The Builders Association and dbox,
SUPER VISION
Image by dbox
Documentation
The Presence Project is engaging with The Builders Association's work through two linked processes.
In the first of these, we are developing a major documentation of The Builders Association and dbox, SUPER VISION (2005-6), incorporating interviews with company members, critical analysis, and extensive visual material and streamed video scenes. Follow this link for our evolving documentation of:
Through 2007-8, we also begin an extensive engagement with the company's latest production, CONTINUOUS CITY, which is in development and scheduled to open at The Walker Art Centre in October 2008. Here we will explore the company's evolution of a major theatrical work addressing contemporary technology's transformation of place and presence as we come to occupy the multiple sites of the networked city. Follow this link for our developing engagement with:
CONTINUOUS CITY is in process and will receive its first workshop showings at University of California, Berkeley, in October 2007, where Marianne Weems is Artist-in-Residence at Berkeley's Arts Research Centre [link]
Contexts
Follow the links below for contextual essays, comments and discussions:
- Marianne Weems, SUPER VISION interview : Marianne Weems is the Artistic Director of The Builders Association and has directed all the companies' productions.
- John Cleater | Presence Interview: John Cleater is a founding member of The Builders Association, creating designs for many of the company's cross-media productions as well as a wide range of innovative architectural projects.
- Nick Kaye, Architectures of Presence: introductory notes on site, place and the electronic network from MASTER BUILDER (1994) to CONTINUOUS CITY (2008-).
The Builders Association
The Builders Association is a New York-based performance and media company that exploits the richness of contemporary technologies to extend the boundaries of theater. Based on unusual collaborations and extensive periods of development, the company’s productions feature a seamless blend of text, sound, architecture, video, and stage performances that explore the impact of technology on human presence. Since 1994, under the direction of Marianne Weems, the company has collaborated on nine large-scale theater projects, including MASTER BUILDER (1994), THE WHITE ALBUM (1995), IMPERIAL MOTEL (FAUST) (1996), JUMP CUT (FAUST) (1997), JET LAG (1998-2000) with Diller + Scofidio, XTRAVAGANZA (2000-01), ALLADEEN (2002-05) with motiroti, AVANTI (2003-05) and SUPER VISION with dbox (2005.) The Builders Association's most recent project, CONTINUOUS CITY, is in development and is scheduled to open at The Walker Art Centre in Fall 2008. Their OBIE award winning work has has been presented at venues including the Singapore Arts Festival, the Barbican Centre, Romaeuropa Festival, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Bogota, the Melbourne International Arts Festival among many others. For more information, visit The Builders Association's website at [link]
Further details of SUPER VISION and a touring schedule is available here [link]
Details of SUPER VISION credits
Quotations from The Builders Association. Image courtesy of The Builders Association and dbox.
