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Event
ISSUE Winter Benefit: Robert Wilson & Jim Jarmusch / Lucie Vítková
Wednesday, February 6th, ISSUE is thrilled to present a collaborative performance between two of Americas most renowned experimental artists, and members of ISSUEs Advisory Council, theater director and visual artist Robert Wilson and film director, screenwriter, actor, and musician Jim Jarmusch. In a benefit concert supporting ISSUE Project Room, the two will stage a new collaboration featuring Wilson reading John Cages Lecture on Nothing alongside improvised musical accompaniment by Jarmusch. The evening opens with a performance from Czech composer, improviser and performer Lucie Vítková, an emerging artist who presents work with an experimental approach to accordion, hichiriki, harmonica, voice, and tap dance.
ISSUE hosts this benefit in order to raise funds for ISSUEs Artists-In-Residence (AIR) program. Entering its 13th year, the AIR program is a core part of ISSUEs mission to be a cultural incubator for artistic innovation and inspire a diverse array of artists to take creative risks, commissioning and premiering numerous works that have expanded our understanding of the meaning and potential for art and performance. ISSUE is encouraged by Wilson and Jarmuschs support of innovative work in their respective fields and proud to have their advocacy in promoting this mission.
One of the central texts of twentieth-century experimental literature, John Cages Lecture on Nothing has been described as charming, often amusing, often quotable, equally often intentionally infuriating and profoundly thought provoking by the Los Angeles Times. Wilsons legendary productions of the piece are well known for their acoustically and visually inspiring approach to the philosophical and poetic text, which Cage based on a complex time length scheme similar to some of his music. At ISSUE, Wilson presents a paired down vocal reading of the work, focusing on the text itself alongside the musical stylings of Jarmusch.
An archetypal auteur of American independent film, Jim Jarmusch has an equally vibrant history with music -- including his post-punk band The Del-Byzanteens, his enthusiastically marginal rock band SQÜRL, and his numerous collaborations alongside lutist Jozef van Wissem (including a presentation staged at ISSUE in 2012). Throughout these projects, Jarmusch's guitar work has been described as metaphysical, at times sonically shapeshifting into wholly different sounds than one would usually expect from the instrument.
Wilson and Jarmusch have previously collaborated on an in-progress opera about Nikola Tesla with composer Phil Kline, which they workshopped at developmental session at Wilsons Watermill Center in 2014. Both artists sit on ISSUEs Artistic Advisory Council and possess truly unique understandings to how sound can enter, frame, and expand upon a visual medium.
Born in Waco, Texas, Robert Wilson is among the worlds foremost theater and visual artists. His works for the stage unconventionally integrate a wide variety of artistic media, including dance, movement, lighting, sculpture, music and text. His images are aesthetically striking and emotionally charged, and his productions have earned the acclaim of audiences and critics worldwide. After being educated at the University of Texas and Brooklyns Pratt Institute, Wilson founded the New York-based performance collective The Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds in the mid-1960s, and developed his first signature works, including Deafman Glance (1970) and A Letter for Queen Victoria (1974-1975). With Philip Glass he wrote the seminal opera Einstein on the Beach (1976). Wilsons artistic collaborators include many writers and musicians such as Heiner Müller, Tom Waits, Susan Sontag, Laurie Anderson, William Burroughs, Lou Reed, Jessye Norman and Anna Calvi. He has also left his imprint on masterworks such as Becketts Krapps Last Tape, Brecht/Weills Threepenny Opera, Debussys Pelléas et Melisande, Goethes Faust, Homers Odyssey, Jean de la Fontaines Fables, Puccinis Madama Butterfly, Verdis La Traviata and Sophocles Oedipus. Wilson's drawings, paintings and sculptures have been presented around the world in hundreds of solo and group showings, and his works are held in private collections and museums throughout the world. Wilson has been honored with numerous awards for excellence, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination, two Premio Ubu awards, the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale, and an Olivier Award. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the German Academy of the Arts, and holds 8 Honorary Doctorate degrees. France pronounced him Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters
(2003) and Officer of the Legion of Honor (2014); Germany awarded him the Officers Cross of the Order of Merit (2014). Wilson is the founder and Artistic Director of The Watermill Center, a laboratory for the Arts in Water Mill, New York.
Jim Jarmusch is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor, and musician. In addition to directing over a dozen films over the past three decades, Jarmusch plays guitar and electronics in SQÜRL, a band he formed with frequent collaborators Carter Logan and Shane Stoneback. In discussing his varied creative practice, Jarmusch explains what motivates him: "I consider myself a dilettante, not in a negative way, but because I have interests in a lot of different things and I want to try and do them. I'm not necessarily a master of anything." His films include Permanent Vacation (1980), Stranger than Paradise (1984), Down by Law (1986), Mystery Train (1989), Night on Earth (1991), Dead Man (1995), Year of the Horse (1997), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), Broken Flowers (2005), The Limits of Control (2009), Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), Paterson (2016), Gimme Danger (2016) and the short film "Int. Trailer. Night." (2002).
Lucie Vítková is a composer, improviser and performer (accordion, hichiriki, synthesizer, voice and tap dance) from the Czech Republic. During her studies of composition at Janáek Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno (CZ), she has been a visiting scholar at Royal Conservatory in The Hague (NL), California Institute of the Arts in Valencia (USA), Universität der Künste in Berlin (D), Columbia University in New York (USA) and lately at the New York University. Her compositions focus on sonification (compositions based on abstract models derived from physical objects), while in her improvisation practice she explores characteristics of discrete spaces through the interaction between sound and movement. In her recent work, she is interested in the social-political aspects of music in relation to everyday life and in reusing trash to build sonic costumes. She has been nominated on 2017 Herb Alpert Awards in Arts in category of Music, was commissioned by the Roulette Intermedium in 2017 and has become a Roulette resident artist in 2018. She has put together two ensembles NYC Constellation Ensemble (focused on music behavior) and OPERA Ensemble (for singing instrumentalists). During the 2017 Mentor/Protégé Residency in Tokyo (JP), she studied hichiriki with Hitomi Nakamura and has been a member of the Columbia University Gagaku Ensemble. As an accordion player, she collaborated with New York based TAK Ensemble, S.E.M. ensemble, String Noise, Du.0, Argento Ensemble, CU Raaga, Ghost Ensemble and Wet Ink.
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LocationISSUE Project Room (View)
22 Boerum Place
Brooklyn, NY 11201
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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