Battleground
May 2–4, 2016
New York 10128
USA
Works & Process at the Guggenheim presents Battleground by Ryan McNamara
Monday–Wednesday, May 2–4, 7:30pm
“Seventy years ago, Frank Lloyd Wright sketched a room to be built under the Guggenheim. People seem to think it’s a theater. In actuality, it’s a set Wright prophetically designed for the sci-fi cosplay house-music ballet-battle that fell into my mind the moment I saw the space. This May, the Peter B. Lewis Theater will finally realize its destiny in my piece Battleground.”
–Ryan McNamara
On May 2, 3, and 4, Works & Process at the Guggenheim presents the premiere of Battleground, a commissioned work by artist Ryan McNamara in collaboration with a community of nine dancers: Reid Bartelme, Jason Collins, Dylan Crossman, Fana Fraser, John Hoobyar, Kyli Kleven, Sigrid Lauren, Mickey Mahar, and Brandon Washington. Utilizing a rare residency opportunity that has spanned five months in the Guggenheim’s Frank Lloyd Wright–designed Peter B. Lewis Theater, McNamara has created a one-of-a-kind cosplay-battle-ballet made for the unique architecture of the theater. Audience members act as embedded witnesses to the three squads' battle for dominance in each of the space's three zones—"The Red Choir Loft," "The Green Balcony," and "The Blue Stage." Interspersed in the performance will be a discussion with McNamara moderated by Nancy Spector, former Deputy Director and Jennifer and David Stockman Chief Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation. A reception with the artists immediately follows the performance. Tickets / video preview
About Ryan McNamara
Ryan McNamara explores the way that people understand themselves within their bodies and the cultural zeitgeist through dance and movement. McNamara stages group performances as well as solo actions, which are typically documented through video and photography. Those documentary images are often collaged or shown as works unto themselves. For a 2012 exhibition, McNamara took viewers through his still photographs and explained himself, his career, and his performances, starting at childhood and working up to the present. In 2010, as part of MoMA PS1’s survey Greater New York, McNamara performed Make Ryan a Dancer, in which he publicly submitted to dance lessons from several instructors, practicing through the museum’s corridors, galleries, courtyard, and café. Afterward, McNamara taught museum visitors to dance in a curious continuation and involution of the teacher-student/performer-spectator relationship.
McNamara’s work and performances have been shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA PS1, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany; and Rotterdam’s Showroom for Media and Moving Art, and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About Works & Process at the Guggenheim
For over 31 years and in over 350 productions, New Yorkers have been able to see, hear, and meet the most acclaimed artists in the world, in an intimate setting unlike any other. Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to generations of leading creators and performers. Each performance takes place in the Guggenheim’s intimate Frank Lloyd Wright–designed 285-seat Peter B. Lewis Theater. Described by the New York Times as “an exceptional opportunity to understand something of the creative process,” Works & Process is produced by founder Mary Sharp Cronson.
More information
T 212 423 3575 / boxoffice@guggenheim.org
Works & Process is supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
