Elisa Monte Collaboration

Elisa Monte Collaboration
DESCRIPTION +

This project was a collaboration with choreographer Elisa Monte, composer Glenn Branca, and lighting designer Craig Miller. We designed both the set and the costumes for a performance titled “The World Upside Down,” presented in Amsterdam and New York City.

The set is a large folding screen, which is supported by a lightweight aluminum structure. The screen is mounted on casters and was manipulated by the dancers. At one point in the performance it cantilevered over the edge of the stage, hanging above the heads of the audience. This screen can be both opaque and translucent to accept or transmit shadows: when moving on stage, the screen becomes another dancer and a surface to project color or dancing.

For the costumes, we created simple, black two-piece garments that can be worn in various combinations. The white surface inside was printed with an ink that glowed in the dark. During performances, dancers would turn their costumes inside-out and become ghostly glowing figures. 

Location:
Various Locations
Year:
1990
Awards:
1991 Design Award from the International Design Magazine Annual Design Review