From Interlude:
What do contemporary art and basketball have in common? On April 23, artist Robert Ladislas Derr will demonstrate in a performance titled Dribble Score #1 White, #2 Black & White, and #3 White & Black for Media Arts Project and Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center’s Interlude.
The legendary Merce Cunningham, who frequented Black Mountain College around the 1950s and devised Suite by Chance (Space Chart Entrance and Exit) at the College in 1952, serves as Derr’s point of departure for this performance.
In his happenings, Cunningham moved away from the more conventional forms of dance to explore the ordinary movements of being human on a daily basis, and likewise, Derr uses a similar method in his performances.
Derr supplants the proscenium frame, to create performances in places best suited for the chance acts. Just as Cunningham, he devises some method of operation and then surrenders to the organic circumstances and occurrences that result.
In the spirit of Suite by Chance, unconventional forms of movement, Derr will recreate the iconic choreography by the dribble of basketballs. There will be three performances beginning with Derr dribbling a basketball according to the choreography, followed by a group of two and four people.
Pursuing the logic of Cunningham’s sixty-four squares of choreography in Suite by Chance, each performer will dribble the basketball as many times as there are score marks in each square.
The outcome is an experiential examination of movement, and the sound created by the movement, while contrasting the movement and sound with the spatial presence and absence of color. Using the purity of the elemental motions of dribbling, and the punctuated sound of the ball hitting the floor, allows the relationships to intertwine and underscore the format of the public performance.
Derr’s performances take place at 1pm, 3pm, and 5pm at 67 Broadway. For more information, please visit: interludeavl.com/calendar/
Robert Ladislas Derr translates the world around him through visual manifestations that leave the viewers with a sideways glance. For Derr, life is a performance–it sets the stage for his making. Exhibitions and performances of his work have been held worldwide including the Canberra Contemporary Art Space (Australia), Mendel Art Gallery (Canada), Schirn Kunsthalle (Germany), Wexner Center for the Arts (US), and Irish Film Institute (Ireland), to name a few. Among his awards are the Urbana Public Arts Commission, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and Ohio Arts Council. Some of the permanent collections holding his work include Loyola University Museum of Art, Miami-Dade Public Library, and Indiana University Art Museum. Derr attended The Photography Institute National Graduate Seminar and received his degrees from the Rhode Island School of Design, MFA and Art Academy of Cincinnati, BFA. Derr is an Associate Professor of Art at The Ohio State University.
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