Speaking Duchamp

Speaking Duchamp was inspired by An Armory Show, an installation by artists Michael Oatman and Ken Ragsdale, which appeared at The Sage College’s Opalka Gallery in 2013. The dance pays homage to Marcel Duchamp, the artist whose work made the biggest splash at the original 1913 Armory Show in NYC. His Cubist-inspired Nude Descending a Staircase was famously derided as an “explosion in a shingle factory.” Oatman’s D’entre les Morts video work was inspired by Duchamp’s painting. The bicycle wheel props are inspired by Duchamp’s readymade artwork.

Bicycle Wheel Design and Construction: Michael Oatman
Exhibit Video: Michael Oatman (edited by India Lombardi-Bello)

Details

Premiered:: 2013 at the Opalka Gallery of Russell Sage College, Albany NY
Choreographer:: Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company
Composer:: Joan Tower (Silver Ladders) and Todd Bartel
Costume Design:: Michael Oatman
Dancers:: The Company
Press Quote:: “…the dancers explode into lines and patterns, moving in unison or like dominoes in staggered sequence.” ~ Times Union