Aki Sasamoto: Phase Transition
Thursday, January 9
Friday, January 10
Saturday, January 11
Thursday, January 16
Friday, January 17
Saturday, January 18
Installation open: 3-6pm (Free and open to all)
Performances: 8pm
Phase Transition is a new performance installation by multimedia artist, Aki Sasamoto. Curated by Danspace Project Associate Curator & Program Director, Lydia Bell, the work will unfold over two weeks with open installation hours and performances.
An installation and performance artist, Sasamoto works in various media, finding material inspiration in response to the conditions of her site or surroundings. Sasamoto has received acclaim for her solo performance and exhibition works, and is celebrated as a frequent presence in the work of choreographer Yvonne Meier.
Phase Transition approaches the Danspace Project sanctuary at St. Mark’s Church as a distinct atmosphere, a micro universe of weather and wind conditions. Sasamoto will create an air circulation system specific to the space, punctuated with her signature lecture-performances, in which she and guest performers move and modify elements of the installation. The chemical notion of phase transition becomes a playful metaphor for life transitions, aging, and motherhood.
Collaborators include performer Jessica Weinstein, lighting designer Madeline Best, singer Alsarah, and multi-instrumentalist, Matt Bauder.
An accompanying publication, designed by Kyla Arsadjaja, published by Danspace Project, and edited by Phase Transition curator Lydia Bell, will be available for purchase online in January 2020, during installation and performance hours, and at the publication party on January 11. Contributors include Sasamoto, Bell, Rachel Valinsky, Ishmael Houston-Jones, and Ben Hagari. More info on the publication party here. Buy the book here.
Performance: Aki Sasamoto, Jessica Weinstein
Sound: Alsarah, Matt Bauer
Lighting Design: Madeline Best
Accessibility Danspace Project’s main entrance is fully wheelchair accessible via ramp. A same-level restroom is available near Danspace Project’s main performance space in the church sanctuary.
Aki Sasamoto works in sculpture, performance, video, and whatever more medium that takes to get her ideas across. In her installation/performance works, Aki moves and talks inside the careful arrangements of sculpturally altered objects, activating bizarre emotions behind daily life. She has collaborated with musicians, choreographers, mathematicians, and engineers. She has performed for choreographer Yvonne Meier and respect her hugely.
Her works appear in gallery spaces, theater spaces, as well as in odd sites. Her installation/performance works were shown at SculptureCenter, the Kitchen, Chocolate Factory Theater, Whitney Biennial 2010, MOMA-PS1, New York; National Museum of Art-Osaka, Yokohama Triennale 2008, Japan; Gwangju Biennial 2012, South Korea; Shanghai Biennale 2016, China; Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016, India.