Iteration 1


Co-MISSIONS Work-in-progress Showing

28 November 2018

Links Hall, Chicago

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Photos and video: Ji Yang

Choreography: Elise Cowin in collaboration with Hannah Geil-Neufeld, MK Gunther Kodat, David Himelman, Valentina Manzoni, Michelangelo qui Mutat Fatum, Zach Nicol, Jessica Ray and Cherrie Yu

 Performers: Hannah Geil-Neufeld, MK Gunther Kodat, Valentina Manzoni, Michelangelo qui Mutat Fatum, Zach Nicol, Jessica Ray and Cherrie Yu

This performance emerges from a constellation of data: the numbers that describe our bodies, histories, spaces, schedules, bank accounts, productivity and how they relate to the value assigned to us by outside forces. Certain pernicious economies measure a person’s worth by approximating their body’s potential – How old are you? How many hours can you spend? How many pounds can you lift? How much/how long/how hard can you work? Our body thus becomes a unit of measurement. But what information spills out of the measuring cup or topples off the scale? What data is too strange, poetic, personal, tiny or massive to be representable? 

Iteration 1 moves between straightforward and impossible attempts at measuring. It experiments with fantastical mapping that is less about representing and more about trying to conceive, imitate and interrogate conservative logics of assigning value. Dancing bodies and shifting choreographic structures resist being measured and defined. Instead, we use a softer, more open logic guided by possibility, not productivity. 

The development of this project was partially funded by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and a Co-MISSIONS Summer Intensive Residency at Links Hall.

Special thanks to Mike Anestor, Merril Doty, Joanna Furnans, David Himelman, Josh Hoglund, Felicia Holman, Natalia Nicholson, Amber Robbin, Bryan Saner, Roell Schmidt, Brett Swinney, Anna Trier and Ji Yang