Hot Box
Brian Rogers / The Chocolate Factory
Hot Box is loud, dark, foggy, sweaty, and very live.
Hot Box draws inspiration from a cinematic vocabulary—pans, zooms, cuts, etc.—while attempting to find a sustained stillness in an uncomfortable environment. Inspired by films like Apocalypse Now and Fitzcarraldo, a live performance situation is constructed that is violent and chaotic; and from that chaos, it attempts to compose a sequence of video images that are quiet, sustained, focused, and organized.
Conceived, directed, and performed by Chocolate Factory artistic director Brian Rogers, Hot Box is a companion piece to his Bessie-nominated 2010 performance Selective Memory. Where Selective Memory was extremely clean and minimalist in its approach, Hot Box is noisy and messy.
Brian Rogers is a director, video artist, co-founder, and artistic director of the Chocolate Factory Theater in Queens, which supports the creation of theater, dance, music, and multimedia performances. Since 1997, Rogers has conceived and/or directed numerous large scale performances at the Chocolate Factory and elsewhere including Hot Box (2012, co-presented with FIAF’s Crossing the Line Festival), the Bessie-nominated Selective Memory (2010/11), (re)DEVELOP (death valley) (2009), 2 Husbands (2007), Gun Play (2006), Audit (2004), and Fundamental (2002). In addition to his own work, Rogers curates the Chocolate Factory's visiting artist program (now in its seventh year), which supports the work of more than 100 theater, dance, music, and multimedia artists each year.
As a video, sound, and performance artist, Rogers has collaborated with Shaun Irons and Lauren Petty, Aynsley Vandenbroucke, Tara O'Con, Jillian Sweeney, and the Movement Research Spring 2008 Festival (24x4x4). Video works include the Borden Avenue Bridge Project, presented at NY Designs in May 2008. He is presenting a solo exhibition of new video works in 2012 at Ventana 244 Gallery in Brooklyn.
Rogers has served as a panelist and/or recommender for numerous organizations including NYSCA, Queens Council on the Arts, ART/NY Nancy Quinn Fund, DTW Outer/Space, the A.W.A.R.D. Show!, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Fresh Tracks, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, MacArthur Foundation, Made Here, and Creative Capital, among others. He is a graduate of Bennington College.
Hot Box was first presented at the Chocolate Factory in September 2012 as part of FIAF’s Crossing the Line Festival, and re-performed in January 2013 as part of PS122’s COIL Festival. Major production support is provided by The MAP Fund, a program of Creative Capital supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional commissioning support is provided by NYSCA’s Individual Artists Program. Residency support is provided by Mount Tremper Arts.
