The Gift
Last updated
Last updated
The universe is a place of many stories. To you, a library; to me, a galaxy. — 'The Gift'
‘The Gift’ is an immersive new media performance experience that merges the private pleasures of reading and listening with shared moments of generosity to explore companionship, care, life, death, renewal, loss, and what we can learn by observing the stars. This accessible theatrical installation playfully animates the research of observational astrophysicist Dr. Natalie Gosnell, and re-inscribes outer space as feminist space. Our team has been investigating (and developing/applying strategies around) accessibility with respect to economics, sight, hearing, language, mobility, and lexical ability within ‘The Gift’. In response to social distancing efforts under Covid-19, we are expanding our accessibility inquiry to include remote co-presence--taking our cues from the stars themselves about how we can be together and share emotional exchange across the expanses of space and time. To this end, we have brought two researchers in human computer interaction to our artist/scientist team.
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Janani Balasubramanian is an artist and creative researcher. Balasubramanian frequently works in deep collaboration with astrophysicists to shift how we understand inner and outer space,and uses artmaking as an occasion to pursue ambitious research inquiries. Their practice centers experimentation with form and technology, wide accessibility, and play, and includes works of new media (augmented/virtual reality), film, immersive theatre, and literary fiction. Balasubramanian's work has been presented at more than 160 stages across North America and Europe, including The Public Theater, MOMA, Abrons Arts Center, Andy Warhol Museum, Red Bull Arts, Ace Hotel, Brooklyn Museum, Asian American Writer's Workshop, High Line, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Residency support for this work has included the National Endowment for the Arts, Public Theater Devised Theater Working Group, Abrons Arts Center, and Mount Tremper Arts. Balasubramanian was a 2019 Innovator-in-Residence at Colorado College, 2019 Brooklyn College/Tow Foundation artist resident, 2018 artist-in-residence at the University of Colorado, and a 2018-2019 Van Lier Fellow at the Public Theater.
Balasubramanian is currently a 2020 Hemispheric Institute fellow at NYU; a 2019-2020 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow; artist-in-residence in the brown dwarf astrophysics group at the American Museum of Natural History; a 2020 visiting artist at Stanford University; a 2020 MAP Fund grantee; a 2020 Pioneer Works Narrative Arts Fellow; and a member of the Guild of Future Architects. Their work in film/literature is represented by Rachel Kim at 3arts Entertainment.
Coming soon
