The Contemporary Art Centers (CAC) network brings together performing arts curators at contemporary art centers in the U.S. The aim is to build connections to support dance and other performing artists working across disciplines and to help these centers collaborate with peer organizations to maintain a high level of programming. The network is comprised of leading contemporary art centers whose cutting-edge programming is in performing, visual, and media arts.

2008 Grant Recipients

Center: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Artists: Meredith Monk and Ann Hamilton
Project: Songs of Ascension
Exploring the spiritual, vocal and physical notions of ascension across geography and time, legendary composer/director/choreographer Meredith Monk joins forces with groundbreaking American installation artist Ann Hamilton to create their second live performance collaboration together. Combining Meredith Monk’s minimalist yet expressionistic vocal and instrumental music and iconoclastic theatricality with Ann Hamilton’s raw, sensual installation elements and video art, the collaboration brings leading forces of visual and performing arts together to challenge and inspire one another. Musically, the work will involve Ms. Monk, five members of her long-standing vocal ensemble, a string quartet of leading New York-based instrumentalists (led by violinist Todd Reynolds), and three additional instrumental musicians. The project will be in residence at the Walker Art Center for two weeks of full technical/developmental residency in June, 2008.

Center: Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus, OH)
Artist: William Forsythe
Project: William Forsythe: Performance and Video Installations
In partnership with OSU’s Advanced Computing Center for Arts and Design (ACCAD) and the Department of Dance (both well known for their innovative work exploring the intersection of new digital media and the arts), Forsythe is designing a new interactive web based project that analyzes his landmark work One Flat Thing (Reproduced) so that Forsythe’s choreography can be seen as a template for a variety of creative problem solving that can be applied to other practices and fields. The launch of this web project will take place at a variety of cities around the world, with the Columbus/OSU launch to take place in early 2009. For its launch event at OSU, the Wexner Center will organize a range of projects that complement the web project. In late January 2009, they will mount a series of Forsythe’s performance and installation projects including: a performance/installation work to be staged in the galleries, a large scale interactive outdoor video installation that morphs images of the approaching crowd transforming them into dancers, and another audience interactive work that invites all to perform.

Center: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Artist: Nick Cave and Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, Inc.
Project: Soundsuits
The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) is thrilled to conclude its '08-'09 season with a truly remarkable confluence of performing and visual art in their Exhibitions gallery, fusing the movement of renowned choreographer Ronald K. Brown and the shimmering Soundsuits of visionary sculptor Nick Cave. Praised as “one of the most profound choreographers of his generation,” Brown and his company EVIDENCE blend African, modern, ballet and hip-hop to tell stories about the human experience. As part of his residency at YBCA, Brown and EVIDENCE dancer Shani Collins will collaborate with local performers to bring to life Cave’s Soundsuits, ephemeral full-body sculptures composed of recycled clothing, beads, bottle caps, toys, twigs and hair. The exhibition, which runs in the galleries March 28 – July 12, represents the largest scale presentation of Cave’s career, and gives YBCA audiences the unique chance to experience his Soundsuits in performance. While these groundbreaking performance “happenings” will take place only three times, numerous activities and performances are planned in conjunction with the Nick Cave exhibition.

Center: REDCAT, Los Angeles, CA
Artist: David J (David Haskins)
Project: Silver for Gold

REDCAT is excited to be working with seminal music figure David J (Bauhaus, Love and Rockets) on an adventurous music, video and theater project inspired by the life of Edie Sedgwick, a tragic figure in the Warhol Factory scene. The new production, which features two actors, densely beautiful live music by a five-piece band, and multi-layered abstract video projections by artist Ego Plum, had its first work-in-progress presentations in March of 2008, and is slated to have its premiere at REDCAT in November/December of 2009. It will then be available for touring in early 2010.

Center: MassMoCA
Artist: Andrew Dosume and Philip Miller
Project: Hotentot Venus

The story will be told through song, set and video projection. The filmmaker, Andrew Dosume, will collaborate with the composer, Phillip Miller to create a contemporary “video diary” of the journey of Sara Baartman in Paris and London. Her journey will be shown through the eyes of Andrew Dosume, who is of Nigerian descent and who has lived in Paris and London where he has experienced being perceived as “the exotic other” who does not belong in a first world country.

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