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Big Art Group

Big Art Group

Big Art Group

Roles in Archive: Artist

Big Art Group is an internationally acclaimed New York based-experimental performance ensemble that uses language and media to push formal boundaries of theater, film, and visual arts. The company creates culturally transgressive works and innovative performances using original text, technology, and experimental performance forms. Founded by director Caden Manson and writer Jemma Nelson in 1999, Big has produced eleven original works, CLEARCUT, catastrophe (1999) The Balladeer (2000) Shelf Life (2001) Flicker (2002) House of No More (2004) Dead Set #2 and #3 (2006-07) The People—Italy (2007) The Sleep (2007) The People—Germany (2008) The Imitation (2008), and SOS (2008). In these pieces Manson invented the integrated spectacle “real-time film,” a hybrid of film and theater in which actors recombined formal ideas of performance through the use of simultaneous acting on stage and live video, using complex choreography, language, and video manipulation. The work blends high and low technology, marginal and mainstream culture, and blunt investigation to push performance boundaries, and in a larger sense to drive questions about contemporary experience. Big will be presenting its next group work, Flesh Tone, from April 15-18, 2010 at Abrons Arts Center.