Episode 14: Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener

We talk about: attention as a material, the politics of audio description, queer abstraction, tuning ensemble in improvisation, avoiding saying "no" when directing, translating site-specific improvisation to a proscenium context, the difference between impulse and desire, refusal as a practice, making experimental dance with AI, and much more…ABOUT THE ARTISTSRashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener's work involves the building of collaborative worlds through improvisational techniques, digital technologies, and material construction. They met as dancers in the Merce Cunningham Dance company and since 2010 they have created over 25 multidisciplinary dance works including site-responsive installations, concert dances, gallery performances and dances for film in venues such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Barbican Centre, REDCAT, The Walker Art Center, and MoMA/PS1. Throughout they have maintained a commitment to queer culture and aesthetics. Their partnership intentionally blurs authorship and maintains a deep commitment to collaboration with a diverse community of dancers, performers, artists and cultural institutions.https://www.rashaunsilasdance.com/@rashaun.silasSHOW NOTESRashaun Mitchell, Silas Riener, and Claudia LaRocco, Already & Not Yet: Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener in Conversation with Claudia La Rocco, SFMOMA's Open Space, Nov. 7, 2019Megan Metcalf, Future Formers, Former Futures, SFMOMA's Open Space, February 13, 2018Ted Chiang, Why AI isn't going to Make Art, The New Yorker Danielle Goldman, I Want to be Ready: Improvised Dance as a FreedomHope Mohr, Self and System, SFMOMA's Open Space, Oct. 24, 2019Signals from the West: Bay Area Artists in Conversation with Merce Cunningham at 100///Are you an artist or arts organization in need of legal support or capacity-building? Reach out to Movement Law, dedicated to building power with artists and mission-driven organizations. ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.movementlaw.net/⁠