APPLY NOW: Accepting applications until June 1
THEA S4050 (credit)
THEA S0450 (non-credit)
3 points
Day & Time: TBD
Dates: July 5 - 24
Instructor: Gideon Lester
Come to Columbia University School of the Arts this summer and collaborate with artists from across disciplines – theatre, film, performance and visual arts, writing, and music – in a unique new laboratory environment: the Arts Collaboration Lab.
The Arts Collaboration Lab is a pioneering, intensive summer workshop where artists and arts students from across disciplines work together to study collaborative techniques, to develop new projects, and to share ideas.
Under the mentorship of internationally acclaimed professional artists and faculty members from Columbia University School of the Arts, the Collaboration Lab is a testing ground for artistic collaboration, where students expand and deepen their understanding of their own practice by working in partnership with artists from other genres and disciplines.
Launching in July 2011, and run in conjunction with PS 122 – New York’s legendary downtown arts and performance center – the three-week Collaboration Lab is an accredited course of Columbia University. In partnership with the Summer Residency Program, the Collaboration Lab will create a one-of-a-kind artistic community in the heart of New York City.
The Arts Collaboration Lab and PS 122 are pleased to announce the resident artists for the 2011 Lab:
- Writer and director David Levine
- Choreographer Emily Johnson
- Theater company Temporary Distortion
- Performance artist Davis Freeman
All four artists will be in residence at Columbia University in July 2011, developing projects that will later be shown at Performance Space 122, and mentoring students in the Arts Collaboration Lab’s three-week summer program.
Examples of collaborative student projects that might be developed at the Lab include:
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A film director, a sculptor, and a choreographer collaborating on a site specific adaptation of Medea
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A painter, a composer and a poet creating a virtual platform for illustrating e-literature
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A playwright, a sound designer and a dramaturg exploring the frontiers of audio technology to create a personal, experiential walking tour of Upper Manhattan
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A screenwriter, a musician and a videographer developing a blueprint for an online opera
* * * * * * * * * *
Why should I study at the Arts Collaboration Lab?
Who will benefit from the Arts Collaboration Lab?
How will my time be structured?
Who teaches at the Arts Collaboration Lab?
What resources are available to students?
Can I take the course for credit?
How much will it cost?
Is housing available?
How do I apply?
What is the Summer Residency Program?
Why should I study at the Arts Collaboration Lab?
Student artists are usually trained in strictly defined categories – playwrights with other theatre makers, composers with other musicians, and so on – with little opportunity for collaboration with artists from other disciplines. Professional artists, however, increasingly blur these notional boundaries between genres, creating work that is fundamentally collaborative and cross-disciplinary. The Arts Collaboration Lab provides a much-needed space where artists can study and explore collaboration, preparing them for a lifetime of collaborative practice.
The Arts Collaboration Lab is born from the belief that often the most interesting work is made at the borders where genres intersect and new forms are created. The Lab’s curriculum and structure therefore emphasize process, collaboration, and innovation over finished products.
Students are encouraged to play courageously, and to explore unfamiliar artistic methodologies and styles, expanding and deepening their understanding of the possibilities of their own practice by working with artists from other disciplines.
As projects develop, students regularly present and discuss their works-in-progress in class, and peer response and critique play a central role in the course. Students keep journals and other records of their process.
Who will benefit from the Arts Collaboration Lab?
The Collaboration Lab is accepting between 16 and 20 students this summer. This intimate scale makes the course suited for emerging artists of exceptional ability who have demonstrated strong potential in their field, and who thrive in an atmosphere of innovation and collaboration.
Applications are welcomed from past and present MFA students, advanced undergraduates, and practicing artists: writers, theatre and performance artists, filmmakers, visual artists, choreographers, architects, and composers.
The Admissions Committee will seek broad representation from across artistic disciplines, and international students are particularly encouraged to apply.
How will my time be structured?
The core of the program is a collaboration practicum in which students work together in groups of 3-5 to develop a sequence of projects:
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An introductory high-speed “boot camp” collaboration, in which students have 48 hours in which to create a multidisciplinary artwork within strict parameters
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A second project with a one-week incubation period
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A final 10-day process with a presentation
The collaboration practicum is complemented by a series of guest lectures and seminars, case studies, and field trips, designed to introduce students to a broad range of collaborative theories and practices:
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Presentations and lectures on cross-disciplinary collaboration from Summer Residency Program artists, and other artists, dramaturgs, and curators.
*For a full list of 2011 artists in residence, see bottom of page.
Taking advantage of the cultural richness of New York City and its surroundings, students make field trips to performances, exhibitions, artist studios, and other institutions, such as Lincoln Center Festival, MoMA PS1, River to River Festival, and Dia: Beacon.
What is the daily schedule?
Resident artists and program details are still being confirmed. The final schedule for the course will be available to accepted students to the program a couple of weeks prior to the start of the course. In order to take advantage of unexpected special guests and opportunities in New York City, the final schedule will be subject to change up until the program begins, and even throughout the program.
Prospective students should consider the commitment of time an intensive course of this nature requires, and plan participation accordingly. Here is a sketch of the general hours each day you will be required to participate in the program:
Days 1-3, 2:30-5:30pm
Introduction and collaboration boot camp
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 10am-12pm
Plenary session in which students present their works-in-progress and receive group and faculty critique and advice.
Every Monday-Thursday, 1:30-5:30pm
Studio: Students develop collaborative projects. Faculty and student mentors offer advice and support.
Every Tuesday, Thursday, 10am-12pm
Summer Residency Program presentations and lectures: Artists in the Summer Residency Program lead seminars on collaboration and present their own work to the Collaboration Laboratory students. Masterclasses and open rehearsals may be held during this period.
Every Friday, 1:30-5pm
Field trips and guest lectures: Faculty-led visits to exhibitions and performances in New York City.
Additionally, students will be expected to attend two evening performances per week, TBD pending theatrical schedules
Who teaches at the Arts Collaboration Lab?
Classes are led by Gideon Lester, who has 15 years of experience as a dramaturg, curator, and artistic director, and who teaches courses in multi-arts collaboration and adaptation at Columbia University School of the Arts. Joining him is P.S.122's Artistic Director Vallejo Gantner, a leading presenter of experimental performance, who has formerly worked as Director of the Dublin Fringe and Artistic Associate of the Melbourne Festival.
Students will also receive master classes and critique from the professional artists of the Summer Residency Program, which is run in parallel with the Arts Collaboration Lab. Summer Residency artists will be announced later this fall.
What resources are available to students?
The Arts Collaboration Lab and Summer Residency Program are both centered in a suite of studios in the Nash Building, on Broadway a few blocks north of Columbia’s main Morningside Campus. In addition to these dedicated studios, students will have access to fabrication workshops and production facilities, as well as the resources of the Digital Media Center and Computer Music Center.
Can I take the course for credit?
Yes. The Arts Collaboration Lab is accredited by Columbia University and carries 3 course credits. It is also possible to enroll on a non-credit basis.
How much will it cost?
Program Fee: $2980*
Materials Fee: $150
* $2980 represents the non-credit tuition rate. For those wishing to take this course for 3 credits, the Columbia University standard Summer Sessions tuition rate will apply. 2011 Summer tuition rates have not yet been posted by the University, but 2010 rates are available here.
Housing for Collaboration Lab students is available on a limited, first-come, first-served basis. Details on pricing and how to apply will be available in mid-February.
How do I apply?
The online application is now available here. The priority deadline for application is April 1, 2011, and you will be notified of your status in the course no later than May 1, 2011. After April 1, applications will be considered on a space available basis until June 1.
In addition to the standard online application, you will be asked to upload these additional materials:
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Your resume (limit of 2 pages);
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A sample of your artistic work (in pdf, jpg, or wav format, or as a link to a webpage);
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A short (2-3 paragraph) statement about your interest in interdisciplinary collaboration;
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A brief (2-3 paragraph) proposal for a creative project that you would like to pursue with student artists in at least 2 other disciplines.
More on the Summer Residency Program
Note: Summer Artists Residencies are awarded by invitation only.
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The Summer Residency Program is a professional residency program, bringing leading American and international theatre, dance, music, and performance artists to the Columbia campus to develop new projects in a nurturing and collaborative environment. New York City affords few development opportunities to artists, and the Summer Residency Program provides much-needed time and space for the creation and exploration of new material.
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2-4 residencies are awarded to artists in the following genres:
- Theatre/dance companies and ensembles
- Individual theatre, dance and performance artists
- Composers and musicians
- Collaborative teams -
Each residency lasts 2-3 weeks.
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Residency artists also serve as adjunct or guest faculty in the Arts Collaboration Lab, teaching courses, leading workshops, giving lectures or presentations, or advising and critiquing students work. Compensation will be scaled accordingly.
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Residencies culminate in a work-in-progress presentation, either for the public or by invitation only.
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2011 installment of the Summer Residency Program is a partnership between Columbia University School of the Arts and P.S.122, New York’s premiere downtown performing arts center. Projects developed in the Summer Residency Program and the Collaboration Laboratory may be presented in the 2011/12 season at P.S.122, or in the Coil Festival in January 2012.
Residency artists are given rehearsal space, minimal production support, access to fabrication facilities, and dramaturgical support where appropriate.
2011 Artists in Residence Announced:
DAVID LEVINE
David Levine‘s work encompasses performance, theater, installation, and video. Dividing his time between NYC and Berlin, where he is Director of the Studio Program at the European College of Liberal Arts, Levine has directed at the Atlantic Theater Company, the Vineyard Theater/NYC, and Primary Stages/NYC and has presented his performance projects at such international art spaces and surveys as MoMA, Documenta XII, Rohkunstbau, Town House Gallery/Cairo, HAU2/Berlin, PS122/NYC, and the Watermill Center, and the Sundance Theater Lab. David’s work has been featured in The New York Times, Artforum, Theater, Art in America, Bomb, Cabinet, Theater Heute, Art Review, Die Zeit, TDR, The Village Voice, Time Out, and the Believer, and he has received grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Kulturstiftung Des Bundes, and Etants Donnés/French Fund for Performance.
EMILY JOHNSON
Emily Johnson is a director/choreographer/curator, originally from Alaska and currently based in Minneapolis. Since 1998 she has created work that considers the experience of sensing and seeing performance. Her dances often function as installations, engaging audiences within and through a space and environment – sights, sounds, smells – interacting with a place's architecture, history, and role in community. She works to blur distinctions between performance and daily life and to create work that reveals and respects multiple perspectives. Allowing for the possibility of multiple meanings, her work stimulates reflection and emotional empathy between performer and audience, and between audience members. Emily is a 2011 Native Arts and Cultures Fellow, a 2010 and 2009 MAP Fund Grant recipient, a 2009 McKnight Fellow and a 2009 and 2011 MANCC Choreographer Fellow. The Thank-you Bar is touring through 2011 to The TBA Festival, The Dance Center at Columbia College, Northrop Auditorium, DiverseWorks, ODC Theater, Vermont Performance Lab, and Dance Theater Workshop with support from National Dance Project. Her work includes commissions by the Walker Art Center, Out North, Franconia Sculpture Park, Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, Red Eye Theater, and Macalester College.
www.catalystdance.com
TEMPORARY DISTORTION
Since its inception in 2002 Temporary Distortion has earned a reputation for pushing the boundaries of theater by staging unsettling, meditative performances in claustrophobic, boxlike structures. Featuring minimal physical movement and a uniquely restrained acting style, these four-dimensional theatrical installations bridge the gap between cinema, performance and visual art. Temporary Distortion is based in New York City, where its work has been presented at The Chocolate Factory, The Ontological-Hysteric Theater and Performance Space 122. The Company’s work has also been presented internationally at: Exit Festival (Paris, France), Gare Saint-Sauveur (Lille, France), LiFE (Saint-Nazaire, France), Mois Multi Festival (Quebec City, Canada), Salzburg Festival (Salzburg, Austria), Théâtre de l’Agora (Évry, France), Théâtre Garonne (Toulouse, France), Usine-C (Montreal, Canada), Via Festival (Maubeuge, France). Articles discussing Temporary Distortion’s work have been published in The New York Times, TheatreForum, Live Design, Real Time Arts and The Brooklyn Rail. Forthcoming articles will be published in The Drama Review and Contemporary Theatre Review later this year.
www.temporarydistortion.com/
DAVIS FREEMAN
Davis Freeman is an American performance artist who has been working with the internationally acclaimed artists Forced Entertainment (Bloody Mess, The World in Pictures), Meg Stuart (Highway 101, Alibi), Hans van den Broeck (They feed we eat eat eat) Stephan Pucher (Kirshgarten, Snapshots) and Superamas (Big 2, Big 3, Empire). With these groups he has traveled the world and performed on some of the largest stages in Europe for the past 12 years. Along with this work he started his own company Random Scream in Brussels where he creates his own multimedia mix of devious political dance and theatre. Currently he is touring his two latest pieces Investment and Saving Lies while developing his next large scale performance conference “Expanding Energy” with international Scientist, politicians and 15 performers. This new work will premiere in Salzburg June 2011.