Image
A late piece of white lattice on a black background lit dramatically by a single source.

Annie Saunders & Wild Up

In conversation with Ashley Ferro-Murray on their upcoming new work, Rest
Thursday, December 3, 2020
EMPAC — Troy, NY USA

Theater maker Annie Saunders collaborates with theater/pop/new music band Wild Up and composer Emma O’Halloran on a new work called Rest. The work engages an audience with simple guidance on how to interact with each other and the performance space. Overall, Rest interrogates sensory overwhelm, sensory deprivation, hallucinations and the nature of consciousness. The audience experience is inspired by the idea that our perception of reality depends on agreements and disagreements with other people. 

Light and sound are central to the staging of Rest. These elements help to sculpt a performance environment that includes moments of near-silence, music, and field recordings from a diverse set of conversations. Materials include conversations with consciousness experts, people sharing their early sense memories, and reflections on our relationships to our smartphones. The work provides a visceral opportunity to feel and consider what ‘rest’ means to us in the modern world.

The artistic collaborators are in remote residence this fall to develop an EMPAC-commissioned online iteration of Rest. The commission will provide the artists an opportunity to explore their archive of material. The outcome is unknown, but the process of building and experiencing this online work will provide a look inside immersive, multidisciplinary theatrical practices.

The commissioned work will premiere in January 2021. Join us on December 3, 2020 for a conversations with the artists who will discuss the making of the work. 

Listen now on Anchor.fm, Breaker, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify, Castbox, and Tunein.

Main Image: Courtesy the Artist. Photo: Annie Saunders

Media

Dates + Tickets

Dance/Theater
Music/Sound
Talk
Annie Saunders & Wild Up
In conversation with Ashley Ferro-Murray on their upcoming new work, Rest
Thursday 3
December 2020
FREE
Presented By

EMPAC Fall 2020

Season

Production Credits

Annie Saunders
Christopher Rountree
Emma O'Halloran
Andrew Schneider 
Adah Parris
Rita Williams
Rachel Joy Victor
Jackie Zhou
Mike Merchant
James Okumura
Brian Hashimoto

Wild Up: Jiji, electric guitar; Jodie Landau, piano, keys, percussion, voice; Allen Fogle, horn; Archie Carey, electric bassoon; Christopher Rountree, artistic director
Original music composed by Emma O’Halloran

Funding

EMPAC Fall 2020 presentations, residencies, and commissions are made possible by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts; and Vlaamse Gemeenschap, department of Culture, Youth, and Media. Additional project support by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; New Music USA; CCS Bard; Creative Capital; the Graham Foundation; and the National Culture and Arts Foundation, Taiwan.