JOAN JONAS & EIKO OTAKE
Drawing in Circles WHY?
An experiment
Castelli Gallery & Danspace Project Present Joan Jonas & Eiko Otake Drawing in Circles WHY? An experiment at Castelli Gallery Saturday, March 18, 4pm Friday, March 24, 7pm Saturday, March 25, 4pm
This performance runs approximately 30 minutes and is followed by a conversation with the artists moderated by Ana Janevski (March 18), Iris McCloughan (March 24), and Judy Hussie-Taylor (March 25).
Conceived and Performed by: Joan Jonas and Eiko Otake Directed by: Iris McCloughan Technical Assistance: Iris McCloughan and David Sherman Left screen video by: Eiko Otake Wyoming Footage Filming Directed by: Liz Sargent Camera by: Naomi Saito Edited by: Eiko Otake
Filmed while in residency in UCross, Wyoming in 2021. The residency was sponsored by UCLA Center for the Art of Performance (CAP). Right screen video by: Joan Jonas Camera by: Joan Jonas Edited by: Joan Jonas and David Sherman Performers: Eiko Otake, Joan Jonas Joan Jonas Studio Manager: Paula Longendyke Assistant to Eiko Otake: Allison Hsu
Joan Jonas is a world-renowned artist whose work encompasses a wide range of media including video, performance, installation, sound, text, and sculpture. Joan’s experiments and productions in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s continue to be crucial to the development of many contemporary art genres, from performance and video to conceptual art and theatre. Since 1968, her practice has explored ways of seeing, the rhythms of rituals, and the authority of objects and gestures. Joan has exhibited, screened, and performed her work at museums, galleries, and in large scale group exhibitions throughout the world. She has recently presented solo exhibitions at Hangar Bicocca, Milan; NTU Centre for Contemporary Art, Singapore; the United States Pavilion for the 56th edition of the Venice Biennial; Tate Modern, London; TBA21 Ocean Space at the San Lorenzo Church, Venice; Serralves Museum, Porto; Dia Beacon, New York; and Haus der Kunst, Munich. In 2018, she was awarded the prestigious Kyoto Prize, presented to those who have contributed significantly to the scientific, cultural, and spiritual betterment of mankind. Joan is currently working on her retrospective to open at the Museum of Modern Art in 2024. Eiko Otake is a movement–based, interdisciplinary artist. Born and raised in Japan, she has lived in New York since 1976. She worked for more than 40 years as Eiko & Koma creating interdisciplinary performance works, exhibitions and media works. They were the first collaborative pair to share a MacArthur Fellowship (1996) and the first Asian choreographers to receive the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award (2004) and the Dance Magazine Award (2006). Eiko & Koma were honored with the first United States Artists Fellowship (2006) and Doris Duke Artist Awards (2012). Eiko now performs as a soloist and directs her own projects collaborating with a diverse range of artists. Since 2014, Eiko has performed her solo project A Body in Places at numerous sites. A Body in Fukushima, Eiko's collaboration with historian/photographer William Johnston has produced exhibitions, a feature-length film, and the publication of a book. Eiko was the subject of the 2016 Danspace Project Platform 2016: A Body in Places, a month-long curated program. In 2017, Eiko launched the multi-year Duet Project, a mutable and evolving series of experiments in collaboration that she directs and performs within. In 2022, Eiko started her ten year project, I Invited Myself, that focuses on her media works. Currently, she is presenting her first solo museum exhibition at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center and the installation Mother at the Historic Chapel in the Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn. Iris McCloughan (they/them) is a trans writer, artist, and performance maker in New York City. They were the winner of the 2018 Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize from American Poetry Review and were named a finalist in nonfiction for Best of the Net 2020. They are the author of three poetry chapbooks, including Triptych (greying ghost, 2022) and Bones to Peaches (Seven Kitchens Press, 2021). Their writing has appeared or is forthcoming in American Poetry Review, juked, jubilat, and Tupelo Quarterly, among many others. Iris' performances have been presented in NYC (The Poetry Project, AUNTS, JACK, Ars Nova, Movement Research at Judson Church), Philadelphia (Institute of Contemporary Art, The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia Contemporary, FringeArts, Vox Populi), Chicago (Links Hall), Detroit (Public Pool), and elsewhere. They have collaborated with many other artists and writers, including Alex Tatarsky, Mike Lala, Jessie Young, Doug LeCours, and Julie Mayo. irismccloughan.com
SPECIAL THANKS FROM JOAN JONAS & EIKO OTAKE
Thank you to both Castelli Gallery and Danspace Project, their staff, and their directors Judy Hussie-Taylor and Barbara Bertozzi Castelli. Thank you to Kazuo Ohno who inspired both of us and to Douglas Crimp who introduced us.
ABOUT CASTELLI GALLERY Castelli Gallery was founded by Leo Castelli in 1957. Considered the most influential art dealer of the Post-War period, Leo Castelli had a gift for discovering new talents. Under his leadership, the gallery became the epicenter of Pop Art, Minimal Art, Conceptual Art and Post-Minimal Art. Since 1999, the gallery has been operated under the direction of Barbara Bertozzi Castelli. Ms. Bertozzi Castelli continues the gallery’s commitment to promoting the work of artists including Jasper Johns, Joseph Kosuth, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Morris, Richard Pettibone, and Keith Sonnier. The gallery maintains two exhibition spaces: an Upper East Side location at 18 East 77th Street, and 24 West 40th Street, across from Bryant Park. castelligallery.com
ABOUT DANSPACE PROJECT
Danspace Project presents new work in dance, supports a diverse range of choreographers in developing their work, encourages experimentation, and connects artists to audiences.
For almost 50 years, Danspace Project has supported a vital community of contemporary dance artists in an environment unlike any other in the United States. Located in the historic St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, Danspace shares its facility with the Church, The Poetry Project, and New York Theatre Ballet. Danspace Project’s Commissioning Initiative has commissioned over 570 new works since its inception in 1994.
Since 2010, we have produced fourteen Platforms, published fourteen print catalogues and five e-books, launched the Conversations Without Walls discussion series, and explored models for public discourse and residencies. danspaceproject.org