXUS is a
monthly series in which artists of various disciplines and media create performances
that respond and relate to current exhibitions at NEXUS
Gallery in Philadelphia. See below for information about upcoming and
past installments of paraphrase/NEXUS.
Established in 1975, NEXUS/foundation
for today's art is as an artist-run, non- profit gallery space dedicated to
supporting local emerging and experimental artists engaged in new art practices.
Nexus presents challenging, innovative and compelling exhibitions of contemporary
art that stimulate creative thought and dialog among the public, increasing
awareness to the meanings and methods behinds today's art. Nexus was conceived
at a time when very few non-commercial galleries existed in Philadelphia.
The founders of Nexus, three artist/educators, sought to create an exhibition
space for emerging artists working with new mediums and concepts that would
act as a forum on contemporary art. As the first artist-run cooperative in
Philadelphia, Nexus was, and continues to be, committed to the professional
presentation of the artist's work and the education of the public about contemporary
art issues.
upcoming: october 2008:
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008, 8:00 p.m.
Presented in collaboration with Soundfield (www.soundfield.org)
Austrian artists Mariella Greil (movement) and Werner Moebius (sound) will join local artists Emily Sweeney (movement) and Bilwa (sound) in a series of collaborations- sections of a project entitled "Philadelphia Bridge: Part 1." Composer Michael McDermott's flute quartet tomas, will be premiered by Danielle Brosious, Jacqueline Howell, Heather Fortune, and Bob Carpency. All works are in some way responding and relating to Toyland, a show of toy camera photography.
NEXUS/foundation for today's art, 1400 N American St. #102, Philadelphia, PA 19122
8:00p.m. / $10 / $5 w/ Dance Pass
Toyland showcases the photography of six artists working with simple whimsical toy cameras. Featuring work by Mark Sink, Rita Bernstein, Chris Macan, Diana Bloomfield, Mira Gohel and Andy Benson. Curated by NEXUS member Chris Macan.
This program is made possible in part through the generous support of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture, Sound Field NFP, NEXUS Foundation for Today's Art and grants from the Argosy Fund for Contemporary Music, with additional media support from Bowerbird.
Artist bios:
Mariella Greil lives and works in Vienna/ A and Chester/ UK: performances, tableau vivantes, installations and collaborations with artists of differing media. Currently lecturing at the Department of Performing Arts, Faculty of Arts and Media at the University of Chester/ UK. She is on the board of directors for the festival moves: movement on screen in Manchester and an active member of the steering group for the SoundNetwork UK) and the Center for Practice as Research. Physical precision and clarity, consequence and proximity to conceptual art are significant for her performances. “For my work was or is it important to use differing expression languages, picture languages, meaning languages to sensitize new interrelations, to consider the fractures of images as transformations, but mainly to open up the borderlands of actual and potential, artistic and artless reality. The idea of the polyphonic, intermedia expanding process is essential for my artistic notion.”
Werner Moebius is based in Vienna and London but has been building an international reputation over the last three years via a series of residencies in Chicago, Liverpool and Mexico City. His work encompasses sound installations, solo performance, ensemble compositions and video. www.wernermoebius.net
Emily Sweeney is a movement artist living in Philadelphia, where she co-directs Perpetual Movement and Sound. She has presented her own improvised and choreographed works around Philadelphia as part of paraphrase/NEXUS, bowerbird performance series, Soundfield Festival, CEC New Edge Mix, and Philly Fringe. She dances with the Emergent Improvisation Ensemble and independent choreographer Brigitta Herrmann. Emily studied dance, literature, and anthropology at Smith and Bennington Colleges. She is a native of Vermont, In her own work she explores systems found in nature, as well as how humans' sensory experience and memory shape our perceptions. She is driven to investigate how humans adjust our physical and sensory interactions to accommodate new technology and the pace of urban environments.
Bilwa is a Philadelphia-based musician, curator, producer, and visual artist. He co-directs the performance collective Perpetual Movement and Sound. Bilwa is also a member and special projects director at NEXUS/foundation for today's art, where he curates the performance series paraphrase/NEXUS. Past projects include Hoopty Heaven, an ambient dub duo, and VERSIONsound, a roots/reggae/dub sound system. In 2007, Bilwa and Mikronesia released perfect seconds, a compilation of their music created inspired by the dancers of Perpetual Movement and Sound, on earSnake records.
Michael McDermott (a.k.a. Mikronesia) is a producer, composer, musician and sound artist. His main project, Gemini Wolf, is an electronic rock band for which he plays keyboards and laptop and arranges. Mike is an original member of Perpetual Movement and Sound. Mikronesia has released two albums with ambient label Gears of Sand. Tissue Paper Ghosts (2006) is an ethereal glitch album about the psychic remains of a car crash, and Iris Or Comfortable Too (2007) is a work that features minimalist piano and warm electronics. In early 2008, he released vxvii on Kikapu. In April 2008, he premiered his first work for string trio, Daemon En Gauze, as part of the paraphrase/NEXUS performance series. Visit www.mikronesia.com to listen to his work.
upcoming: november 2008:
Saturday, November 22nd, 2008, 8:00p.m. / $5
Movement artists Eun Jung Choi-Gonzalez (New York) and Olive Prince (Philadelphia)
Video artist Jennie Thwing and painter Sherif Habashi
upcoming: december 2008 + january 2009:
Thursdays, December 18th, 2008 + January 22nd, 2009
paraphrase artists tba...
NEXUSradio
NEXUS/foundation for today's art will be transforming its gallery space into a low powered radio station for two months in December 2008 and January 2009. NEXUSradio is a celebration of radio's legacy, the evolution of communication technology, and a reaction to the current state of independent local media. NEXUSradio has two components. A series of single installment commissioned works broadcast on a weekly basis and an ongoing, community participation based "work-in-progress" of free form radio. During gallery hours (Weds-Sun 12 to 6 PM) artists, musicians, performers, djs, activists, poets, scholars, local community groups and other members of the public will be given the opportunity to use the radio broadcast in a manner for which it was originally intended - public enjoyment and information.
current season, past performances
september 2008
Dancers Rebecca Patek and Emily Sweeney inhabited Bilwa's installation assembling minutiae, created as part of the Fringe performance asNEXUS.
asNEXUS: two works that heighten the experience of the body through technology. Seeking form in minutiae, Perpetual Mvmt<>Snd amplify the movements of dancers using live-feed audio and video, while J. Makary's video-based performance enters a fantasy where youth subculture never dies but instead matures.
previous seasons
may 2008
On Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 8pm paraphrase/NEXUS featured dancer/choreographers Michele Tantoco and Liza Clark, who were joined by violinist Katt Hernandez and dancer Gabrielle Revlock to offer performances inspired by the experimental printmaking of Rebecca Gilbert and the drawings of Virginia Batson, both NEXUS members.
april 2008
The one-year anniversary installment of paraphrase/NEXUS took place on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 8pm. Dancers Jil Stifel and Paul Struck performed a duet, and dancer/choreographer Zornitsa Stoyanova offered a new solo work. April also featured the world premiere of Daemon En Gauze, a string trio by composer/musician Mikronesia performed by violinist Carlos Santiago from Normal Love (High Two), violist Martha Savery from Gemini Wolf (earSnake), and cellist Eve Miller from acclaimed post-rock band The Rachel's. All the performances were inspired by the photography of NEXUS members Susan Abrams and Tasha Doremus.
march 2008
On Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 8pm, paraphrase/NEXUS featured work by members of the map dance collective: Ashley Anderson, Jung-eun Kim (aka je), Jen McGinn, and Danielle Paloumpis. They explored the exhibition "8 Artists - 8 Viewpoints: Recent Fiber Grads from Philadelphia."
february 2008
On Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at 8pm, paraphrase/NEXUS featured singer/songwriter Bianka Brunson of Lillie Ruth Bussey, theater artist and choreographer Kathryn TeBordo of Workshop for Potential Movement, and movement based performance artist Jaamil Kosoko. All performers explored the work J. Makary, Leah Reynolds, and Blaine Siegel, three new NEXUS members working in performance, video, sculpture, installation and drawing.
january 2008
On Wednesday, January 23, 2008, paraphrase/NEXUS featured breakfastest;
a performance piece by Audrey Culp, Katie Miller, Jay Purdy,
and Brandon Joyce of the Philadelphia Institute for Advanced Study;
and cooped; a solo dance and video performance
by choreographer Scott McPheeters, performed by dancer Sara Nye. All performers
explored the art of “YUMMY: a celebration of craving, compulsion, and culture.”
december 2007
On Wednesday, December 19, 2007, paraphrase/NEXUS featured Philadelphia-based
dancer/choreographer Meg Foley performing 19.12.07; as well
as dancer/choreographers Allison Lorenzen and Rebecca Patek performing
Say she ate; in response to "YUMMY: a celebration of craving,
compulsion, and culture"
november 2007
On Wednesday, November 28, 2007, paraphrase/NEXUS featured Kathy Ochoa,
a Canada-based dance artist, with musician Travis Boa, and Philadelphia-based
performance artist J. Makary, a new member at NEXUS, with drummer Gary
Dann exploring the work of Bonnie Brenda Scott, Tasha Doremus, and Bilwa,
also new members at NEXUS. Bonnie's drawing and video installation, "ALERT!
THE MEDIA!," Tasha's series of photographs entitled "A Poor Memory For
The Future," and Bilwa's installation, "set," which invites the viewer
to become a performer, provided the inspiration for an evening of original
dance and performance.
october 2007
Soundfield@paraphrase/NEXUS
On Wednesday, October 24, 2007, paraphrase/NEXUS featured a special evening with Soundfield.
Missing Links, Part 1, part of Soundfield's "Crosswork" program series, featured a new composition for instruments and knitting ensemble by Gene Coleman in collaboration with Sarah Mann O'Donnell, performed by Ensemble Noamnesia:
Kevin McFarland (cello
Ari Striesfeld (violin
Jason Calloway (cello)
Katt Hernandez (violin)
Evan Lipson (bass)
Gene Coleman (conductor/bass clarinet)
Sarah Mann O’Donell (amplified knitting needles)
september 2007
On Wednesday, September 26, 2007, paraphrase/NEXUS featured members of Perpetual Mvmt<>Snd inhabiting Jody Sweitzer's installation entitled Crowd: stumbling through displaced intimacy. In Crowd, the human figure is represented by giant inflatables that create an environment in which to investigate voyeurism and the human reaction to the invasion of personal space.
Electronic musicians Bilwa and Mikronesia were joined by dancer/choreographers Rebecca Patek and Emily Sweeney in a performance intended to shift the relationship of the stagnant viewer to an active, self-reflecting participant.
may 2007
On Wednesday, May 23, 2007, paraphrase/NEXUS featured Philadelphia-based dancer/choreographers Devynn Emory and Christina Zani performing "holding pattern," "divine cathedral," and "apples," all based on investigations of select photographs from the Philadelphia Center for the Photographic Image's annual PhotoImage '07 competition. The evening also featured live musical accompaniment by Sam Miller and the Spinning Leaves.
april 2007
On Saturday, April 28, 2007, paraphrase/NEXUS featured members of Perpetual Mvmt<>Snd. Dancer/choreographer Emily Sweeney and electronic musician Mikronesia performed their exploration of Yukie Kobayashi and Elsabé Dixon's collaborative show, Kumo Cloud Wolk, an installation of handmade paper and silk weavings inspired by the ways in which the processes of paper making and silkworms' weaving are similar to the formation and lifespan of clouds. That same evening, dancer/choreographer Rebecca Patek and electronic musician Bilwa offered their interpretation of Matthew Pruden's Magnetic Sleep, a multimedia piece exploring 19th century spirit photography, parapsychology, and Spiritualism – the belief that the human personality continues on after death and can communicate through the agency of a "medium."