After two years of construction, on October 3rd EMPAC officially opened the doors of their new magnificent state-of-the-art media and performing arts center, and celebrated with two weekends of non-stop performances, screenings, installations and special events. I was lucky enough to be able spend the day on Saturday Oct 4th, seeing this amazing facility for myself. I traveled with a fellow dance filmmaker, Sabine Klaus (aka CreationEditor on dance-tech.net) who was visiting from Scotland. We took in the sights and Sabine recorded much of what she saw on video to create the 25 min vlog post below. Many thanks to Sabine for letting me share it with you here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The building is a work of art in itself. Designed by the London-based architecture firm, Grimshaw, it is built into the side of a hill overlooking downtown Troy with views of Albany beyond. With its modern glass and steel exterior, and curvey wood interior it looks like both a starship landing dock, and a giant pickle barrel. It was a bit confusing to find one’s way around the multitude of theaters, studios and galleries, but by the end of the day I’d gotten my bearings.

In 2007, with the support of a $1 million gift from the Jaffe Fund for Experimental Media and Performing Arts, EMPAC launched the DANCE MOViES Commission which supports the creation of several new experimental dance films by artists from the Americas each year. The premiere screening of the first DANCE MOViES Commission films took place in the huge Concert Hall space on a gigantic screen. I don’t know enough to speak about the great acoustical and technical attributes of this space, but it was awesome to see dance films blown up so big with so much visual and sonic impact!

I thought the pieces that showed off the capabilities of the building the best, however were the interactive installations. The Wooster group made a 360 degree video installation that was supposed to be about life in wartime, but it made a more powerful statement about control and editing, as one viewer in the space, sitting in the “chosen” chair, was able to direct the gaze of the group by swiveling around. Wherever this one person looked, that was the part of the video that was in focus and audible. The piece was masterfully designed to look slipshod and casual, but underneath it was very manipulative, making you feel both in and out of control over the action. I’d love to see more pieces like this, but besides major art museums and institutions like EMPAC, it would be hard to find a place with the technical capabilities to mount it. Another great installation was Billie Cowie’s 3-D “In the Flesh” in which viewers don the red and blue glasses to watch a dancer lift herself off of a zebra print rug. Like a ghost being conjured at a séance, it felt creepy to see her delicate hand reaching up to me, almost touching, and then fading away.

All in all, EMPAC is an amazing place for experimental artists, but after visiting I had a few questions about what its real world impact will be. Here in New York City, spaces to make and show experimental dance and media are more scarce than ever. Perhaps Troy and Albany will become a new destination for artists seeking cheap and plentiful real estate with adequate cultural and community benefits to support them, but even in up-state New York, the great disparity between rich and poor is quite striking. EMPAC is really designed for world class artists who already have the capabilities, funding, and expertise to take advantage of the unsurpassed technological resources this facility can provide. This makes sense given their situation at one of the world’s most prestigious technical/engineering institutions.

Even in the arts, it seems the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I would just like an empty room with lights and heat to rehearse in, and perhaps a new video camera that can record high quality footage. I’d like to be able to pay my dancers and crew adequate compensation for their time and talents, and I’d like to not have to work three jobs in order to practice my art. There is a big gulf between the gutter most of us live in and the glimmering edifice of EMPAC. We need to create a bridge to be able to reach these glorious technological dreamlands of the future. This means radically rethinking how we build support, create community, and raise the value of our work. EMPAC makes experimental art look valuable and appealing to the wider world, but its up to us artists to raise the quality of our work to match those expectations. This takes many carefully measured steps to cultivate  donor networks, major funders, and presenters whose support will be necessary to reach that glittering gem on the top of the hill.

The competition is tough (last year only 4 proposals out of 163 were chosen), however the rewards are great including a cash grant, screening opportunities, and in late 2008 when their new building is complete artists may also receive valuable creative residency time using their state of the art facilities. The deadline for proposals is February 15, 2008. Guidelines and information are below:

EMPAC DANCE MOVIES COMMISSION 2008: OPEN CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Troy, NY–In 2007, its inaugural year, EMPAC’s DANCE MOViES Commission received more than 150 applications from dance-filmmakers in North and South America. As the first major commissioning program available to dance-film artists in the United States, the DANCE MOViES Commission represents an important opportunity for those working at the intersection of the moving body and the moving image. Selected artists receive awards ranging up to $50,000.

EMPAC (the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) is now accepting proposals for its 2008 commissions. The deadline for the proposals is February 15, 2008.

This year, with the opening of the EMPAC building in the fall of 2008, artists may apply to create their DANCE MOViES works in conjunction with the Artist-in-Residence program.  Works commissioned may take advantage of EMPAC’s spaces and technology, using infrastructure such as computer-controlled rigging or large-scale immersive studio environments.

Backed by the Jaffe Fund for Experimental Media and Performing Arts, the DANCE MOViES Commission supports works for the screen including film, video, installation and other audio-visual formats. The works may be narrative in nature or abstract; they may range in length (up to 20 minutes); they will certainly vary in style, technique and expressive intent.

The four commissioned projects in 2007 included a poetic film based on the autobiographical account of an U.S.-based African choreographer returning to dance in Zimbabwe; a work featuring American veterans of war; an Argentinean video interlacing pure movement, form and architecture; and a piece in which a contemporary Russian dancer is viewed in the aesthetic context of a post-Soviet surveillance society.

The DANCE MOViES Commissions may present movement of the body in direct or in allusive ways. They may take advantage of a variety of tools, such as computer processing, motion capture, simulation, animation, image processing and post-production technologies. Some may not portray “dance,” per se, at all. All will, however, reflect or refer to the power of movement unfurling in time.

The DANCE MOViES Commission is intended to support experimental works in which the onscreen images are crafted by, or in collaboration with, a choreographer or movement-based artist. The commission was not created to support documentaries, feature-length films or commercial films that feature dance.

DANCE MOViES Commission application process
The EMPAC DANCE MOViES Commission is a competitive open proposal process, in which eligible artists submit a project proposal.  The initial proposals are reviewed and a small number of artists are invited to submit a detailed proposal to an international panel. The panel assesses the quality and feasibility of the proposed project and submits its recommendations to EMPAC. The commissions are awarded by EMPAC after review.

Upon awarding of the commission, the artist or collaborative team has one year to complete the project, at which point the work is premiered at EMPAC, shown at dance film festivals around the world, and credited as an EMPAC DANCE MOViES Commission.

The deadline for the proposals is February 15, 2008.

For more information on EMPAC and the DANCE MOViES Commission, or to download the guidelines and application form, please visit the EMPAC website:
http://www.empac.rpi.edu

To download press ready images of EMPAC and a press kit: http://www.empac.rpi.edu/presskit/press.html

About EMPAC
EMPAC – the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center – is a place and a program where the arts challenge and alter our technology and technology challenges and alters the arts. Founded by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, EMPAC is an arts institution that draws strength from being part of a great research university. It operates nationally and internationally: attracting innovative artists, both renowned and emerging, from around the world; offering artists, researchers, and audiences opportunities that are available nowhere else under a single roof; providing unsurpassed facilities for creative exploration, and for research in fields such as visualization and movement capture; sending new artworks onto the global stage.

About Rensselaer
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1824, is the nation’s oldest technological university. The school offers degrees in engineering, the sciences, information technology, architecture, management, and the humanities and social sciences. Institute programs serve undergraduates, graduate students, and working professionals around the world. Rensselaer faculty are known for pre-eminence in research conducted in a wide range of research centers that are characterized by strong industry partnerships. The Institute is especially well known for its success in the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the marketplace so that new discoveries and inventions benefit human life, protect the environment, and strengthen economic development.