Presented by Washington Project for the Arts and the Corcoran Gallery of Art

Dates: July 18 – September 15, 2012

Location: Corcoran Gallery of Art, 500 17th St. NW, Washington, DC, 17th St. Entrance

Participating Artists: Annie Albagli, Maya Freelon Asante, COLON:Y (chukwuma agubokwu and Wilmer Wilson IV), Kathryn Cornelius, Jennifer Coster, Chajana denHarder, Sarah Levitt, Carolina Mayorga, and Maida Withers

Public Talk with Esa Nickle, Managing Director/ Producer, Performa: Thursday, August 9, 7pm
Location: Corcoran Auditorium, 500 17th St. NW, Washington, DC

WPA Member Artist Meetings with Esa Nickle: Friday, August 10
Location: WPA Office: 2023 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC

PRESENT: A discussion on live performance and contemporary art
Thursday, October 11, 7pm
Featuring artists Kathryn Cornelius, Chajana denHarder, Sarah Levitt, Carolina Mayorga, and Maida Withers
Moderated by Sarah Newman, Curator of Contemporary Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art

Take It to the Bridge was presented by Washington Project for the Arts and the Corcoran Gallery from July 18 through September 15, 2012 on the Performance Bridge located in the Corcoran’s 17^th St. entrance. For the series, eleven artists living and working in the DC-Baltimore region presented nine installations and performances, investigating the Bridge’s physical characteristics and pushing the boundaries of this non-traditional space to explore a variety of social, political, and aesthetic issues.

In conjunction with Take it to the Bridge, Esa Nickle, Managing Director/ Producer of Performa gave a public talk on Thursday, August 9 at 7pm and held individual meetings with WPA member artists on Friday, August 10. Founded by RoseLee Goldberg in 2004, Performa is the leading organization dedicated to exploring the critical role of live performance in the history of twentieth-century art and to encouraging new directions in performance for the twenty-first century. Nickle joined the Performa team in May 2005 as the Biennial Coordinator of the Performa 05 biennial and has since expanded her role as the line producer of Performa commissions, international tours and special events. Her talk provided an overview of Performa’s work and the return of live performance in the visual art world from 2005-2011.

To wrap up the series, PRESENT: A discussion on live performance and contemporary art featured a conversation with Kathryn Cornelius, Chajana denHarder, Sarah Levitt, Carolina Mayorga, and Maida Withers, the five artists who executed performances as part of Take It to the Bridge. The artists discussed the development and execution of their Bridge performances, in addition to the challenges and rewards of working in live performance. Sarah Newman, Curator of Contemporary Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art moderated.

See the complete Take it to the Bridge schedule below, with images from each performance:

July 18 – July 22: Ubuntu, Maya Freelon Asante
Maya Freelon Asante’s site-specific tissue paper installation creates the illusion of a weightless floating sculpture. Creating a monumental, vibrant sculpture out of a typically fragile and insignificant material, the artist celebrates the importance of unity as expressed in the word Ubuntu, a classical African concept that means I Am Because We Are.

Saturday, July 28: Sleep, Chajana denHarder
Challenging the expectation that performance be spectacular and attention-grabbing, Chajana denHarder spends the museum’s open hours in the Bridge sleeping (or attempting to sleep). Though seemingly minimal, the performance requires the artist to present herself to the museum visitors in a vulnerable, unconscious state, performing a quiet and understated yet decidedly private act in a public space.

August 1 – August 5: Canaries in McMansionland, Jennifer Coster
Jennifer Coster’s installation turns a critical eye towards America’s built environment, presenting canary cages transformed into McMansions and a maze of miniature, plaster parking medians. In cages four times the size of typical canary cages, the birds fly and play, suggesting both the comforts and limitations of modern luxury.

Thursday, August 9, 7pm: Public Talk with Esa Nickle, Managing Director/Producer of Performa
Admission is free but registration is encouraged. Online Registration

Friday, August 10: WPA Member Meetings with Esa Nickle
At the WPA Office. Information about sign-up for member meetings will be posted to wpadc.org in July.

Saturday, August 11: Save the Date, Kathryn Cornelius
Kathryn Cornelius explores the life cycle of marriage and divorce and the wedding ceremony’s complex mix of private emotion, public spectacle, social expectation, and state power. For more information, visit savethedatedc.tumblr.com and her Twitter feed.

Save the Date Performance Schedule

10:00am – Antwone Walters

11:00am – Stephen Mack

12:00pm – Eames Armstrong

1:00pm – Dr. John Royer

2:00pm – Dr. Fred Ognibene

3:00pm – Holly Bass

4:00pm – Andrew Bucket

Saturday, August 18: Procedures for Ground Loss Safety, Sarah Levitt/ Dance Exchange
Taking inspiration from cheery Cold War safety films of the 1950s, the artist will use the Performance Bridge to help visitors prepare for “sudden ground loss”—what to do when the ground underneath them gives out.

August 22 – August 26: The Airborne Leaflet Campaign, COLON:Y (chukwuma agubokwu and Wilmer Wilson IV)
chukwuma agubokwu and Wilmer Wilson IV play with the Bridge’s proximity to DC’s most powerful institutions with The Airborne Leaflet Campaign, an investigation of text and power.

Saturday, September 1: Maid in the USA, Carolina Mayorga
Carolina Mayorga explores the politics of visibility and identity in the context of debates over immigration.

Saturday, September 5 – September 9: Bridging the Light, Annie Albagli
Annie Albagli draws on the colors of the Bay area for Bridging the Light, an installation in dialogue with Richard Diebenkorn: The Ocean Park Series (June 30—September 23, 2012), the Corcoran’s major summer exhibition.

Saturday, September 15, 11am-4pm: This Space Occupied (by Maida), Maida Withers with composer Steve Hilmy
Maida Withers, Washington, D.C., performer, choreographer, and filmmaker, working with composer Steve Hilmy, reveals the precariousness of life in the glass cage in  a 5-hour stream of consciousness event inspired by notions of the Occupy movement.

Thursday, October 11, 7pm: PRESENT: A discussion on live performance and contemporary art
Featuring artists Kathryn Cornelius, Chajana denHarder, Sarah Levitt, Carolina Mayorga, and Maida Withers. Moderated by Sarah Newman, Curator of Contemporary Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art

Five artists who participated in the Take It to the Bridge series discuss the development and execution of their Bridge performances, in addition to the challenges and rewards of working in live performance. Featuring artists with backgrounds in visual art, performance, and dance discussing widely varied projects, PRESENT will contribute to the groundswell of dialogue about and presentation of live performance in the DC area.