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Artist Statement
I see performance as an alchemical process. I make performance and performance installations to shift the energy of a space and to allow for a collective experience of presence in a disconnected and over-mediatized world. I create ritualized “machines” and “scores” that involve processing my own body as both agent and object or inviting viewers to process or witness me in a game-like system. These works continue my investigation of the body on a continuum from material to icon to character, and allow me to occupy multiple positions along that continuum, often at the same time.
I design these amalgams of body, movement, and material to catalyze social critique: an alchemy of realism. Where are we headed in terms of consumption, media, environment, and food supplies? I work with found materials and re-purposed objects, cast-offs, and ordinary substances (like Cheetos and tampons) re-envisioned. I use things that bind and transform-- physical movement, wax, ace bandages, plastic packaging—to make myself into a post-societal human paquet congo (the vodou wrapped objects whose contents determine their power).
For example, in “Papoose” (the video culmination of a live performance) I bind myself to young trees with ace bandages recovered from the trash, exploring wrapping and rocking as transformative processes (the piece was made directly after the earthquake in Haiti). I am performing outside a hut I have built from trash, a kind of emergency preparedness kit cum luxury condo of the future.
The video, the live performance, and the hut are all part of my ongoing “The Hut Project”. Three years ago, I began to build site-specific huts from locally sourced found materials that I collect on each site, to raise questions about waste, real estate, and the concept of home. Each hut acts as a temporary dwelling and container for live performance, having tea with guests, and community discussion on topics such as sustainable housing, water quality, and garbage processing. Hut #6 involved a 25 hour performance occupation of the lobby of the Norwegian Opera in Oslo, which included dancing, serving tea, cooking with discarded food from a local supermarket, bathing, and conversing with invited guests from fields such as anthropology, climate adaption, and aid to the homeless. Hut #7 in a restored Greenpoint Hospital building in Brooklyn, included 11 performance events, a freegan dinner, a walking tour of nearby garbage processing sites, workshops, and lectures on permaculture and real estate. So far I have built 8 huts.
I was trained intensively in classical ballet, modern dance, and choreography, and this history informs my physical skill, use of body, ways of working improvisationally, and appreciation of live presence. I was trained equally intensively in analytic philosophy (with a Ph.D. from Princeton). My training in these two traditional forms shapes my desire to work in the fold that generates mind and body. Before that, I grew up in a cluttered basement in Brooklyn; I have used found objects as the glue for alchemical processes ever since.
I see performance as an alchemical process. I make performance and performance installations to shift the energy of a space and to allow for a collective experience of presence in a disconnected and over-mediatized world. I create ritualized “machines” and “scores” that involve processing my own body as both agent and object or inviting viewers to process or witness me in a game-like system. These works continue my investigation of the body on a continuum from material to icon to character, and allow me to occupy multiple positions along that continuum, often at the same time.
I design these amalgams of body, movement, and material to catalyze social critique: an alchemy of realism. Where are we headed in terms of consumption, media, environment, and food supplies? I work with found materials and re-purposed objects, cast-offs, and ordinary substances (like Cheetos and tampons) re-envisioned. I use things that bind and transform-- physical movement, wax, ace bandages, plastic packaging—to make myself into a post-societal human paquet congo (the vodou wrapped objects whose contents determine their power).
For example, in “Papoose” (the video culmination of a live performance) I bind myself to young trees with ace bandages recovered from the trash, exploring wrapping and rocking as transformative processes (the piece was made directly after the earthquake in Haiti). I am performing outside a hut I have built from trash, a kind of emergency preparedness kit cum luxury condo of the future.
The video, the live performance, and the hut are all part of my ongoing “The Hut Project”. Three years ago, I began to build site-specific huts from locally sourced found materials that I collect on each site, to raise questions about waste, real estate, and the concept of home. Each hut acts as a temporary dwelling and container for live performance, having tea with guests, and community discussion on topics such as sustainable housing, water quality, and garbage processing. Hut #6 involved a 25 hour performance occupation of the lobby of the Norwegian Opera in Oslo, which included dancing, serving tea, cooking with discarded food from a local supermarket, bathing, and conversing with invited guests from fields such as anthropology, climate adaption, and aid to the homeless. Hut #7 in a restored Greenpoint Hospital building in Brooklyn, included 11 performance events, a freegan dinner, a walking tour of nearby garbage processing sites, workshops, and lectures on permaculture and real estate. So far I have built 8 huts.
I was trained intensively in classical ballet, modern dance, and choreography, and this history informs my physical skill, use of body, ways of working improvisationally, and appreciation of live presence. I was trained equally intensively in analytic philosophy (with a Ph.D. from Princeton). My training in these two traditional forms shapes my desire to work in the fold that generates mind and body. Before that, I grew up in a cluttered basement in Brooklyn; I have used found objects as the glue for alchemical processes ever since.
CV
JILL SIGMAN
www.thinkdance.org
http://thinkdance.wordpress.com
thinkdance@attglobal.net
Born and works in New York City
EDUCATION
A.B. (1989), M.A. (1996), Ph.D. (1998) in Philosophy, Princeton University
Certificate in Theater and Dance (1989), Princeton University
Ballet: 12 years; Joffrey Ballet School, Ballet Center of Brooklyn,
Modern: Humphrey, Limón, Graham, Horton, Hawkins, Contact Improv, Composition
Flamenco: Mariquita Flores (NY), Marina Baden (Berkeley)
Roma (Gypsy) Dance: Amala Summer School (Valjevo, Serbia)
Creative Space/Performance (Janine Antoni)
Mixed Media Sculpture (Silya Kiese)
Movement For Actors (Kriszta Bodonyi)
Dance History/Writing (Elizabeth Kendall, Mindy Aloff)
Improv Theater (Vincent Van den Elshout)
Voice (Elissa Weiss)
Alexander Technique (Diann Sichel)
Bartenieff Fundamentals (Laban Institute for Movement Studies)
Neuromuscular Patterning (Dianne Miller)
Pilates (Kathy Grant, NYC; Ingrid van Houcke-Lootvoet, Belgium)
GRANTS, AWARDS, HONORS
Re-Performer in Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present MoMA Retrospective (2010)
Center for Contemporary Research Fellow (2012)
Artist in Residence-- Wesleyan University (2012)
Acadia Summer Arts Program (ASAP) (2011)
The Enoch Foundation (2012, 2011)
EMPAC Residency (2010)
The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council MCAF (2009)
The Mertz Gilmore Foundation (2008)
The Jerome Foundation (2008, 2010)
The Bay and Paul Foundations (2008, 2007)
The American Music Center Live Music for Dance Program (2008, 2007)
The Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation (2011, 2008, 2006, 2003)
Guapamacataro International Residency in Art and Ecology (2007)
Denison University Guest Residency (2007)
New York State Music Fund (2007)
The Puffin Foundation (2007, 2001)
Movement Research Artist in Residence (2005-07)
NYSCA Commissioning Funds (2005)
Maggie Allesee National Ctr for Choreography at Florida State University: Choreographic Fellow (2005)
TAKT Kunstprojektraum Gallery, Berlin: one month residency and performance/exhibition (2005)
MOVE:133 Beekman, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Performance Residency Program (2005)
Kri Foundation Invited Guest Residency: New Delhi, INDIA (2005)
University of Iowa Guest Residency (2004)
Gina Gibney Dance "Women at Work" Award for Choreographic Achievement (2003)
Swarthmore Project Artist Residencies: Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA (2009, 2003, 2000)
Space Grants from the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center (2001, 2003)
Space Grants from Gibney Dance Center (2001, 2002, 2003)
PERFORMANCE:
Collaboration with artist Janine Antoni (2012): Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo
The Hut Project (2011): multi-site series of structures made of found materials with live performance
Written On (2011): solo performance in which audience writes on wax shell of performer
Brain Song (2011): ritual for solo performer, 5 calf brains, and audience with cell phones
Connecting (2010): solo performance ritual based on the work of Marina Abramovic
Nat. Mur.: 5 Rites (2010): 2 ½ hour performance installation; rites of passage w bones, branches, cow heart
Our Lady of Detritus (2009): portable public performance for 3 performers at 5 outdoor NYC sites ; site specific rural solo performance in Michoacan, Mexico
Nu-Gro (2009): solo performance installation with sculptural “paquet congo”
ZsaZsaLand (2009): multimedia performance for 6, live DJ, environment, and audience with cell phones
Aftermath (2009): solo performance installation with wax balls and mummification
Office Rituals (2008): solo guerrilla performance in vacated corporate office space
Paradise and Its Dis-Ease (2008): 4 hour performance ritual with DJ, cheetos, musicians, and 3 performers
RUPTURE (2007): multimedia dance for 5 performers set in a ring of broken eggshells
Pulling the Wool (2004): multimedia performance carnival involving movement, live music, sculpture, video, and 11 performers in a 2-story gymnasium
Flood Light (2003): movement/light collaboration with lighting designer Severn Clay
I Cut the Rug in My Day (2003): piece for 6 performers to be viewed from 3 sides
Vision Begins (2002): interdisciplinary solo show with movement, video, and text
Warbody (2002): performance installation for 8 performers, photo exhibit, video, and sound installation
Guerrilla Diversions (2001): nomadic site-specific solo show made for P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center
Fragile (2001 adaption; 1999 original): solo show originally made for former Belgian printing house
Fiver (2001): collaboration with composer/pianist Sharon Zhu and a toy piano
Shelter (1999/2000): solo about homelessness with soundscore involving people living on the street
Athena, Goddess of Wisdom (1999/2000): solo involving sound footage of a seminar in analytic philosophy
GUN SHY (1999): site-specific solo involving 8 waterguns, made for the gardens at Wave Hill
Ach, Rosalie! (1998): solo involving 18 lbs. of mussel shells
Town Within A Town (1998): collaboration with director Bobo Jelcic and five actors in Groznjan, Croatia
The Big (1998): duet for two performers and a large wooden bowl
Démaquillage (1998): quintet for five dancers who draw on themselves with lipstick
Still Life (1997): sextet for six women and a table of real and fake fruit
Embers (1997): solo
I Have Seen the Scar Become a Star (1996): solo
COMMISSIONS
Parsons The New School for Design (2012)
St Nicks Alliance Brooklyn exhibition space (2012); GroundWorks Dance Theater (2010); Pennsylvania Dance Theatre (2010); 92nd St. Y Harkness Dance Center (2011 and 2001); Dance Theater Workshop (2008); Danspace Project (2007); Dixon Place (2004); Red Dive (2003); P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center (2001); Dancing in the Streets (1999); The Puffin Foundation (New York on New York) (1999)
NEW YORK VENUES
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center; Brooklyn Museum; HERE; Dance Theater Workshop; Danspace Project; P.S. 122; Dixon Place; Dancing in the Streets (Wave Hill); 92nd St Y; Brooklyn Arts Exchange; Williamsburg Art Nexus; Movement Research at the Judson Church; LMCC/Creative Time; Office Ops; The Construction Company; University Settlement; Dancenow Festival; Chashama; The Westbeth Gallery; Next Stage Company; Brooklyn College; Brecht Forum; The Art Students League of NY; Queens Botanical Garden; Solar One; Van Cortlandt Park; Port Authority Bus Terminal
INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL VENUES
CODA International Festival (Oslo, Norway)
Performance Art Festival TOUGH (Osijek , Croatia)
TAKT Kunstprojektraum (Berlin, Germany)
American Center (New Delhi, India)
Vooruit Drukkerij (Ghent, Belgium)
Theater Bellevue (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Le Regard du Cygne (Paris, France);
National Theater (Beograd, Serbia)
Cankarjev Dom (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
City Theater (Paks, Hungary)
Plus additional appearances in Belgium, Croatia, Poland
Regional appearances in NJ; California; Tennessee; Pennsylvania; Iowa
ALTERNATIVE PERFORMANCE SITES (partial list)
•A dilapidated Belgian printing house •A medieval Croatian hill village •An 18c. munitions storage building •A drained out swimming pool •The gardens at Wave Hill •A 19c. 2-story gymnasium •A fence on the Gowanus Canal •A residential New Jersey street •A replica of a Victorian naturalist’s field hut •A road in rural Mexico •A vacated corporate office suite
RELATED POSITIONS
jill sigman/thinkdance: Artistic Director (1998-present)
Movement Research: Artist Advisory Council Member (2008-present)
Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography: National Resource Council Member (2006-present)
Dance NYC: Advisory Board Member (2009-present)
Gibney Dance Center Artist Advisory Group (2010-present)
Eugene Lang College (The New School): Associate Professor of Performance Theory (2008)
Brooklyn College (CUNY): Adjunct Associate Professor of Philosophy of Art (2000)
InYourSpace Projects: Co-Founder of Art-Based Activist Organization (2001-present)
Portland Dance Lab [National Dance Project RDDI]: Faculty Mentor (2006)
Movement Research Performance Journal: Guest Editor (2002, 2006, 2007)
The Gender Project: Artist Advisory Board (2002-2005)
Manhattan Neighborhood Network Public Access Cable: Producer (2001)
JILL SIGMAN
www.thinkdance.org
http://thinkdance.wordpress.com
thinkdance@attglobal.net
Born and works in New York City
EDUCATION
A.B. (1989), M.A. (1996), Ph.D. (1998) in Philosophy, Princeton University
Certificate in Theater and Dance (1989), Princeton University
Ballet: 12 years; Joffrey Ballet School, Ballet Center of Brooklyn,
Modern: Humphrey, Limón, Graham, Horton, Hawkins, Contact Improv, Composition
Flamenco: Mariquita Flores (NY), Marina Baden (Berkeley)
Roma (Gypsy) Dance: Amala Summer School (Valjevo, Serbia)
Creative Space/Performance (Janine Antoni)
Mixed Media Sculpture (Silya Kiese)
Movement For Actors (Kriszta Bodonyi)
Dance History/Writing (Elizabeth Kendall, Mindy Aloff)
Improv Theater (Vincent Van den Elshout)
Voice (Elissa Weiss)
Alexander Technique (Diann Sichel)
Bartenieff Fundamentals (Laban Institute for Movement Studies)
Neuromuscular Patterning (Dianne Miller)
Pilates (Kathy Grant, NYC; Ingrid van Houcke-Lootvoet, Belgium)
GRANTS, AWARDS, HONORS
Re-Performer in Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present MoMA Retrospective (2010)
Center for Contemporary Research Fellow (2012)
Artist in Residence-- Wesleyan University (2012)
Acadia Summer Arts Program (ASAP) (2011)
The Enoch Foundation (2012, 2011)
EMPAC Residency (2010)
The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council MCAF (2009)
The Mertz Gilmore Foundation (2008)
The Jerome Foundation (2008, 2010)
The Bay and Paul Foundations (2008, 2007)
The American Music Center Live Music for Dance Program (2008, 2007)
The Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation (2011, 2008, 2006, 2003)
Guapamacataro International Residency in Art and Ecology (2007)
Denison University Guest Residency (2007)
New York State Music Fund (2007)
The Puffin Foundation (2007, 2001)
Movement Research Artist in Residence (2005-07)
NYSCA Commissioning Funds (2005)
Maggie Allesee National Ctr for Choreography at Florida State University: Choreographic Fellow (2005)
TAKT Kunstprojektraum Gallery, Berlin: one month residency and performance/exhibition (2005)
MOVE:133 Beekman, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Performance Residency Program (2005)
Kri Foundation Invited Guest Residency: New Delhi, INDIA (2005)
University of Iowa Guest Residency (2004)
Gina Gibney Dance "Women at Work" Award for Choreographic Achievement (2003)
Swarthmore Project Artist Residencies: Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA (2009, 2003, 2000)
Space Grants from the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center (2001, 2003)
Space Grants from Gibney Dance Center (2001, 2002, 2003)
PERFORMANCE:
Collaboration with artist Janine Antoni (2012): Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo
The Hut Project (2011): multi-site series of structures made of found materials with live performance
Written On (2011): solo performance in which audience writes on wax shell of performer
Brain Song (2011): ritual for solo performer, 5 calf brains, and audience with cell phones
Connecting (2010): solo performance ritual based on the work of Marina Abramovic
Nat. Mur.: 5 Rites (2010): 2 ½ hour performance installation; rites of passage w bones, branches, cow heart
Our Lady of Detritus (2009): portable public performance for 3 performers at 5 outdoor NYC sites ; site specific rural solo performance in Michoacan, Mexico
Nu-Gro (2009): solo performance installation with sculptural “paquet congo”
ZsaZsaLand (2009): multimedia performance for 6, live DJ, environment, and audience with cell phones
Aftermath (2009): solo performance installation with wax balls and mummification
Office Rituals (2008): solo guerrilla performance in vacated corporate office space
Paradise and Its Dis-Ease (2008): 4 hour performance ritual with DJ, cheetos, musicians, and 3 performers
RUPTURE (2007): multimedia dance for 5 performers set in a ring of broken eggshells
Pulling the Wool (2004): multimedia performance carnival involving movement, live music, sculpture, video, and 11 performers in a 2-story gymnasium
Flood Light (2003): movement/light collaboration with lighting designer Severn Clay
I Cut the Rug in My Day (2003): piece for 6 performers to be viewed from 3 sides
Vision Begins (2002): interdisciplinary solo show with movement, video, and text
Warbody (2002): performance installation for 8 performers, photo exhibit, video, and sound installation
Guerrilla Diversions (2001): nomadic site-specific solo show made for P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center
Fragile (2001 adaption; 1999 original): solo show originally made for former Belgian printing house
Fiver (2001): collaboration with composer/pianist Sharon Zhu and a toy piano
Shelter (1999/2000): solo about homelessness with soundscore involving people living on the street
Athena, Goddess of Wisdom (1999/2000): solo involving sound footage of a seminar in analytic philosophy
GUN SHY (1999): site-specific solo involving 8 waterguns, made for the gardens at Wave Hill
Ach, Rosalie! (1998): solo involving 18 lbs. of mussel shells
Town Within A Town (1998): collaboration with director Bobo Jelcic and five actors in Groznjan, Croatia
The Big (1998): duet for two performers and a large wooden bowl
Démaquillage (1998): quintet for five dancers who draw on themselves with lipstick
Still Life (1997): sextet for six women and a table of real and fake fruit
Embers (1997): solo
I Have Seen the Scar Become a Star (1996): solo
COMMISSIONS
Parsons The New School for Design (2012)
St Nicks Alliance Brooklyn exhibition space (2012); GroundWorks Dance Theater (2010); Pennsylvania Dance Theatre (2010); 92nd St. Y Harkness Dance Center (2011 and 2001); Dance Theater Workshop (2008); Danspace Project (2007); Dixon Place (2004); Red Dive (2003); P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center (2001); Dancing in the Streets (1999); The Puffin Foundation (New York on New York) (1999)
NEW YORK VENUES
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center; Brooklyn Museum; HERE; Dance Theater Workshop; Danspace Project; P.S. 122; Dixon Place; Dancing in the Streets (Wave Hill); 92nd St Y; Brooklyn Arts Exchange; Williamsburg Art Nexus; Movement Research at the Judson Church; LMCC/Creative Time; Office Ops; The Construction Company; University Settlement; Dancenow Festival; Chashama; The Westbeth Gallery; Next Stage Company; Brooklyn College; Brecht Forum; The Art Students League of NY; Queens Botanical Garden; Solar One; Van Cortlandt Park; Port Authority Bus Terminal
INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL VENUES
CODA International Festival (Oslo, Norway)
Performance Art Festival TOUGH (Osijek , Croatia)
TAKT Kunstprojektraum (Berlin, Germany)
American Center (New Delhi, India)
Vooruit Drukkerij (Ghent, Belgium)
Theater Bellevue (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Le Regard du Cygne (Paris, France);
National Theater (Beograd, Serbia)
Cankarjev Dom (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
City Theater (Paks, Hungary)
Plus additional appearances in Belgium, Croatia, Poland
Regional appearances in NJ; California; Tennessee; Pennsylvania; Iowa
ALTERNATIVE PERFORMANCE SITES (partial list)
•A dilapidated Belgian printing house •A medieval Croatian hill village •An 18c. munitions storage building •A drained out swimming pool •The gardens at Wave Hill •A 19c. 2-story gymnasium •A fence on the Gowanus Canal •A residential New Jersey street •A replica of a Victorian naturalist’s field hut •A road in rural Mexico •A vacated corporate office suite
RELATED POSITIONS
jill sigman/thinkdance: Artistic Director (1998-present)
Movement Research: Artist Advisory Council Member (2008-present)
Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography: National Resource Council Member (2006-present)
Dance NYC: Advisory Board Member (2009-present)
Gibney Dance Center Artist Advisory Group (2010-present)
Eugene Lang College (The New School): Associate Professor of Performance Theory (2008)
Brooklyn College (CUNY): Adjunct Associate Professor of Philosophy of Art (2000)
InYourSpace Projects: Co-Founder of Art-Based Activist Organization (2001-present)
Portland Dance Lab [National Dance Project RDDI]: Faculty Mentor (2006)
Movement Research Performance Journal: Guest Editor (2002, 2006, 2007)
The Gender Project: Artist Advisory Board (2002-2005)
Manhattan Neighborhood Network Public Access Cable: Producer (2001)
Hut #6, temporary structure with living plant system, for live performance and community dialogue (2011)
Hut #7, temporary structure for sleeping, live performance and community dialogue (2012)
Hut #7, temporary structure for sleeping, live performance and community dialogue (2012)
Hut #8, temporary structure for tea and performance (2012)
Hut #8, temporary structure for tea and performance (2012)
Hut #3, temporary structure for sleeping and live performance (2010)
Hut #4, temporary structure for sleeping and community dialogue (2010)
Hut #4, temporary structure [detail] (2010)
Hut #5, temporary structure with living plant system, for live performance and community dialogue (2010)
I set off to seek my fortune and I got a little lost and then I remembered what you said…, performance (2010)
Our Lady of Detritus, performance (2007)
Our Lady of Detritus, performance (2007)
Nat Mur: 5 Rites, performance (2010)
Nat Mur: 5 Rites, performance [detail] (2010)
Nu-Gro, performance with installation (2009)
Nu-Gro, performance with installation (2009)
Papoose, performance (2010)
Written On, performance (2011)
Aftermath, performance (2009)
Aftermath, performance (2009)