SPIRIT PLAYGROUND
DIANA ORVING
PART OF PERFORMANCE SERIES SUMMER 2024
PERFORMANCE DATES JULY 11, 7:30PM, JULY 18, 7:00PM, AUGUST 8, 7:00PM and 8:00PM
DIANA ORVING INSTALLATION ON VIEW JULY 11—AUGUST 17, 2024
CARVALHO PARK announces the inaugural project of its biannual performance series – a commissioned, cross-disciplinary and site-specific work integrating the practices of Swedish textile installation artist Diana Orving, with world-renowned New York City Ballet principal dancer, Sara Mearns, and esteemed choreographer, Jodi Melnick. Conceived of in tandem, the three invited artists will work together in CARVALHO PARK’s newly expanded gallery, creating a total, intersectional work, to be performed on three occasions – on July 11, 18, and August 8.
With a serpentine quality that gives way to expansive clouds of monochrome silk organza and jute, Orving’s installation titled “Spirit Playground” is comprised of over 1600 square feet of fabric. Built into the space, it travels with the characteristic of an organic being. Orving approaches form as if the sculpture possesses its own will and temperament – the flowing seams lending structure to her work resemble elastic and living lines, akin to blood veins or tree branches, never static and ever-expanding. The textiles’ lightness enables Orving to work on a grand scale, often leading to a sense of being overpowered by the installation’s volume. In this state of relinquished control, the work ignites, or even echoes, elements of uncertainty and unpredictability. As such, Orving seeks to give form to various states of mind, relationships, and mental and physical processes through the textiles’ movement and volume. Engaging a choreographic approach, her work captures a tangible sense of interconnectedness, emphasizing that one is not an isolated entity but rather a small part of a larger system.
Mearns and Melnick, who previously collaborated on two projects for the Guggenheim Museum, New York, will work within Orving’s textile installation in the week leading to the debut performance. The new dance work will give physical form to Orving’s aims that reside in the subconscious, the elusive and the concrete undulating in real time. Audiences are invited to view the choreographic work in-the-round, experiencing the textile installation in a heightened manner through the dancers’ singular contribution. In the meeting of artists in this intimate space, the installation becomes a site for new pursuits that eclipse the limitations of each discipline’s language.
The performance series is commissioned by CARVALHO PARK, and curated by gallery Partner and Director, Jennifer Carvalho, with Creative Director, Cynthia Dragoni.
Diana Orving is a Stockholm and Paris-based installation artist, working predominantly in textile sculptures. Her work has been exhibited at museum and gallery exhibitions at the Gothenburg Museum of Art, (Gothenburg, Sweden); Borås Art Biennial, Borås Konstmuseum, (Borås, Sweden); Nässjö Konsthall, (Nässjö, Sweden); Varbergs Konsthall, (Varberg, Sweden); Arnstedt Õstra Karup, (Õstra Karup, Sweden); Tempesta Gallery, (Milan, Italy); Warbling Collective, (London, United Kingdon); P Gallery, (Palma, Spain); Galleri Arnstedt, (Õstra Karup, Sweden); Sven-Harrys Museum, (Stockholm, Sweden); Liljevalchs Konsthall, (Stockholm, Sweden); and Gustavsbergs Konsthall, (Gustavsberg, Sweden); among others. Prior to her career as a visual artist, Orving gained recognition as a fashion designer, collaborating with the Royal Opera in envisioning and creating costumes. In 2017, she received the Designer of the Year award from Elle Magazine.
Sara Mearns is one of the most internationally celebrated classical ballet dancers of our generation. A principal dancer with New York City Ballet, she has performed featured roles in iconic ballets such as Symphony in C, Jewels (Emeralds and Diamonds), Serenade, Mozartiana, and Walpurgisnacht Ballet. Chosen by then New York City Ballet Artistic Director, Peter Martins, to play the iconic swan queen (Odette) in Swan Lake while she was still in the corps at age 19, it has become her signature role, for which she has received repeated critical acclaim.
Mearns has originated roles in works by world-renowned choreographers including Alexei Ratmansky, Christopher Wheeldon, Peter Martins, Justin Peck, Karole Armitage, Benjamin Millipied, Liam Scarlett, Richard Tanner, Susan Stroman, and Emmy Award winning choreographer Joshua Bergasse, Pontus Lidberg, and Jodi Melnick for the Guggenheim Museum’s Works & Process. She starred in a full night production, A Dancers Dream, at the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Alan Gilbert, and has guested with the Isadora Duncan Foundation at The Joyce Theater, The Ashley Bouder Project, company Wang/Ramirez from Germany at the Jacobs Pillow Gala, and Tony-nominated Broadway revival, On The Town. She also debuted in Matthew Bourne’s production of The Red Shoes at New York City Center. Mearns serves on the Advisory Board of DanceNYC, the Artists Committee of the Joyce theatre, and is an ambassador to the Dizzy Feet Foundation with Nigel Lythgoe.
Jodi Melnick is a New York-based choreographer, dancer, and teacher. Melnick has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship (2012), the Doris Duke Impact Award (2014), the Jerome Robbins New Essential Works Grant (2010-11), the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant to Artists Award (2011); and has been honored with two New York Dance and Performance (Bessies) Awards for sustained achievements in dance (2001, 2008).
Melnick’s work has been presented at The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), City Center, The Joyce Theater, New York Live Arts (NYLA), The Kitchen, La Mama, Jacob’s Pillow, American Dance Festival, Martha’s Vineyard, OtherShore Dance Company, Barnard College, Sarah Lawrence College, George Washington University, for Taryn Griggs (2014 Mcknight awardee), and internationally, in Kansai, Japan, for DanceBox, opening the Dublin Dance Festival (2011), Belfast, Ireland, and in Tallinn, Estonia. In 2012, Melnick collaborated with Trisha Brown, creating and performing the solo, One of Sixty Five Thousand Gestures. Melnick continues to perform and collaborate with choreographers such as Sara Rudner, Vicky Shick, John Jasperse, Jon Kinzel, Susan Rethorst, Beth Gill, Rashaun Mitchell, David Neumann, Jillian Pena, and Liz Roche. She has collaborated with artist Burt Barr (Fanfare, 2009), and has appeared in the video work of artists Charles Atlas and David Michalek. Melnick revisited working with Donna Uchizono (2005-8), creating and performing in a trio with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Hristoula Harakas, and danced with the Twyla Tharp Dance Company from 1991-94 and again in 2009.
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