photo of Carole Kim and collaborators courtesy of the artist
The second program in REDCAT’s sixth annual New Original Works Festival is brimming with things rarely seen before. This week (only), two interdisciplinary artist collaborations inhabit the basement of Disney Hall and, as the theater’s executive director, Mark Murphy says, “I can’t wait to see the results!”
Innovative media artist Carole Kim collaborates with award winning choreographer/dancer Oguri, percussionist/composer Alex Cline and multi-instrumentalist Dan Clucas to create N1. And performance art inspired punk band Jennifer The Leopard (J-Lep), fuses feminism and cock-rock into a new genre of post-punk under the guise of an "all-girl band."
Wow! Not a typical day at the theater, but, then again, that’s what this highly acclaimed three week festival is all about—giving local artists the opportunity to present their pushing-the-envelope creations to new audiences.
Carole Kim's hallucinatory mix of live-feed video and layered projections form an immersive installation that refracts the live performance and twists the myth of Narcissus, the guy who was punished by the gods and doomed to stare at his own reflection in a pool. Through a visual vocabulary that evokes a dreamlike state, the past and future mysteriously entwine.
Jennifer The Leopard (Lauren Fisher, Stephanie Hutin, Lana Kim and Marissa Mayer) performs songs about celebrity sightings and knife fights in Leop Year (No Jamming). Pitting an on-stage "audience" against the real one, promotional materials call the show “part bitchin' rock concert and part post-studio pep rally.”
So, while this is probably not the place where you’d unwrap your mint candy and sit passively while waiting to politely applaud, the festival continues its daring and bold curatorship.
Bear witness!
Check out this J-Lep clip:
