iLAND

Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Art Nature and Dance

ArtsPool Member

Athena Kokoronis

Athena Kokoronis is an artist living and working in Brooklyn, who for the past decade has committed to a dance query within the contexts of domesticity, hospitality, ecology, and alternative economy. Her work has been included in dance and art venues in NY and elsewhere. Kokoronis is a long term collaborator at Mildred’s Lane, and has made intimate contributions in the form of collaborations within Tradeschool/OurGoods, Anhoek School, iLAND/Strataspore, Phoneme Choir. She is presently a member of the Movement Party and the founder of the Domestic Performance Agency. www.domesticperformanceagency.com

Patch-Work-Walk-Picnic-Dance

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Saturday May 24 1-4:30pm and Sunday May 25 1-4:30pm at Inwood Park

Our collaboration site is Inwood Hill Park. It is the only natural forest in Manhattan.  It was not designed, but rather formed by ecological and human shifts over time. We’re interested in seeing how these shifts can inform the practices of both urban ecology and dance. We will share our hybrid practice in a 2-day workshop. A large-scale quilt, inspired by a number of New York city parks, has previously been constructed. We will use it as a picnic blanket as well as a tool to map the Inwood Hill Park’s ecosystem. Finally, we will construct a patch based on our experience of Inwood Hill Park which will become the quilt’s medallion.

May 24 1-4:30pm
Walk, Dispersal, Stitch

We’ll start with a walk that identifies mapping systems used in urban ecology (particularly priority maps). We will utilize these mapping systems to determine multiple sites for a  movement practice, which will attempt to map the sounds of the park. This experience will be further processed into the construction and stitching of a quilt medallion.


May 25 1-4:30pm
Walk, Steward, Picnic
We will start with a movement warm-up (Practice for the trees) that segues into a walk through the park. We will end by engaging in tree stewardship, specifically the task of pulling wine berry vines and garlic mustard (invasive plants that are edible but harmful to the trees). We will close by inviting participants to rest on our quilt and enjoy a picnic of Greek-Iranian pies.

Meet us at the entrance to Inwood Hills Park at the intersection of Indian Road and 218th Street. There is a cafe across the street called Indian Road Cafe at 600 West 218th Street that people can get coffee/snacks in and use the bathroom before heading to the park.

Above Middle Below

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Sunday May 17 1-4:30pm
Fort Greene Park

Above Middle and Below is a three-part laboratory dedicated to formulating ideas for an Open Movement score through collaboration facilitated by Leila Mougoui Bakhitiari (urban ecologist), Christopher Kennedy (teaching artist), Athena Kokoronis (choreographer), and Jan Mun (artist-scientist). Part One is dedicated to presenting and mapping Fort Greene Park’s social and ecological relationships. Part Two focuses on formulating and performing in an Open Movement score. Part Three is dedicated to conversation and archiving our collaboration together.

We will meet at the top of the hill at the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Fort Greene Park (look for the large quilt). Call Athena (347) 831-4051 to confirm location if weather is questionable. Please wear comfortable shoes and clothes to move in. Participants are welcome to bring a paper, writing instruments, and drawing tools if desired.

StataSpore

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StrataSpore used mushrooms as both metaphor and material to discuss infrastructure, networks, and latent potential. The process cultivated “spores” of knowledge about local ecosystems and urban sustainability. The collaborators combined elements of task and performance-based art, experiential learning, cooking, mushroom hunting and identification, and experimental design practice.

Moving into the Out There

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Presenters and participants included New School professors Ivan Raykoff, Philip Silva, Danielle Goldman, Neil Greenberg, Victoria Marshall, and Robert Sember; PARK collaborators Kathy Westwater,  Seung Jae Lee and Jennifer Scappetonne; iLAND board members Elliott Maltby, Kate Cahill, Carolyn Hall and Julia Handschuh, Jennifer Monson; choreographer and improviser Susan Sgorbati, social scientist at the U.S. Forest Service, Erika Svendson; artist Kyle deCamp. Performance created by Athena Kokoronis. Workshops by E.J. McAdams; Liz Barry, Jessica Einhorn and Lailye Weidman of Higher E.D.; and Clarinda Mac Low of River to Creek.

Overview

Moving Into the Out There is iLAND’s fourth annual symposium on dance, movement, and the environment. The two-day event in the heart of New York City brings together dancers, choreographers, designers, ecologists, advocates, and scientists for interactive panel discussions, field workshops, and networking opportunities. This year’s symposium features an in-depth review of PARK, an environmental performance project at Fresh Kills Landfill supported by the 2011 iLAB Residency. Moving Into the Out There will also highlight iLAND’s recent efforts to synthesize insights and discoveries from the past seven years of iLAB collaborative residencies. Detailed event descriptions are attached.

Moving Into the Out There is an open forum for exploring new methods of understanding urban ecosystems through innovative collaborations between practitioners of movement, dance, science, and environmental management. iLAND cultivates a deeper engagement with urban environmental issues through its cross-disciplinary approach, and the annual symposium invites the general public to experience and explore recent works emerging from the iLAND community. Moving Into the Out There features the work of iLAND’s 2011 iLAB Residency, opening up the results of that collaborative experience to a wider audience for discussion.

Throughout the Symposium, participants share in the process of searching for shared language and collaborative processes that cut across the arts and sciences, focusing on dance and the body as primary mediators of experience, imagination, and knowing. Through Moving Into the Out There iLAND aims to generate conversation about collaborative practice throughout communities of art and science, instigating new ways of understanding and intervening in contemporary environmental problems – particularly those related to over-development and climate change.