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Thu, Oct 27, 2005
“...a slick, seamless performance that combines theater with technology...”— Minneapolis Star Tribune
In a highlight of its reopening week, the Wexner Center presents New York-based multimedia performance ensemble The Builders Association in the engaging, often humorous, and very up-to-the-minute theater work SUPER VISION, November 2–6, 2005. The Wexner Center is lead co-producer for SUPER VISION, which is touring throughout the United States, and which (like many notable performance works of the past decade) has been launched under the auspices of the Wexner Center Residency Award program. Tickets are $16 general public, $13 members, $10 students, available at the Wexner Center (614 292-3535) and Ticketmaster (614 431-3600).
Created by The Builders Association in collaboration with the computer imaging studio dbox, SUPER VISION is a foray into the world of surveillance technology and the transformation of personal identity in the Digital Age. Developed at the Wexner Center and at Ohio State’s Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD), the work uses live performance, digital animation, computer music, and new video techniques to make visible an unseen environment in which we all now live: the cyberworld of information and surveillance, in which personal identity is transformed into a “data body” that will outlive the human subject. Utilizing sophisticated computer technology and advanced design concepts, SUPER VISION charts the story of three characters who find themselves caught in this very contemporary web.
The Builders Association’s prior production, the critically acclaimed Alladeen—which was co-commissioned by and premiered at the Wexner Center—presciently delved into the issues of job outsourcing and globalization.
According to Wexner Center Director Sherri Geldin, “The extended residency for The Builders Association was a natural outcome of our earlier collaboration, and exemplifies the sustained relationship that the Wexner Center pursues with artists we believe in.”
Charles Helm, Director of Performing Arts at the Wexner Center, comments, “By partnering with ACCAD for SUPER VISION’s creative residency, we explored how university-based arts organizations can provide artists with access to a wide range of sophisticated resources, advancing their research while also involving students in the creative process.”
“The Wexner Center’s support has been crucial to the development of SUPER VISION,” states Marianne Weems, Artistic Director of The Builders Association. “Without the center and a handful of other significant presenters in America, this kind of challenging, highly technical, process-based work simply would not survive. Chuck Helm really understands and supports how this work is created.”
In conjunction with the performance of SUPER VISION, The Builders Association and dbox will conduct a discussion session with theatre students, ACCAD students, and students from a variety of academic areas studying issues related to surveillance technology and privacy. The session will explore the array of thematic concepts that SUPER VISION deals with as well as focus on the new theatrical methods and design concepts they developed for this work.
SUPER VISION is directed by Marianne Weems, with virtual design by dbox, set design by Tony Award-winner Stewart Laing (Titanic on Broadway), text by Constance De Jong, and video design by Peter Flaherty. It features The Builders Association’s longtime members Dan Dobson, sound designer, and lighting designer Jennifer Tipton, as well as key performers from the company.
CALENDAR INFORMATION for SUPER VISION
Description: New York multimedia performance ensemble The Builders Association performs SUPER VISION, a darkly humorous look at Digital Age anxieties.
Date and time: Wednesday–Saturday, November 2–5 at 8 pm and Sunday, November 6 at 2 pm
Location: Wexner Center’s Black Box on Mershon Stage (audience and actors onstage), 1871 N. High St. Capacity 100. Tickets: $16 general public, $13 members, $10 students.
Ticket outlets: Wexner Center Ticket Office (614 292-3535) and Ticketmaster outlets (614 431-3600).
Public information: 614 292-3535 and wexarts.org, and thebuildersassociation.org.
EVENT SUPPORT
The Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University is the Lead Coproducer for SUPER VISION. The Wexner Center in association with the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design at The Ohio State University jointly sponsored a creative residency to develop its digital technology and design concepts.
Coproducers: Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN), with additional support for final technical development; Montclair State University: Office of Arts & Cultural Programming; Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, UC Davis; Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008; New Zealand International Arts Festival; BAM Next Wave Festival. Residency support was provided by The Kitchen and Arts at St. Ann’s.
This performance of SUPER VISION is presented with support from the Greater Columbus Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.
SUPER VISION was created in part with support from The Greenwall Foundation’s 2005 Oscar M. Ruebhausen Commission; the Multi-Arts Production Fund, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
PERFORMING ARTS SEASON SUPPORT
Major support for the Wexner Center’s 2005–06 performing arts season is generously provided by Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and The Columbus Foundation.
Significant contributions made by Altria Group, Inc., Morgan Stanley, Nationwide Foundation, and Ron and Ann Pizzuti.
Additional funding is provided by the Ohio Arts Council, the Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation, and Wexner Center members.
Preferred accommodations: The Blackwell Inn.
