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The fall season of artist residencies and associated projects at the Watermill Center will begin with a workshop presentation of Joshua Seidner’s work in progress, “Powderburn,” on Tuesday, September 29, at 7 p.m.
“Powderburn” is a theatrical work that draws on the slang and languages, traditions, dances and fighting forms of Russia, Israel, Turkey, the Middle East and Latin America to explore “otherness” in America. Audiences are advised that the performance includes male nudity and adult content.
In this piece, emerging French- American writer-actor Joshua Seidner draws on criminal tongues, death matches, and old-world machismo to illuminate the corruption of the 21st century.
Named after a racial slur for people of color, “Powderburn” follows one man from his sun-scorched, war-torn homeland to an unnamed country in which cultures clash in cracked basements, men become brothers and then enemies, and a vicious class system turns him into an exoticized, eroticized, animal-like performer.
The piece begins with highly choreographed dances and fight routines that unravel into volatile and chaotic action as the protagonist descends into a world where criminals, cheats, cockfight promoters and taxi drivers war over birthrights and turf. The only thing these broken men have left at their disposal are their own bruised bodies, which they choose to destroy each night by pummeling and fighting one another for the entertainment of a blood-thirsty crowd that doesn¹t care if the men live or die.
Performers will include Mr. Seidner, Lief Huckman, Michael Godere and Yuval Boim. During the residency and public performance, a video camera will continuously capture the action for a “Powderburn” film to be produced at a later date.
The first stages of “Powderburn” were completed in San Juan, Puerto Rico, earlier this year. The piece is the first part of a trilogy of performance projects Mr. Seidner is planning to explore the implications of being an “other”
in America.
A graduate of Bard College, where he studied theater under JoAnne Akalaitis, Mr. Seidner has appeared in theater, performance art, online and independent film projects with companies including Gorilla Repertory, Theatre Mitu and Hotel Savant, and in collaboration with prestigious arts organizations such as The Kitchen, PS1/WPS1 Radio and the British Film Council.
His first experience at the Watermill Center was in 2007, in Hotel Savant¹s adaptation of Antonin Artaud’s “The Cenci.” He later performed in the highly acclaimed full production at New York’s Ohio Theater. Mr. Seidner has worked with video artists Annika Larsson and Kalup Linzy, served as editor of Useless Magazine, contributed writing to V Magazine, and exhibited a series of Polaroids at Wow Gallery in Los Angeles.
Upcoming is a role in the first film produced by Finnish fashion line Ivana Helsinki and an appearance in a Performa09 collaboration this fall.
The Watermill Center is a laboratory for performance founded by Robert Wilson as a unique environment in which young and emerging artists from around the world can explore new ideas.
Drawing inspiration from all the arts and cultures as well as from social, human, and natural sciences, the center is a global community of artists in which living and working together among the extensive collection of art and artifacts lies at the heart of the experience. Watermill Center strives to be a haven for a next generation of artists while supporting their work among a network of international institutions that embrace new interdisciplinary approaches.
For the fall and spring residency programs, running from September to June, a high-profile committee of practitioners in the arts and humanities—including Mr. Wilson, Marina Abramovic, Alanna Heiss, Albert Maysles, Gerard Mortier, John Rockwell, Jonathan Safran Foer, Richard Sennett, Nike Wagner and others—selects more than 15 groups, individual artists and scholars in residence to workshop their own creations.
The residencies are complemented by educational programs with schools and other institutions; public events such as open rehearsals and lectures, seminars and symposia; and tours of the building and grounds.
Founded in 1992, the Watermill Center is a 22,000-square-foot facility located on the six-acre site of a former Western Union communications research facility north of the hamlet of Water Mill. Stephanie French is Watermill’s director and CEO, and Jorn Weisbrodt is creative director.
A workshop presentation of Joshua Seidner’s “Powderburn” will be presented on Tuesday, September 29, at 7 p.m. at the Watermill Center, 39 Water Mill Towd Road in Water Mill. The performance includes male nudity and adult content. Admission is free, but reservations are required; visit joshuaseidner.eventbrite.com.
on Sep 22, 2009