PULLMAN, Wash. – The Washington State University Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is proud to present the exhibition “Closer to You: Performance Films from On the Boards.” On view at the museum from May 21–August 10, the exhibition is located in the Pavilion Gallery. As always, all exhibitions at the museum are free and open to the public.
“Closer to You” inaugurates a new and vital partnership between the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at WSU and On the Boards (OtB), a renowned Seattle‑based arts organization. Both institutions incubate and support artists’ boldest experiments and biggest ideas. At the forefront of contemporary performance, OtB works with preeminent international artists who are defining the future of dance, theater, and music. OtB’s partnership with the WSU Schnitzer Museum is the organization’s first with a museum, and it will bring today’s best contemporary performance films by today’s most provocative artists to the WSU community. These individuals are prestigious award winners—MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellows—and influential contributors to heralded exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, and the Venice Biennale.
The exhibition “Closer to You” features three groundbreaking live works, available to subscribers of OtB’s innovative film subscription service. The films are unique, extraordinarily crafted creations constructed to bring you as close as possible to the live experience. After selecting a performance, OtB works collaboratively with a professional filmmaking company, the hosting venue, and the artist to plan the details of each shoot. Live performances are captured with four to five high‑definition cameras positioned in the audience. After filming, the video is edited, in consultation with the artist, to determine the best representation of the artist’s work. “Closer to You” intimately connects audiences to these exquisite projects embodying the best in life‑enriching, forward‑thinking art.
Funding for the exhibition has been provided by the Members of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU.
Thank You for Coming: Attendance
May 21–June 15, 2019
By Faye Driscoll
“Thank You for Coming” is a Faye Driscoll trilogy of works reflecting “how we are all wrapped up in each other, whether we like it or not.” In “Attendance,” the first of the series, performers pass through ever-morphing states of physical entanglement, building new bodies, new stories, and new ways of being. How do we perceive ourselves as participants in the co‑creation of our reality? Through performance can we collectively create a new vision of society?
When the Wolves Came In
June 18–July 13, 2019
By Kyle Abraham in collaboration with Abraham.In.Motion
“When the Wolves Came In” draws from the triumphs of civil rights and asks how much progress has truly been made toward racial equality? In developing the project, artistic director Kyle Abraham took inspiration from jazz composer Max Roach’s iconic protest album “We Insist! Freedom Now Suite, 1960,” which celebrated the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, and shed light on the growing civil rights movements in South Africa and the United States.
Tesseract˚
July 16–August 10, 2019
By Rashaun Mitchell, Silas Riener, and Charles Atlas
Dance enters a new dimension in “Tesseract˚,” a daring collaboration between two former Merce Cunningham dancers and a pioneering filmmaker and video artist. Ways of seeing evolve in real‑time as Rashaun Mitchell’s and Silas Riener’s powerfully physical and precise choreography is mixed and projected live by artist Charles Atlas. The resulting performance tests the boundaries of how bodies and machines can create art that is multidimensional, and it forges a link between human ritual and technological magic.
About On the Boards and OntheBoards.tv
Founded by artists in 1978, On the Boards, Seattle, consistently introduces audiences to artistic innovators who define the future of the performing arts. As one of the leading performance organizations in the United States, On the Boards produces unique projects by leading artists and creates one‑of‑a‑kind experiences for its audiences. On the Boards makes significant investments in the performing arts community to help increase the quality of new work created. On the Boards contributes to the vitality of arts and culture by helping launch and continue the careers of some of its most promising artists while growing audiences for experimental performance.
In 2010, On the Boards launched OntheBoards.tv, radically expanding access to contemporary performance through a growing catalogue and membership program. To date, On the Boards has reached audiences in all 50 U.S. states and over 152 countries in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. OntheBoards.tv subscribers are avid arts fans, intrigued browsers, students and arts professionals. Over 92 higher education institutions in the U.S., Europe and Australia are subscribers including Princeton, Yale, Ohio University, School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Amsterdam.
Museum location
The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU is located in the Crimson Cube (on Wilson Road across from Martin Stadium and the CUB) on the WSU Pullman campus. Their six galleries are open Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m., and closed Sunday and Monday. For more information please contact the museum at 509‑335‑1910.
Contact:
- Contact: Debby Stinson, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU, 509‑335‑6282, debby_stinson@wsu.edu
- Anna‑Maria Shannon, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU, 509‑335‑6140, annamshannon@wsu.edu
