All Over Albany

EMPAC spring 2018 season

The schedule for the spring 2018 season at EMPAC is out. And, as with each season there, it's full of all sorts of new, unusual, and challenging performances, talks, and demonstrations.

This time around, the topics range from Afrofuturism to pornography to dance to the subject of art itself.

Here's a quick-scan of the slate...

All blurbage via EMPAC. The links have more detail and ticket info.

Tuesday, January 16, 2018: Afrogalactica
Afrogalactica is a film-performance by Canadian artist Kapwani Kiwanga. Featuring live reading and video projection, the performance casts Kiwanga as a fictional anthropologist who synthesizes fragments of poetry, mythology, pop culture, science, and scholarly discourse to challenge historical narratives regarding colonial struggle and the African diaspora. Reframing the tradition of Afrofuturism as a means to examine African subjectivity and undermine hegemonic discourse, Afrogalactica mixes fact and fiction to generate new stories out of the personal, the canonical, and the supernatural while speculating on possible futures.

Tuesday, January 23, 2018: Ephraim Asili
Ephraim Asili is in residence at EMPAC with a group of performers to develop the script for his feature-length film Inheritance.The artist-filmmaker's first foray into working with an ensemble cast, this event will feature a live three-act performance, including scenes from the film and a reading by Philadelphia poet, activist, and scholar of the Black Arts Movement Sonia Sanchez.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018: Pornography's Graphical Interface
University of Toronto researcher Patrick Keilty gives a talk on the impact that design and information systems in the pornography industry have on contemporary experiences and understandings of desire and sexuality.

Friday, February 16, 2018: They Are Waiting for You
Turner Prize-winning visual artist Laure Prouvost presents the premiere of They Are Waiting for You, her first major stage performance, in collaboration with Sam Belinfante and Pierre Droulers.

Friday, March 2, 2018: echo/archive
The world premiere of echo/archive, choreographer Elena Demyanenko and filmmaker Erika Mijlin's EMPAC-commissioned collaboration. Developed over the past year in residence in Studio 1, echo/archive brings dance, film, and light together in a three-part live performance featuring performers Dana Reitz, Eva Karczag, and Jodi Melnick.

Thursday, March 8, 2018: Ellen Arkbro

Stockholm-based composer Ellen Arkbro performs a new work for electric guitar and algorithmic synthesis.

Monday, March 19, 2018: This Was the End
This Was The End is a multimedia performance inspired by canonical Russian playwright Anton Chekov's Uncle Vanya. In the play, Vanya asks, "What if I live to be 60?" This Was The End answers that question through a story told by four actors in their 60s. Director Mallory Catlett is in residence at EMPAC with sound designer G. Lucas Crane and video designer Keith Skretch to develop their theatrical production into a multimedia installation about memory and time.

Also Tuesday, March 20.

Thursday, March 22, 2018: Anonymous Man
Composer and Bang on a Can founder Michael Gordon presents his new choral work, Anonymous Man, performed by the 24-voice ensemble The Crossing.

Monday, March 26, 2018: Other Uses 05
The fifth screening in the Other Uses film series features the work of Ulysses Jenkins, whose videos examine television's power to shape current events and historical episodes.

Thursday, April 5, 2018: A Meditation on Tongues
A Meditation on Tongues is artist Ni'Ja Whitson's live-dance adaptation of filmmaker and activist Marlon T. Riggs' 1989 film Tongues Untied, a groundbreaking portrait of Black, gay identity.

Wednesday, April 11, 2018: ART!??!!!
An open conversation on the subject of art, jump-started by EMPAC Director Johannes Goebel.

Thursday, April 26, 2018: Other Uses 06
For the final episode of the yearlong film series Other Uses, three films chronicle the afterlives of sites that time has suspended, abandoned, or reclaimed.

Friday, April 27, 2018: darker
Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and Bang on A Can co-founder David Lang brings his pensive evening-length piece, darker, to EMPAC.