AUTHOR

2017

An exterior view of the installation – a simple black building with letters of “Author” carved into the side stands inside a white gallery space with vaulted ceilings.

A computer screen display with the words “Please Lock The Door / One Person At A Time” inside the installation of a room made of wood panels.

A person looks at a projected video (a chair and fan in white space framed by white curtains). Photo by Simon Courchel.

A line of people lean on a wall viewing various screens mounted on the walls of a dark, narrow hallway. Photo by Simon Courchel.

A person sits at a desk in front of a computer display reading text inside the installation of a room made of wood panels. Photo by Simon Courchel.

White monospaced text showing a conversation between “Author” and “Cast” on a black background.

AUTHOR was a participatory installation that invited each visitor to interact with fifteen performers on the topics of performing, representation, and casting through a text-based, single-player computer game. Resulting in strangely on-point, absurd exchanges, or nonsensical random connections, the algorithm of the game invited the visitor-turned-author to discover their own voice inside the machine, constructing their own meaning in “conversation” with the text of fifteen performers. As the text exchange unfolded, it triggered video images created by the fifteen performers on casting and representation for other visitors to see. These videos were edited and displayed in real time in response to the rhythm and content of the text exchange.

AUTHOR was commissioned by The Invisible Dog Art Center.

Team

Director, Choreographer: Yanira Castro

Collaborators & Performers: Kyle Bukhari, Simon Courchel, Leslie Cuyjet, devynn emory, John Hoobyar, Iréne Hultman, Shayla-Vie Jenkins, Luke Miller, Heather Olson, Sai Somboon, David Thomson, Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste, Pamela Vail, Tara Aisha Willis, Darrin Wright

Installation/Lighting Designer: Kathy Couch

Dramaturg: Susan Mar Landau

Composer/Programmer/Interaction Designer: Stephan Moore

Video Designer: Peter Richards

Transcribers: Stormy Budwig, Emie Hughes

Marketing Assistant: Tara Sheena

Interns: Noor Qasim, Zachary Grand, Chloe Tausk

Opening

The Invisible Dog Art Center, Brooklyn, NY, September 7–17, 2017

Exhibitions

Featherstone Center for the Arts, Martha’s Vineyard, MA, June 30–July 14, 2019

A.P.E. Gallery, Northampton, MA, January 17–31, 2020

Funding

The creation of AUTHOR was made possible, in part, by a generous commission from The Invisible Dog Art Center.

CAST, STAGE, AUTHOR was also made possible with the support of a grant from The Jerome Foundation, a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, and by New Music USA, made possible by annual program support and/or endowment gifts from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Baisley Powell Elebash Fund, and Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. CAST, STAGE, AUTHOR was also made possible by our generous Kickstarter donors.

The development of CAST, STAGE, AUTHOR was made possible, in part, by Yanira Castro’s participation in Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Extended Life Dance Development program, and the work was developed as part of the Extended Life Dance Development program, made possible in part by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Video

Works