OUT OF THE FRAME

2018
Performance / Installation
Chicago Art Department, Chicago, Illinois

Created in collaboration with Hubbard Street Dance, Out of the Frame began with a simple question: What would happen if a painting could come to life?

The project brought together painting, photography, and contemporary dance to blur the boundary between the figures depicted in a painting and the dancers moving through the gallery.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The project began with a series of photographs of Hubbard Street dancers moving through a physical frame. The dancers were given only a few instructions: move through the opening, stay within the outer edge of the frame, and hide their faces as much as possible. The rest was left to them.

Over two hours, photographer Peter Hinsdale captured nearly 1,300 images. From those photographs, I selected a small number of moments to become paintings. Each image was translated into a layered stencil painting on a wood panel, with the painted frame becoming part of the illusion.

The dancers then developed a site-specific performance in response to the paintings. Their movements echoed, extended, and ultimately escaped the frozen positions captured in the works.

The finished paintings and live performance occupied the same space, allowing the audience to see the figures first as images and then encounter their movement in physical space.

What began as a painting became a performance, and what appeared to be contained within the frame could suddenly move beyond it.

CREDITS

Choreography
Rena Butler

Performed by
Hubbard Street Dance

Featuring:
Rena Butler
Craig Black
Kellie Epperheimer
Kevin Shannon
Connie Shiau
Myles Lavallee

Photography
Peter Hinsdale
Mike Nourse

Additional Collaborators
Alexandra Wells
Glenn Edgerton
Carris Adams
Mike Nourse
Ben Hood