ENVIRONMENTAL PUBLIC ART SHOW Port Authority NYC

This is Claire Elizabeth Barratt (aka CillaVee) ... I'm the artistic director of Cilla Vee Life Arts.

This August and September I will be partnering with a number of environmental organizations and artistic collaborators to present a month of FREE PUBLIC PERFORMANCES at Chashama Gallery in the Port Authority Transit Station NYC. Our message is one of ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY!

There is no budget for this project. We are committed to the cause!

PLEASE DONATE to support the ARTS and the ENVIRONMENT at the SAME TIME!

Read on for all the project information ....

Re-Wilding The Body

A CALL TO ACTION!

WHO: Cilla Vee Life Arts

WHAT: RAW MATERIAL: Re-Wilding The Body

public art installation and performance

WHERE: Chashama at Port Authority Transit Station NYC

8th avenue – south wing 2nd floor

WHEN: August 19 – September 11

performances mon-fri 4-8pm + sat sept 9 12-8pm

HOW MUCH: Free and open to the public

WHY: To inform, enlighten and inspire for Environmental Sustainability

SUMMARY:

Between August 19th – September 11th the interdisciplinary arts organization Cilla Vee Life Arts will be presenting RAW MATERIAL: Re-Wilding The Body

– a multimedia, collaborative, sensory, interactive, public art installation that simulates a nature environment, melding organic materials with digital audio-visual elements plus live performance – through the NYC arts organization Chashama at their New York Port Authority transit station gallery and performance space. (South Wing -2nd floor)

Performances are free and open to the public. Audience members are invited to engage in creative response and to consider their relationship with nature and environmental sustainability.

CVLA is partnering with local NY based environmental organizations to go beyond just creating awareness of environmental issues and to be a CALL TO ACTION by directly providing resources for active engagement.

DETAILS:

Schedule of Events:

Saturday 19th 12-8pm – Open Rehearsal Day

PUBLIC PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

Monday thru Friday at 4-8pm

(Installation open for viewing from 3pm)

AUGUST

August 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31,

SEPTEMBER

September 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

PLUS FINAL PERFORMANCE Saturday September 9th 12-8pm

Monday 11th time TBA – Closing ceremony and 9/11 Memorial

Partners And Collaborators:

ARTS ORGANIZATIONS:

Cilla Vee Life Arts is an interdisciplinary arts organization established in 2002 at H&H Production, Bronx NY by Claire Elizabeth Barratt / aka CillaVee whose mission is one of creative collaboration and boundary-blurring. Now based at The Center for Connection + Collaboration, Asheville NC.

(cillavee.com / CCC-AVL.org)

Chashama Since 1995, Chashama has partnered with property owners to transform unused real estate for 30,000 artists and over 150 small businesses, hosted 4,000 public art events, provided 1,500 classes in under-served communities, and reached audiences of nearly a million.

(chashama.org)

ENVIRONMENTAL PARTNERSHIPS:

We Act – weact.org

Climate Ad Project – climateadproject.org

Green Thumb – nycgovparks.org/greenthumb

Earth Celebrations – earthcelebrations.com

Plus others TBA

ARTISTIC TEAM:

CillaVee – Artistic Director

Fred Hatt – fredhatt.com

Hisayasu Takashio – shiotakashio.com

Marianne Giosa -

Stewart Hoyt – stewarthoyt.com

Sarah Pope – sarahpopedance.com

Plus others TBA

Performance Philosophy and Aesthetic:

On a philosophical level, the RAW MATERIAL project approaches concepts of transformation, metamorphosis and transcendence through the relationship of the raw materials of the Self with the raw materials of Nature. Drawing on mythological themes of the transformation of human-body to nature-body, as presented in Ovid’s Metamorphoses where humans transcend their mortal form in order to escape trauma and find sanctuary in nature (eg. Daphne-tree, Syrinx-water), RAW MATERIAL: Re-Wilding The Body is a performance installation that offers the raw materials of an organic environment as a place of refuge, healing and recovery.

Aesthetically, the objective of the performance is to MELD with the environment. Not as a human-being in response to nature, but as a nature-being existing in time and space as part of its environment.

PERFORMANCE METHODS:

Motion Sculpture

The principle performance form will be that of Motion Sculpture – a dance/movement method developed by CillaVee that is sustainable for extended periods of time. Combining concepts of the body as a living sculpture with philosophies of movement as meditation, this practice is used for durational performance as a form of installation.

Extended Music and Sound Techniques

Live sound will be vocal and acoustic instrumental. All instruments/sound-making objects will be built of natural materials as much as is possible. All music will use extended non-traditional techniques to be in-keeping with the organic nature environment.

Public Engagement:

INVITATION and EXPERIENCE:

As travelers pass through the busy hub of Port Authority, they will be invited to step into a simulated nature environment - an installation of music, dance, video projection, sculpture and organic materials. They are encouraged to stop and breathe, listen to the soothing music and nature sounds, watch the slow motion movement of the dancers and to engage with an interactive sensory station – feel the textures of organic materials – to run their fingers through sand, be gently misted by water, to smell the earth and moss.

INQUIRY and RESPONSE:

We will invite them to share their experience by describing how it TRANSFORMS them – how it makes them feel different than before. Also to describe their favorite nature environment and how it makes them feel. They can write, draw or record their responses and we will upload them to a database – plus share them on social media (with permission).

ACTION and COMMITMENT:

Partnering environmental organizations will provide resources. Representatives will be available to talk about methods of protecting our nature environments, discuss realistic, sustainable individual goals and offer their own local community programs (for NYC residents) plus information about partners in other locations (for visitors).

Cilla Vee Life Arts will request participants contact information so we can stay in touch and encourage their progress.

Environmental and Social Impact:

The emphasis of RAW MATERIAL: Re-Wilding The Body is one of environmental ACTIVISM through the engagement of environmental PARTNERSHIPS to:

1. CREATE AWARENESS of how our nature environments benefit us physically, mentally and emotionally.

2. PROMOTE ACTION to preserve this precious resource.

Ultimately the mission and purpose of “RAW MATERIAL: Re-Wilding The Body” is to create awareness of nature as sanctuary and the necessity to protect our precious environment. And that EVERYBODY can do SOMETHING!

Often people feel that environmental problems on a global scale are something they have no control over, so in partnering with local environmental organizations we can help to personalize realistic everyday habits and activities that are accessible to the individual.

We are partnering with local NYC based environmental organizations to join us and provide information to the public about their programming – such as opportunities for hands-on participation, like volunteering in local parks and gardens or attending their educational and training programs, as well as daily choices each of us can make towards the progress of environmental sustainability.

The social impact target is on INDIVIDUAL EMPOWERMENT for EVERYBODY: providing information about SUSTAINABLE INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY as well as providing options for local COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT.

The resources shared with the public are relevant to both residents and visitors alike of all ages. Individual responsibility actions are global. Partnering environmental organizations will share their knowledge and information of local and global opportunities for community engagement.

“A vibrant, fair, and regenerative future is possible — not when thousands of people do climate justice activism perfectly but when millions of people do the best they can.”— Xiye Bastida

“Look after the land and the land will look after you, destroy the land and it will destroy you.” —Aboriginal Proverb

“All we have to do is to wake up and change.” —Greta Thunberg