For Immediate Release:
Press Contact: Tamar Fortgang, REDCAT Publicity and Promotions Manager
fortgang@calarts.edu / 661.253.7724
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Los Angeles, August 11 - California Institute of the Arts will host some of the world's most influential performing, visual, literary and media artists - as well as emerging artists who are poised to play an important role in the near future - during an ambitious second season at its downtown arts center REDCAT (The Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater), in the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex. Building on the success of a critically acclaimed inaugural season that quickly gave REDCAT a local and international reputation as a unique and important center for innovative artistic exchange and development, CalArts is again mixing local, national and global artists in a diverse series of programs that celebrate the role of visionary artists in the evolution of contemporary culture and society.
Mark Murphy, executive director of REDCAT, stresses that the wide range of events to be featured at the high-tech, downtown venue are adding to the groundbreaking history of California Institute of the Arts, located in Valencia, California. "In its 35 year history, CalArts has become one of the world's most influential and top-rated art schools because it encourages artists and students to ask vital questions, to challenge traditions, to invent new artistic forms, and to combine varied artistic disciplines and technologies," Murphy said. "At REDCAT we invite a larger audience, including the region's artists, to participate in that exciting process and to see the results of such experimentation by experiencing some of the most exciting works from around the country and around the world."
Dr. Steven D. Lavine, president of CalArts, adds that REDCAT's unique, trilateral model of presenting work from other cities, from CalArts and from local artists, benefits both Los Angeles and the Institute. "The visiting artists are not only sharing their work with audiences but are also working directly with our students. The exciting projects generated by CalArts faculty and students, such as those by the Center for New Theater, the CalArts New Century Players and the CalArts Dance Ensemble, give audiences a look at the latest developments from the Institute. And the programs that support the local arts community, including the NOW Festival and Studio, help build relationships between the region's artists and students preparing to enter that community, making CalArts both a better school and a greater contributor to the region's artistic growth."
New to REDCAT's multidisciplinary offerings in the 2004 - 2005 season is the addition of a six-event series of readings by influential writers. REDCAT is also expanding its discussion-based programs, such as the four-event President's Ideas and Dialogues series, which explore cultural and social issues in an informal format. More free programs for families and youth are also added, building on the tradition of CalArts' award-winning Community Arts Partnership (CAP) program, which links CalArts with dozens of local cultural, civic and educational organizations. The Lounge at REDCAT also expands its hours so that the unique coffee shop, Wi-Fi spot, bar and bookstore is open 6 days and nights a week, even on non-performance evenings. Recently described by The Los Angeles Times as "the best kept secret" of the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex, the Lounge features an eclectic selection of publications for sale through a partnership with Dutton's Brentwood Books.
The season continues REDCAT's yearlong celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Alpert Award in the Arts, by featuring past recipients of the fellowship in its various programs. The national awards are funded by the Herb Alpert Foundation and administered by CalArts. REDCAT also continues its commitment to featuring the work of artists from Mexico and Latin America, with a special emphasis on exchange with Mexico City artists, who are represented in dance, film, music and visual arts programs throughout the season.
The 2004 - 2005 REDCAT season programming is generously supported by The Herb Alpert Foundation; The Annenberg Foundation; Asian Cultural Council; Canada Council for the Arts; CONACULTA; CNMAT; The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., Performing Ensembles Program; Cultural Contact, the U.S.-Mexico Foundation for Culture; Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Consulates in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Robert B. Egelston; Étant Donnés, The French-American Fund for the Performing Arts; Factory Signage & Graphics; French-American Fund for Contemporary Music, a program of FACE; The J. Paul Getty Trust; Henson International Festival of Puppet Theater; The James Irvine Foundation; The Japan Foundation; Korea Foundation; The JL Foundation; The Sharon D. Lund Foundation; México Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores; National Dance Project; National Endowment for the Arts; Lee and Lawrence J. Ramer; Shiseido Co., Ltd.; The Skirball Foundation; Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust; and The Walt Disney Company.
Season sponsors include KCRW, Official Public Radio Sponsor; LA Weekly, Exclusive Alternative Weekly, Print Media Sponsor; The Standard, Official Hotel. Additional media sponsorship is from journals Afterall and Black Clock.
Just as a cat has nine lives, REDCAT's second season is organized into nine programs or series:
Ticketing and Information
Ticket prices range from free to $45. Discounts are available to students and seniors. Tickets can be purchased:
REDCAT is located at 631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 - at the corner of 2nd and Hope Streets in the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex. Parking is available in the Walt Disney Concert Hall parking structure and adjacent lots. For more information visit www.redcat.org.
Patrons requiring wheelchair-accessible seating or additional services, such as ASL interpretation, audio descriptive services or assisted listening devices, should contact the Box Office in advance: 213.237.2800.
REDCAT's hours beginning September 8, 2004, are:
Performances, performers, dates and times are subject to change.
Influential artists and companies at various stages of their careers are featured in this series of one and two-week residencies that also include discussions, workshops and interaction with the CalArts community.
September 22 - 26, 2004
The Wooster Group
Poor Theater -- West Coast Premiere
One of the world's most influential theatrical ensembles performs the West Coast premiere of Poor Theater, a highly physical and technically advanced production exploring two important figures in the history of contemporary performance. Director Elizabeth LeCompte takes the title of the group's latest work from Jerzy Grotowski's influential book Towards a Poor Theater, in which he advocates raw and intense theatrical experiences that are "stripped to the bare essentials." The first half of Poor Theater depicts the group's exploration of Grotowski's work, including a visit to his former studio in Poland, with both reverence and humor. The second portion of the production focuses on another contemporary innovator, choreographer William Forsythe, who was the artistic director of Ballet Frankfurt until earlier this year.
For almost thirty years The Wooster Group, under the direction of Elizabeth LeCompte, has cultivated new forms and techniques of theatrical expression reflective of and responsive to our evolving culture, while sustaining a consistent ensemble and maintaining a flexible repertory. The Wooster Group's theater pieces are constructed as assemblages of juxtaposed elements: radical stagings of both modern and classic texts, found materials, films and videos, dance and movement, multi-track scoring and an architectonic approach to theater design.
October 14 - 16, 2004
Vijay Iyer
In What Language?
Improvisational in nature and hybrid to the core, In What Language? is a 21st-century song cycle combining music by Alpert Award-winning pianist/composer Vijay Iyer with spoken text by poet/hip-hop artist Mike Ladd. The piece depicts the interior monologues of various travelers and laborers of color confronting the hyper-globalized setting of an international airport. Directed by Rachel Dickstein, the work is scored for seven musicians and four speaking voices, with lighting design and video projections by Clifton Taylor.
The collaborating artists were inspired by recent political events and tightened travel restrictions, writing that "in the post-9/11 world, we are all suspects: probed, interrogated, x-rayed and doubted. A song cycle of powerful narrative invention and ravishing trance-jazz, In What Language? is about nothing less than the death of trust."
October 20 - 24, 2004
Peter Sellars
For An End to the Judgment of God / Kissing God Good-bye
U.S. Premiere of Sellars' new production of the texts by Antonin Artaud / June Jordan
World-renowned director Peter Sellars stages his own translation of Antonin Artaud's For An End to the Judgment of God-- the controversial writer's hallucinogenic, searing and prophetic final text -- and couples it with poet June Jordan's epic Kissing God Goodbye, in this powerful and politically potent production.
Acclaimed Los Angeles performer John Malpede portrays a high-level Pentagon official, delivering Artaud's text as a video-enhanced press briefing on the progress of the government's war on terrorism. The courageous response in a woman's voice is Jordan's profound poem, described by Sellars as "opening a path forward with passion and clarity and love into a different 21st century." Originally created for the 2003 Vienna Festival, the production represents a rare Los Angeles presentation of a work by the internationally praised director in the city he calls home.
November 3 - 7, 2004
Rennie Harris
The Legends of Hip-Hop
Alpert Award-winning dancer, choreographer and hip-hop historian Rennie Harris celebrates some of the visionary artists who helped invent and define hip-hop dance and culture in this special presentation of The Legends of Hip-Hop. The program features the Philadelphia-based Harris as well as a variety of special guests. Scheduled to appear are such influential performers as The Electric Boogaloos, Don "Campbell Locking" Campbell, Crazy Legs and Boogaloo Sam. The performances are accentuated with archival film footage and live narration to both entertain and educate audiences about the rapidly evolving urban cultural form.
Rennie Harris is dedicated to preserving and disseminating hip-hop culture through his Philadelphia company Puremovement. Because his work is so diverse, fusing classical text with hip-hop vocabulary, and mixing hip-hop music with rock, modern and classical sounds, it has the power to touch many different lives. In addition to a 2004 Alpert Award in the Arts, Harris has been recognized with three Bessie Awards, two Black Theater Alvin Ailey Awards and a nomination for a Lawrence Olivier Award (UK).
January 19 - 23, 2005
Big Art Group
Flicker -- West Coast Premiere
Part multimedia extravaganza and part slasher film, Flicker uses inventive technology and high voltage live performance to create an innovative storytelling form that director Caden Manson calls "Real Time Film." Manson's New York company uses the language of media in a unique narrative form, pushing the formal boundaries of theater and film to create culturally transgressive and challenging new works.
Flicker merges live video projection and split-second choreography, in which two movies collide into each other to tell a dark tale, exploring the need to comprehend the "irreality" of death and the everyday presence of violence. Manson describes Flicker as "a comedy that is vulgar and venomous, vital and voracious," adding that he hopes his "satirical attacks counter the sanitized commercialism of today's theater by asserting garbage as a symbol of purity."
February 16 - 20, 2005
Contradanza and Rosanna Gamson / World Wide
Aura -- World Premiere
Mexico City's acclaimed contemporary dance company Contradanza collaborates with Los Angeles choreographer Rosanna Gamson and her company World Wide to premiere Aura, a new international collaboration. The evening-length dance theater piece is inspired by Mexican author Carlos Fuentes' famous novella Aura, a ghost story set in a labyrinthine unnamed city. RG/WW in collaboration with Mexican choreographer Cecilia Appleton and her company Contradanza merge movement, bilingual text and evocative theatrical images to explore the duality of Latino and Anglo cultures in Los Angeles.
RG/WW and Contradanza are both highly regarded in their respective communities of Los Angeles and Mexico City.
March 9 - 13, 2005
Donna Uchizono
Butterflies from My Hand
A quickly rising star in the dance world, Donna Uchizono and her New York company make their Los Angeles debut with Butterflies from My Hand, a provocative and richly physical dance theater project described by The New York Times as "an exciting hour-long theatrical tempest." Uchizono's unique movement vocabulary is inspired by personal experiences of resistance, loss, power and uncertainty in this dance utilizing striking visual imagery to guide its kinetic direction. Set to a forceful and multilayered soundscore by Bessie Award-winning composer Guy Yarden, Butterflies' New York premiere prompted The Village Voice to write, "sometimes you see a work so uniquely itself and so perfect in itself that you hope you'll never forget it. Like Donna Uchizono's Butterflies from My Hand."
March 23 - April 3, 2005
Andre Gregory Directs Beckett
Endgame -- World Premiere of a new production of the play by Samuel Beckett.
Andre Gregory, one of the most celebrated directors in the history of contemporary theater, premieres a new production of Endgame, a play he describes as "one of the great masterpieces of 20th century drama, a dark and vertiginous dissent into a laughing hell. Playwright Samuel Beckett's dilemma was how, after Auschwitz, to write a play that wouldn't seem obscenely frivolous. His solution to that dilemma was Endgame."
Since his controversial and critically acclaimed 1973 New York production, Andre Gregory has returned to the text once every decade. As in that historic production, Gerry Bamman and Larry Pine again portray the characters Hamm and Clov, and are joined in the cast by Peter Maloney and Roberta Maxwell. A staunch proponent of the avant-garde theater movement, Andre Gregory was one of the most influential actor/directors on the off-Broadway scene of the early 1970s and then established himself as an actor/director/writer for film (My Dinner With Andre, Vanya on 42nd Street and others). Gregory says that he thought he would never direct Endgame again, "and then there was the attack on the Twin Towers. And then there was the Bush administration. And, then -- Iraq."
HAMM: What's the weather like?
CLOV: Gray period. Gray period. Gray period. Light black from pole to pole.
Center for New Theater (CNT) at CalArts was established in 1999 as a forum for the creation of groundbreaking theatrical performance. Seminal artists from around the world are brought to CNT to develop work that expands the language, discourse and boundaries of contemporary theater. CNT supports a producing model that is artist- and project-specific; giving priority to performances that cannot be easily produced in other circumstances -- either because of scale of vision or extremity of aesthetic. CNT is led by Artistic Director Travis Preston, Producing Director Carol Bixler and Acting Dean Jon Gottlieb of the CalArts School of Theater.
November 24 - December 12, 2004
Macbeth (A Modern Ecstasy)
The first CNT production of the season is a radical re-imagination of Shakespeare's Macbeth directed by Artistic Director Travis Preston and performed by Stephen Dillane, celebrated for his work on the London and Broadway stages (2000 Tony as Best Actor in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing) and in film (The Hours opposite Nicole Kidman).
In this incarnation, the entire performance text of Macbeth becomes a "score" that is played by Dillane while he shares the stage with musicians performing the original compositions of CalArts faculty member Vinny Golia. Dillane becomes a site of transformation as his body and voice are possessed by myriad characters, and the constantly shifting manifestations of Macbeth's consciousness, accentuating the musical force and incantatory power of Shakespeare's tragic masterpiece. Macbeth (A Modern Ecstasy) is being developed at the 2004 Sundance Institute Theater Lab.
April 21 - 24, 2005
11 September 2001
Les Troyennes d'après Euripide
(The Trojans after Euripides)
In association with the Théâtre Dijon Bourgogne -- World Premiere
A landmark international collaboration between CNT and the Théâtre Dijon Bourgogne gives birth to two world premiere productions. Acclaimed French playwright Michel Vinaver's 11 September 2001 and Les Troyennes d'après Euripide are presented as companion pieces in a single evening, both directed by Robert Cantarella, director of the National Dramatic Center of Dijon.
Together, the two plays represent a complex series of perspectives on lives irrevocably altered by war and conflict. Collaged from newspaper statements and documentaries, 11 September 2001 was originally written by Vinaver in English as a deeply moving elegy and requiem for the victims of 9/11. Les Troyennes is a new adaptation by Vinaver of Euripides' classic tragedy about the suffering of the conquered and the harrowing consequences of a triumphant wrong.
April 28 - May 1, 2005
Invisible Glass
In association with the Cotsen Center for Puppetry and the Arts -- World Premiere
Inventive filmmaker, visual artist and puppeteer Janie Geiser collaborates with Alpert Award-winning playwright Erik Ehn and adventurous composer Tom Recchion to create Invisible Glass. The multimedia work employs puppets, live actors and film to explore the idea of the "Doppelgänger," or spirit double made flesh, in this updated version of Edgar Allen Poe's short story "William Wilson."
An Obie Award-winner, Geiser is the director of the Cotsen Center for Puppetry and the Arts, established at CalArts in 1998 with the goal of making the most creative developments in contemporary puppetry available to students across the Institute's six schools.
The Sharon Disney Lund Dance Series presents a wide variety of performances, workshops and newly commissioned projects. The program features both local and national guest artists, as well as presentations by students and faculty of CalArts' newly named Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance under the artistic direction of Dean Cristyne Lawson.
November 3 - 7, 2004
Rennie Harris
The Legends of Hip-Hop
The Alpert Award-winning choreographer is featured in a special presentation. See description under New Directions Series.
December 17 - 18, 2004
CalArts Dance Ensemble
The CalArts Dance Ensemble celebrates its 25th anniversary under the artistic direction of Dean Cristyne Lawson. This special, multimedia presentation explores a quarter century of experimentation and growth, while casting an eye on fresh new directions in dance.
February 16 - 20, 2005
Contradanza and Rosanna Gamson / World Wide
Aura -- World Premiere
REDCAT builds on its commitment to U.S.-Mexico exchange with this world premiere collaboration between Mexico City's Contradanza and Los Angeles' Rosanna Gamson/World Wide. See description under New Directions Series.
March 9 - 13, 2005
Donna Uchizono
Butterflies from My Hand
New York choreographer Donna Uchizono and her company make their Los Angeles debut with a work described by The New York Times as "an hour-long theatrical tempest." See description under New Directions Series.
May 13 - 14, 2005
CalArts Spring Dance
Special guest artists, CalArts faculty members and student choreographers join forces for the annual spring celebration of innovative work from the Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance.
The Musical Explorations Series is an expanded, yearlong version of the annual festival presented by the CalArts School of Music, under the artistic direction of Dean David Rosenboom. Offering a rich variety of creative performances, the series features interactive computer-based music and electronica, contemporary and traditional chamber music, improvisation, jazz, world music and, in particular, unique and surprising intercultural collaboration and crossover.
September 16 - 17, 2004
Transplant: France
A Multimedia Celebration of French New Music
Transplant: France presents music and visuals by young French artists Alain Escalle, Cécile Le Prado, Pierre-Yves Macé and Gilbert Nouno collaborating with French and American performers. The performance launches a two-week tour of the West Coast, with a program featuring new music, film and video, performed by the composers themselves and performers from CalArts. In addition, renowned French bassist Joëlle Léandre joins Music Dean David Rosenboom (piano), William Winant (percussion) and David Wessel (computer system) for a California/French improvisation summit.
September 18, 2004
Harold Budd
sound.
Harold Budd's reductive strategies in composition and improvisation are legendary. He has worked with Brian Eno, Marion Brown, The Cocteau Twins and many others to create luscious and beautiful music that is as subtle as it is daring. Budd will play pieces from The Room, Luxa, The White Arcades and fragments from 1000 Chords and 21 Songs; solo piano works new, old and unknown; and duets with guests saxophonist Jon Gibson (Philip Glass Ensemble) and percussionist Alex Cline.
Co-presented with the Society for the Activation of Social Space Through Art and Sound (SASSAS) and curated by Cindy Bernard, Joe Potts and Tom Recchion.
October 5 - 6, 2004
Arte Sonoro Festival
International Sound Art from Mexico City
Six composer/performers from the next generation of Mexican electroacoustic artists present groundbreaking sound art that questions the status quo in music and culture, and re-envisions their relationship with their heritage and cultural traditions. The artists featured are Mario de Vega, Guillermo Galindo, Manuel Rocha Iturbide, Manrico Montero, Álvaro Ruiz and Roberto Morales Manzanares. The program includes Mario de Vega's cut p s: Improvisation for a vinyl cutter and max/msp, in which the front page of a passport is cut with a vinyl cutter plotter machine, the resulting mechanical sounds and video documentation digitally processed and diffused; and Guillermo Galindo's Maíz, which introduces his "cybertotemic" instrument -- a talisman more connected to its earthly function as a utilitarian object than to its role as a new musical instrument made from computers and abandoned machinery parts.
October 14 - 16, 2004
Vijay Iyer
In What Language?
Alpert Award-winning composer Vijay Iyer collaborates with poet/hip-hop artist Mike Ladd on a new music theater work titled In What Language? See description under New Directions Series.
November 9, 2004
SCREAM
Southern California Resource for Electroacoustic Music
In celebration of the 20th anniversary of SEAMUS (Society for Electroacoustic Music in the U.S.), SCREAM will feature live electroacoustic works by CalArts composers, including world premieres by Anne LeBaron and Barry Schrader, and works by David Rosenboom, James Tenney and Mark Trayle. Analog performers include clarinetist William Powell and other guests will also be featured.
November 11, 2004
James Tenney at 70
with Montreal's Bozzini Quartet
A retrospective of works by composer and CalArts faculty member James Tenney, featuring Montreal's Bozzini Quartet, which has toured these works to numerous international venues. Tenney was once called "the most famous unknown composer in America" based on his underground reputation for works composed in the 1960s and '70s. In recent years his music, beautiful sounds arising from unusual tunings and process-based perceptual transformations, is increasingly heard in Europe. The Bozzini Quartet will be joined by additional guest artists to be announced.
CalArts New Century Players
The CalArts New Century Players (NCP) is a repertory ensemble devoted to the exploration and exposition of new languages for contemporary music. The NCP regularly presents premieres of new works with a goal of introducing audiences to music they are unlikely to encounter elsewhere. This year the NCP expands its core program to embrace co-creative influences among experimental traditions, structured improvisation and new narrative forms.
October 28, 2004
The American Experimental Tradition Meets New British Explorers
Pioneer experimental composers Ruth Crawford Seeger and Johanna Magdelena Beyer are teamed with more recently acclaimed American experimentalists Lejaren Hiller and CalArts faculty member Anne LeBaron to juxtapose their work with that of the British standard-bearers of "mythic modernism" and "the new complexity," Harrison Birtwistle and Brian Ferneyhough, respectively.
May 9, 2005
Emerging Composers
The New Century Players have performed the most compelling works by composers in the CalArts graduate program for over twenty years. This season, the culminating performance of graduate composers' works will showcase these selected emerging artists downtown.
The New Century Players at the Creative Music Festival
February 4, 2005
Yusef Lateef, John Zorn and George Crumb
The world premiere of a recently completed string quartet by jazz master Yusef Lateef; Necronomicon, an extremely challenging string quartet by John Zorn; and Black Angels by George Crumb. Presented in conjunction with Los Angeles Music Studio, www.lamstu.org.
February 5, 2005
John Zorn
An evening of solo and chamber works by John Zorn. The "downtown" legend who first made his name as an improviser, will work with NCP in a CalArts residency to hone his recent compositions which are through-composed, technically demanding works of great complexity and appeal. He has not appeared in Los Angeles for 20 years, and this program will demonstrate a new side of him to his large following here.
January 26, 2005
Voice Box
World premieres created for specific human voices highlight this unique program featuring acclaimed vocalists Paul Berkolds, baritone, and Jacqueline Bobak, soprano, who are faculty members in the CalArts voice program. The evening includes the premiere of Vocablement for two solo voices by Mark Bobak; Metamorphoses by William Brooks for two voices, with electronics and texts by Ovid and Shakespeare; a new work by Vinny Golia and other works. Other guest artists will also be featured.
January 28 - 29, 2005
CEAIT Festival
Center for Experiments in Art, Information and Technology
" … consistently provocative enough to perpetuate its status as an important new contender in the international network of multimedia experimental festivals." -- The Los Angeles Times, 2004
The continuation of an innovative series with numerous international guest artists. This year will include Eliane Radigue, a renowned senior French electronic composer who rarely travels, presenting work following a residency at the School of Music.
February 23, 2005
Susan Allen, Harp
In a radical remix of music for harp, renegade harpist Susan Allen again breaks new ground in new works with vocalist Maurita Phillips Thornburgh and William Powell (clarinet). Also featured is her "All-Star" free, leaderless improvisation ensemble, culled from the past decade of CalArts graduates and cultural crossovers with music from North India.
March 3, 2005
George Crumb at 75
An American composer and teacher, Crumb's music is a rich, expressive blend of new and innovative techniques, often involving aspects of theater. His scores often call for aspects of theater, unusual instrumental combinations or new ways of producing sounds. Performance of his chamber music works by CalArts musicians.
March 16, 2005
Ensemble Inauthentica
Dark Matters
This adventurous Los Angeles ensemble led by Calarts faculty member Mark Menzies features prominent Los Angeles new music players in works that explore such provocative themes as the untiring energy of the Furies and the endless cycle of violent doom they portend. Including works by Hugh Livingston, Lucky Mosko, Roger Reynolds and Wolfgang Rihm, plumb the dark and light of the very essence of the human condition.
April 7 - 9, 2005
Bell Solaris
Twelve Metamorphoses in Piano Theater
Bell Solaris began as a concert-length composition for solo piano, composed by American experimental music pioneer, David Rosenboom, with music built upon an underlying narrative about evolution expressed through transfigured myths. Now, renowned theater and opera director Travis Preston has conceived an enveloping theatrical experience of the same piece, expressed through the choreographed movements of a large ensemble of performers interacting with the on-stage musical performance while wearing multiple video cameras and moving projectors to capture and display performance images. Preston will create an extravagant visual score, an imagistic expansion of the music that intensifies the audience's listening experience and brings them into closer communion with the ecstasies and meditations of the music and the musician. The work will be performed by David Rosenboom.
April 14 - 16, 2005
Synaesthesia
Filmmakers Listen, Composers See
This film and music weekend brings together the CalArts School of Film/Video and the School of Music to present milestone collaborations between composers and filmmakers from different eras and genres accompanied by live music performances or by their original soundtracks. Music will range from acoustic instrument to electronic and found sounds, and includes such diverse styles as avant-garde, jazz, electroacoustic and sound collage.
Additional 2005 Music Highlights include:
Bassoons
Celebrating the bassoon through approaches ranging from the traditional concerto form (but lower) to jazz to improvisation. Featured artists are CalArts faculty Julie Feves; alumni Sara Schoenbeck, Amber Ferenz, Jonathan Stehney and John Veloz playing pieces by CalArts faculty Anne LeBaron and Marc Lowenstein; Steven Hoey and Sofia Gubaidulina; and performing works from his latest solo CD Voodoo Suite, "the incredible bassoonist Paul Hanson … [who] blew the entire audience away. The bassoon isn't supposed to be able to be played so fast but Hanson did it, digging deep into the changes, combining awesome technique and precise articulation with hot fire." - California JAZZ NOW
Javanese Gamelan Kyai Dorodasih
(Venerable dream come true)
The riveting music-traditional Javanese repertoire and new work-and expressive dance drama of CalArts'Javanese gamelan Kyai Dorodasih, under the direction of I Nyoman Wenten and Nanik Wenten.
Guitars and Pianos
A dual event featuring the most outstanding performances from CalArts' guitar and piano programs heard previously during the CalArts 2004-05 season. The guitar half of the program will include examples of the best work CalArts guitar students have performed during the season, a variety of music-from the classical, blues, Balkan, Brazilian, jazz, flamenco, rock, free improvisation genres, and original compositions-played on nylon string, steel string, electric and Warr guitars. The piano half will include diverse avant-garde and traditional repertoire.
Chamber Music All Stars
Selected great performances from chamber music heard on CalArts campus during the 2004-5 season, with the possible inclusion of major classical guest artist(s) performing with students.
Interdisciplinary Festival
The best genre-bending work produced through the CalArts Interdisciplinary Projects Program.
Drawing on a variety of cultural perspectives from around the globe, this series is dedicated to expanding the definitions of the moving image in film, video and new media. It features curated surveys and retrospectives, a showcase for Los Angeles-area filmmakers and video artists, a special series of Monday night screening and in-person presentations by influential international film and video artists. Emphasizing independent artistic and intellectual vision, the curators of this series combine fresh looks at classic independent films and videos with exciting new work by emerging artists.
October 1 - 3, 2004
Fic/Ciné
Latin American Fiction Into Film
REDCAT is proud to collaborate with the Latin American Cinemateca of Los Angeles (LACLA), an organization dedicated to promoting and increasing the visibility of Latin American cinema, to screen works by established and emerging Latino filmmakers. Fic/Ciné features a combination of classic and contemporary films from Brazil, Mexico and Chile that interpret some of the most beloved works by Latin American and European writers of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Latin American cinema has a long-standing love affair with literature, and some of its outstanding achievements have involved close collaboration between authors and film directors. Among the works under consideration are films by Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, Luis Buñuel, Busi Cortés, Arturo Ripstein, Raul Ruíz, Valeria Sarmiento and Matilde Landeta, the pioneering Mexican filmmaker.
November 12 - 14, 2004
L.A. Freewaves
How to Resist
This nationally renowned biannual celebration of artist-made videos and films is, at 15 years, one of the longest running festivals devoted to personal independent media in the country. The programs are selected by a group of established curators, critics and artists, including CalArts faculty member and award-winning filmmaker Thom Andersen, and are drawn from over 1,000 works submitted by artists living primarily in the Los Angeles area.
March 17 - 20, 2005
A New Critical Cinema:
Film and Social Critique in Contemporary Latin America
Conceived by the School of Critical Studies at CalArts, this program explores the intersection of social critique and current Latin American film. Feature films from Argentina, Brazil and Mexico will be the focus of screenings and panel discussions at both REDCAT and CalArts' Bijou Theater. The films deal potently with issues such as street culture, urban violence, political conditions, family values, sexual identity and class divisions.
Highlighted films, some of which will be regional premieres, include Red Bear, Bus 174 and Japón. Short film selections emphasize women film and video artists, including Ximena Cuevas and Mariana Botey. Several directors, actors and cinematographers will participate.
April 14 - 16, 2005
Synaesthesia
Composers and filmmakers share the stage in this collaborative celebration. See description under Musical Explorations Series.
Jack Skirball Screenings Series
Special Monday night screenings dedicated to philanthropist Jack Skirball will include several evenings featuring in-person presentations by major experimental, documentary and narrative independent film and video artists.
Some of the artists participating in this year's season include Betzy Bromberg with A Darkness Swallowed; experimental works by Shanghai-based multidisciplinary artist Yang Fudong; Phillip Rodriguez with Los Angeles Now; James Benning with two feature-length films, 13 Lakes and Ten Skies, an evening of films by Joseph Cornell, a screening of Ken Jacobs' profound political meditation-critique Star Spangled To Death; several programs of historic and contemporary animation; critic-historian J. Hoberman on films of the '60s (with a signing of his new book on the subject), as well as appearances by Janie Geiser and Nathaniel Dorsky and Alpert Award winners Ellen Bruno and Renee Tajima-Peña.
As a continuation of CalArts' commitment to experimentation and innovation in the arts, the Gallery at REDCAT provides a lively venue for exciting projects to engage art practice around the globe and down the street. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Sunday (closed Mondays), from 12 - 6 pm or curtain. Always free.
September 9 - October 31, 2004
White Noise
Opening Reception: September 8, 7-9 p.m.
REDCAT begins its second season with White Noise, a group exhibition about disruptions and interferences on the visual, sonic and structural landscape. Works in White Noise reveal images lurking just beneath the surface of consciousness. Using video, photography and sculpture, artists in the exhibition capture easily overlooked or hidden elements in the everyday perceptive field. White Noise includes works by Artemio, Stefan Brüggemann, Felipe Dulzaides, Rubén Gutiérrez, Tercerunquinto, and Laureana Toledo, as well as CalArts Alumnus Rodney McMillian and CalArts faculty member Shirley Tse. Artist Talk: Wednesday, September 8 at 6 p.m.
November 18, 2004 - January 16, 2005
Gimhongsok and Sora Kim
Opening Reception: November 17, 6-9 p.m.
The installations of Gimhongsok and Sora Kim propose a logic of transcendence in the face of rampant consumerism and today's technological regime. Gimhongsok's work Boat (2001-2), considers its own integral relationship to the motion, logic, and internal economy of exhibitions. Sora Kim's interactive installations such as Capitol Plus Credit Union offer provocative and necessary explorations of the subjectivity of value and consumption. Their collaboration Chronic Historical Interpretation Syndrome (2003) was featured in the 50th Venice Biennale. Following a month-long residency in Los Angeles, Gimhongsok and Sora Kim will create a new project for REDCAT. Both artists live and work in Seoul. Artist Talk: Saturday, November 20 at 3 p.m.
February 3 - April 3, 2005
Buried Treasure: Taro Shinoda
Opening Reception: February 2, 6-9 p.m.
Taro Shinoda's works often engage issues of science, adaptation, and desire. In his installation PSP (Personal Satellite Project) (2002), videos and miniature hand-sculpted satellite models atop chrome computer bases offer a consideration of ownership and access to airspace. Shinoda's subsequent works continue this existentialist exploration of the science and space. In Godhand (2002), a giant wing is connected to an actual jet engine. Its potential movement suggests a dangerous yet fascinating manipulation of space through velocity and energy. Buried Treasure will feature new work initiated during a three-month residency in Los Angeles. Artist Talk: Saturday, February 5 at 3 p.m.
April 13 - May 29, 2005
Facing the Music
Opening Reception: April 13, 6-9 p.m.
A five-year long project by James Baker, Anthony Hernandez, Karin Apollonia Müller, Allan Sekula and Billy Woodberry, Facing the Music investigates the urban fabric of downtown Los Angeles in the wake of the construction of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The artists worked outward from the main entrance of the Concert Hall at First Street and Grand Avenue to explore the intersection of the new axis of culture and official spirituality and the older axis of government and official media in Los Angeles. The exhibition will include photography, digital media and video projection, as well as a lecture series. Artist Talk: Saturday, April 13 at 3pm
June 16 - August 21, 2005
Margaret Kilgallen
Opening Reception: June 15, 6-9 p.m.
Margaret Kilgallen devoured "old-time" sources with an insatiable ear and respectful eye: Appalachian music, hand-painted signage, letterpress printing, hobo train writing and all host of religious and decorative arts. In her large painted installations, and small works on metal trays and small wooden scraps, the artist unearthed letterforms and numbers in long forgotten scripts, revisiting the pace of craftsmanship and the personal tales buried beneath official history. Kilgallen's work has been exhibited at the UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia.
An Election Week Special!
October 26 - 31, 2004
WAR! PROTEST IN AMERICA 1965 - 2004
In addition to these exhibitions, The Gallery at REDCAT is pleased to present a week of daily lobby screenings and discussions and screenings in the theater on October 26 and 31.
War! Protest in America 1965-2004 brings together documentary and experimental films motivated by the political and social turbulence of the past forty years-films engaged with civil rights, black power, personal liberation and political action. The program is co-organized by Whitney Museum Curator Chrissie Iles and artist Sam Durant and presented by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and REDCAT. Durant and Iles will speak about the films on October 31. Detailed screening schedule to be announced.
The Whitney's film series runs from August 29 - October 24. For information on screenings in New York visit www.whitney.org.
REDCAT launches its new series of readings by innovative authors, curated by writer and CalArts faculty member John D'Agata. Cited by Annie Dillard as "redefining the modern American essay," D'Agata has curated a selection of writers who are helping to redefine the art of writing in all of its forms.
September 19, 2004
William T. Vollmann
William T. Vollman has written 11 books, including The Rainbow Stories, Whores for Gloria, Butterfly Stories and the first four installments of a projected seven book series entitled Seven Dreams. In 2004 McSweeney's Books published Rising Up and Rising Down, a 3,700-page meditation on the history and purpose of human violence, which was nominated for a National Book Award. He has received a Whiting Foundation Award, a PEN American Award and three of his books have been named "Notable Books of the Year" by The New York Times.
October 12, 2004
Jorie Graham
Jorie Graham, who won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize, has been called America's most important living poet. She has written nine books of poetry, including Erosion, The End of Beauty, The Dream of the Unified Field and The Errancy. She has collaborated with photographer Jeanette Montgomery on a photography and poetry collection, edited the highly influential anthology Earth Took of Earth, and been the guest editor of The Best American Poetry. She has taught at the Writers' Workshop in Iowa, was Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets between 1997 and 2003, and currently holds the Boylston Chair in Oratory at Harvard University, a position previously held by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Graham has received awards from the Lila Wallace-Readers Digest Fund and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1997, The Nation ranked her among the five most influential poets in American literary history, along with Emily Dickinson, Ezra Pound and Elizabeth Bishop.
November 10, 2004
Mary Caponegro
Mary Caponegro has written four books of fiction, including Tales from the Next Village, The Star Café, Five Doubts and The Complexities of Intimacy. She has received awards from the Westinghouse Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation and, in 1992 the prestigious Rome Prize from the Academy of American Arts and Letters. She has taught at Brown University, the University of Syracuse and Bard College, where she currently holds a Chair in Literature. The Washington Post has called her a "master of the English language with fugue-like impression," The American Book Review has called her work "irresistibly brilliant," and William Gass has called her "a godsend."
February 1, 2005
Joe Wenderoth
Joe Wenderoth is an author whose works include Disfortune, It Is If I Speak and Letters to Wendy's. He currently teaches at the University of California at Davis and has been a professor of literature at Columbia University and Southwest State University in Minnesota. His groundbreaking book Letters to Wendy's was for a long time an underground Internet cult favorite, but after being excerpted in Harper's Magazine it sold over 7,000 copies and received such accolades as "[Wenderoth's work] is likely to be known eventually in American literary history as the most apt, able and adventurous ars poetica to be produced for and by Generation X," from The Boston Review. And, in 2001, Rolling Stone called him "one of the ten best writers under thirty five."
March 1, 2005
Junot Díaz
Junot Díaz' debut fiction collection, Drown, was one of the most acclaimed books of 1996. Hailed by critics in publications as diverse as The Review of Contemporary Fiction and People magazine, he has been called by Walter Mosely "a marvel" whose work "explodes off the page into the canon of literature as well as our hearts." The Village Voice has described his fiction as "shifting gears from the sultry tropics to the New Jersey hood … fluid texts of heartfelt, artful sociology," and The New York Times compared Díaz in its first review of his work to Raymond Carver, writing that Díaz "transfigures disorder and disorientation with a rigorous sense of form … wringing the heart with finely calibrated restraint." He has been the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Award, the 2002 PEN/Malamud Prize and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. He is a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard and a professor of creative writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His stories have been published in the New Yorker, Harper's, the Paris Review and The Best American Stories of 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2000. His novel, The Cheater's Guide to Love, is due out next year.
April 5, 2005
Harryette Mullen
Los Angeles poet Harryette Mullen is the author of six collections of poetry; Blues Baby, Tree Tall Woman, Trimmings, S*PeRM**K*T, Muse & Drudge, and, most recently, Sleeping with the Dictionary, which was a finalist for the 2002 National Book Award. The Village Voice has described her work as "infectious linguistic torques," the Boston Review writes, "submit to its 'blah-blah' and you'll be delighted by what you find," and Henry Louis Gates Jr. has called her simply "engaging." An active participant in the Black Arts Movement of the 1970s, Mullen has received an award from the Wurlitzer Foundation, the Gertrude Stein Award for Innovative American Poetry and the Rockefeller Fellowship from the Susan B. Anthony Institute for Women's Studies. She has taught at Cornell University, the University of Texas at Austin and UCLA, where she is currently professor of African-American literature and creative writing.
A Special Symposium
October 29 - 30, 2004
The Séance in Experimental Writing
In addition to the reading series, REDCAT also presents a special two day symposium titled The Séance in Experimental Writing, which brings an international group of authors, poets and thinkers together for conversations on language, narrative, possession, haunting, the supernatural and the ordinary. Evening readings will be featured as well as a series of daytime discussions. Participants include Dodie Bellamy, Charles Bernstein, Christian Bok, Dennis Cooper, Bob Gluck, Kenneth Goldsmith, Eileen Myles, Shelley Jackson, Kevin Killian, Ben Marcus, Joan Retallack, Steven Shaviro, Madeline Gins and Cristina Revera-Garza.
The President's Ideas and Dialogues series invites some of today's most inventive artists, thinkers and cultural leaders to join CalArts President Dr. Steven D. Lavine for conversations about critical issues and developments in arts and society.
September 29, 2004
The Birth of a New Media/ Literary Form
Norman Klein and Andreas Kratky
The series opens with a screening/presentation of Norman Klein's path-breaking DVD-ROM Bleeding Through: Layers of Los Angeles 1920 - 1986. An interactive crime novella that takes us deep into the territory of film noir and Los Angeles' lost past, Bleeding Through ... may well be the breakthrough into new media-enriched narrative that a generation of writers and media artists have sought. A faculty member at CalArts and author of The History of Forgetting: Los Angeles and the Erasure of Memory, Klein will be joined by internationally acclaimed media designer Andreas Kratky in a discussion of the emergence of a new literary form described in The Los Angeles Times as "overwhelming in its information, yet full of loss and silence."
October 26, 2004
War, Civil Liberties and the Arts
Sam Durant, Martin Plot and Stephen Rohde
One week prior to the presidential election, artist and CalArts faculty member Sam Durant presents a short selection of anti-war films, followed by a discussion of art and civil liberties in an era of global fears. The dialogue also includes Stephen Rohde, lawyer, writer and immediate past president of the Southern California branch of the ACLU, and Martin Plot, political and social theorist, and CalArts faculty member. Topics include the implications of recent Supreme Court decisions concerning prisoners held in relation to the war in Iraq and the strategies and responsibilities of artists in an age of growing anti-intellectualism.
March 2, 2005
Tradition and Contemporary Creation in Persian Music
Ostad Manoochehr Sadeghi
A performance/demonstration by Iranian santur virtuoso and NEA National Heritage Fellow Ostad Manoochehr Sadeghi will serve as a launching point for discussions of traditional and contemporary Persian music. He will be joined by other musicians and musicologists in a discussion about both the purities of traditional practice and the musically exciting possibilities of contemporary forms and cross-cultural fusions.
April 12, 2005
What Makes a Great Magazine?
Gil Maurer, Eric Nakamura, Steve Wasserman and Martin Wong
"What makes a great magazine?" is the question that drives a discussion exploring the special alchemy when the right editor confronts the zeitgeist to create a magazine that speaks to and reflects the moment. Guests include Gil Maurer, former president of Hearst Magazines and winner of the Henry Johnson Fisher award for distinguished service to the magazine industry; Eric Nakamura and Martin Wong, the founders and co-editors of Giant Robot, and Steve Wasserman, who has been the editor of The Los Angeles Times Book Review since 1996.
This final forum coincides with the release of new editions of CalArts magazines: Afterall, a journal of art, context and enquiry, and Black Clock, a literary journal.
The Community Arts Partnership (CAP) presents work by talented young artists taking part in CalArts' youth arts education programs, which include fine art, animation, digital arts, graphic design, printmaking, photography, modern and world dance, chamber music, jazz, world music, theater, puppetry, video, creative writing and public art. A vital contributor to the arts in Southern California and beyond, CAP links CalArts to prominent community arts centers throughout the greater Los Angeles area. Applying the same methods of individualized arts training and mentoring used at CalArts, CAP combines the skills and resources of CalArts faculty and students and those of its community partners to nurture promising young artists and to encourage a diverse range of artistic and cultural perspectives. CAP also enables CalArts students to gain valuable teaching experience while taking an active role in their communities.
A variety of free events will soon be announced, including concerts of world music, jazz and classical music, as well as a special puppetry performance and a screening of youth animation projects.
Highlights of these free offerings include:
October 17, 2004, Noon to 6 pm
REDCAT joins its neighbors for the Grand Avenue Festival in presenting a variety of free concerts featuring world music, jazz and participatory workshops, including many of the musical ensembles developed through the Community Arts Partnership.
May 27 - 28, 2005
CAP/Plaza de la Raza Youth Theater production
Youth participants in the CAP/Plaza de la Raza theater program are creating an original musical theater work which will be performed at REDCAT following its two-week run at Plaza de la Raza.
REDCAT is expanding its role as a resource for the Los Angeles arts community with more opportunities for local performing artists to develop high-risk creative experiments in a supportive setting, with a well-equipped space, a professional technical team and audiences primed for daring work.
Studio 2004 - 05
The Studio Series encourages artists to develop innovative new performances and experiment with the boundaries of their disciplines. Designed to nurture emerging Los Angeles-area performing artists, Studio is a quarterly series that features short new works and works-in-progress by dance, theater, music and interdisciplinary artists. The high-tech REDCAT serves as a working tool for adventurous artists and audiences. Each edition is curated by a team of leading Los Angeles artists.
September 12 - 13, 2004
March 6 - 7, 2005
May 22 - 23, 2005
Click here for audition information and submission deadlines.
July 14 - 31, 2005
NOW Fest
The Second Annual New Original Works Festival
"A boon to the embattled dance and performance community ... NOW gives the REDCAT audience opportunities to help ambitious, energetic artists hone and focus their intentions. And those opportunities are rare." -- The Los Angeles Times
Launching new projects and bold regional voices, the New Original Works Festival gives Los Angeles performing artists a chance to take creative risks -- using the new Frank Gehry-designed REDCAT as a high-tech theatrical laboratory.
Projects are selected through a proposal process. The deadline for proposals is Thursday, November 18, 2004. Click here for information.