Downtown Tucsonan - October 2008 - (Page 18)

Arts The InvIsIble CITy An arts experiment in downtown public space. by Katie Johnson For most people who work and live downtown, a walk up the steps to the top floor of the nearest parking garage feels pretty mundane. But what if the top of the parking garage had a purpose other than parking? What if it was actually a destination for downtown culture? tarting on october 17 and running through november 16, the multi-media performance series “Invisible city,” hopes to bring attention to the uses of public space in the city center. the series, a collaboration between nEw aRticulations dance theatre and Kore Press, brings together women artists from a variety of disciplines in order to interpret downtown tucson. as an added bonus, these artists will be looking to you, downtown residents and visitors, to contribute to their interpretations. Lisa Bowden, of Kore Press and Kimi Eisele, of new aRticulations, managers of the project, call the performances “experiments” because what happens at each site is improvised, and audiences get to watch the creative process. the locations of the experiments—sidewalks, intersections, parking spaces—are all public and constantly in flux. as a result, the sights, sounds and smells of each location become part of the art. at one of the opening performances, for example, artists will create a snapshot of a forgotten downtown space. according to Eisele, first the artists will observe the space, documenting what they see, hear, and smell. during this process, dancers might be invited to “explore the space with their bodies,” creating movements that reflect the location. at the end of the piece, everyone can get in on the act: dancers, artists, and passersby explore the space, eyes closed, as others record what they see. the product? S a mobile, re-creatable map of downtown that can be performed anywhere. Katie Rutterer, nEw aRticulations artistic director, says she hopes “Invisible city” will expose a wider audience to modern dance, an often misunderstood and under appreciated art form. “often times bringing dance out into a public venue like this makes it more accessible. Keeping the art on the streets can help to draw a younger crowd. and we need to create and lure new audiences in order to stay alive.” all “Invisible city” performances will be open and visible to the public, with a suggested donation set at $5 to participate and $2 to watch. Performances run Fridays from 5-7pm and sundays from 2-6pm. “we’re still finalizing all the spaces and securing permission, but we’re interested in marginal sites, vacant lots, parking lots, sidewalks, and intersections,” Eisele adds. the final presentation of footage and material from all of the performances will be shown at the Parkwise Parking Garage at Pennington street on sunday, november 16, at 5:30pm. tickets are $10. a full schedule of events, as well as a map of where to view the artists at work, is available at the design co-op studio, 174 E. toole, as well as on-line at www.korepress.org and at www.newarticulations.org. 18 downtown tucsonan.october.08 http://www.tucsonstyle.com http://www.korepress.org http://www.newarticulations.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Downtown Tucsonan - October 2008

Downtown Tucsonan - October 2008 Contents Downtown Lowdown Vital Signs Downtown Live Arts Galleries Performing Arts Film Events Museums Historic Downtown Guest Editoral Billboard Classifieds

Downtown Tucsonan - October 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.