Su Wen-Chi
In dance, gravity is often associated with ascension and descension. Taiwanese choreographer and new-media artist Su Wen-Chi is collaborating with physicist Diego Blas to more accurately embody the principle of gravity in dance.
Su Wen-Chi is well versed at working with interactive media in live performance. Her large-scale solo WAVE (2011/2014), for example, included an 81-channel audio installation of individually motorized LED light boxes that were choreographed in concert with the dancer’s movements. Su is founder of YiLab, which is a group of artists integrating technology with the performing arts to expand their palette of performance.
She is in residence at EMPAC during the prototyping stages of the new work. The artist and three collaborators will explore how live interaction between a dancer, EMPAC’s Wave Field Synthesis Array, and light might open possibilities for illustrating the effects of gravity as floating and suspension in outer space. Along with her team from Taiwan, Su will work in the studio with local Hudson, NY–based choreographer Adam Weinert and will then present a work-in-progress event at the end of her residency.
Work-in-progress events offer a window into the research, development, and production of new works by artists in residence at EMPAC. These free events open up a dialogue between our audiences, artists, and EMPAC staff.
Main Video: This 360-degree video places the viewer in the middle of two circling supermassive black holes around 18.6 million miles (30 million kilometers) apart with an orbital period of 46 minutes. The simulation shows how the black holes distort the starry background and capture light, producing black hole silhouettes. A distinctive feature called a photon ring outlines the black holes. The entire system would have around 1 million times the Sun’s mass.
Video Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; background, ESA/Gaia/DPAC.
Dates + Tickets
EMPAC Spring 2020
Season
National Culture and Arts Foundation, Taiwan.
EMPAC Spring 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.