CHICAGO, IL: World Premiere of Kinetic Light's "Wired" (IN-PERSON + VIRTUAL)
Company:
Kinetic Light
DISABILITY ARTS ENSEMBLE KINETIC LIGHT
TAKES FLIGHT IN WORLD PREMIERE OF WIRED
PRESENTED BY MCA CHICAGO, MAY 5-8
April 13, 2022 – Internationally-recognized disability arts ensemble Kinetic Light returns to the stage to premiere its latest work Wired on May 5-8, presented by MCA Chicago as part of the museum’s Entanglements performance series developed by MCA curator of performance and public practice, Tara Aisha Willis. The presentation includes four accessible in-person performances and a virtual livestream.
Wired is a potent contemporary aerial dance performance that explores race, gender, and disability stories of barbed wire in the United States, tracing the fine line between “us” and “them” and exploring the contradictions, dangers, and beauty of barbed wire. Immense and intimate, Wired meditates in sound, light, and movement as the work questions and ruminates on power, belonging, abolition and deinstitutionalization, sexuality, art, community, and connection—all through the powerful lens of disability as creative and cultural force.
“Wired’s development began in 2019 and has continued through these pandemic years due to the dedication and incredible work of Kinetic Light’s artists, collaborators, production team, and administrative staff,” stated Alice Sheppard, Kinetic Light Founder & Artistic Director. “Our company is thrilled to return to the stage to share this work, in all its accessible forms, with the world.”
Wired is performed by company members Jerron Herman, Laurel Lawson, and Sheppard. The work is directed and choreographed by Sheppard, with choreographic collaborators Herman and Lawson. Lighting, projection, scenic, and production design is by Kinetic Light company member Michael Maag. Kinetic Light artist bios here. Artist Josephine Shokrian conceived and created prop and scenic design, including various forms of Wired’s signature “coilography” and set pieces. Musicians Leahann “Lafemmebear” Mitchell and Ailís Ní Ríain have each composed original scores for discrete sections of Wired. Artistic collabor bios here. Costume and makeup design are by Lawson. Chicago Flyhouse provided rigging and flight consultation, in addition to more than 30 independent rigging, automation, and flight production professionals and consultants who have contributed to Wired.
Access is integral to Wired; Kinetic Light commits to an artistically equitable access approach within its artistic works, culture, and day-to-day operation. Audio description for Wired is available through Audimance, Kinetic Light’s signature multiplex audio description app. Audimance and the Wired Audimance listening environment are designed by artist-engineer Laurel Lawson; audio description artists for Wired include Shannon Finnegan, Cheryl Green, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Mo Pickering-Symes using The Rationale Method, Dylan Keefe, and Andy Slater. Wired expresses Kinetic Light’s expansive access culture, integrating artistic and audience experience details for tactile and sensory access, and two performances include alternate lighting design. Kinetic Light collaborated with MCA Chicago and Bodies of Work to offer accessible theater experiences through expanded accessible seating, accessible marketing, patron services, lobby exhibits, quiet space, and more.
Performance Details:
In-Person Performances (all CST)
May 5, 8pm; May 6, 8pm; May 7, 8pm; May 8, 2pm
Access: ASL, audio description with Audimance app, tactile lobby exhibit, quiet space available before and during performance, exit and entry welcome during performances, alternate lighting design for Friday and Sunday performances.
Tickets: $30 general admission/$10 with student ID
Virtual Livestream
May 7, 8pm CST
Access: live captions, audio description
Tickets: pay-what-you-choose $0-30
To Purchase: online at mcachicago.org/calendar/2022/05/wired or 312-397-4010
ABOUT KINETIC LIGHT
Founded by Alice Sheppard in 2016, Kinetic Light is a disability arts ensemble working at the intersections of disability, dance, design, identity, and technology. Through nuanced investment in the histories, cultures, and artistic work of disabled and/or Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), the company promotes intersectional disability as a creative force and access as an aesthetic critical to creating transformative art and advancing the disability arts movement. Kinetic Light artists include Jerron Herman, Laurel Lawson, Michael Maag, and Alice Sheppard.
Company member Lawson leads the development of artistically accessible approaches, software, and products including Audimance, an app offering multiplex audio description experiences. Kinetic Light’s field-building and community work includes Access ALLways, a holistic approach to artistically equitable access; a fellowship program for disabled arts workers; events aimed at supporting U.S. disabled artists in their own art-making; and more.
Kinetic Light has been presented by the BRITT Music & Arts Festival (OR), Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY), Jacob’s Pillow (MA), New York Live Arts (NY), Ferst Center for the Arts (GA), Walker Art Center/Northrup (MN), The Whitney Museum (NY), and The Wilson Center (NC). The company has received funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, MAP Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, and New England Foundation for the Arts,among others. For more info: https://kineticlight.org
ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART CHICAGO
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. The museum is generously supported by its Board of Trustees; individual and corporate members; private and corporate foundations, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; and government agencies. Museum capital improvements are supported by a Public Museum Capital Grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The MCA is a proud member of Museums in the Park and receives major support from the Chicago Park District. The MCA is located at 220 E. Chicago Avenue, one block east of Michigan Avenue. The museum and sculpture garden are open on Tuesday and Friday from 10 am to 9 pm, and Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm. The museum is closed on Mondays. Tuesdays are Community Free Days with free admission for Illinois residents. The museum has a suggested general admission of $15 for adults and $8 for seniors. Admission is free for all youth 18 and under, members of the military and veterans, and MCA members. Information about MCA exhibitions, programs, and special events is available on the MCA website at mcachicago.org or by phone at 312.280.2660.
FUNDING CREDITS
Wired is made possible with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theater Project, MAP Fund, O’Donnell Green Music and Dance Foundation, Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, and Café Royal Cultural Foundation. Lead support for Kinetic Light is provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and Borealis Philanthropies’ Disability Inclusion Fund.
Wired is commissioned, in part, by The Shed Open Call 2020; supported by a Pillow Lab Residency; and developed, in part, at Z Space (San Francisco, CA, 2020-21).
The engagement model for Wired was developed with support from the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s New Works Initiative, with lead support provided by Elizabeth A. Liebman. This project is partially supported by the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.
Flight support by The Chicago Flyhouse and bungees from Adrenalin Dreams.
Photo: Robbie Sweeny/Kinetic Light
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