Touch Update
Bill Shannon, Cornelius Henke (2018)
“Touch Update” is a dance performance that combined movement, wearable projection technology, and live video installation. Developed by STUDIO artists-in-residence Bill Shannon (known for groundbreaking choreographies that explore the social construction of disabled bodies) and audiovisual artist Cornelius Henke, a.k.a. Projectile Objects, the work explored the significant and often subtle implications of physical human contact in the digital era, dissecting and dismantling the multiple online identities we create in order to mask and manipulate our lived experience.
Created by Bill Shannon (Direction, Mask Fabrication, Scriptwriter, Video Production Design), Projectile Objects (Video Mapping, Hardware Coding), Ron Chunn Jr. (acting for video), Jacquea Mae (acting for video), Raphael Bothelo (live actor wearing Ron mask/Mannequin 1), Nile Harris (live actor wearing Jacquea mask/ Mannequin 2), Taylor Knight (score), Maggie Dimmick (Costumes).
Touch Update was made possible with support from the Heinz Endowments, and the New England Foundation for the Arts National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Touch Update is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund Project co-commissioned by Kelly Strayhorn Theater, Painted Bride, Dance Place DC, and NPN. The Creation Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Supported by the NPN Performance Residency Program, The New England Foundation for the Art’s National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Touch Update’s choreographic residency was supported by the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC). Technologies used in Touch Update were developed in part through a residency at the CMU Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry. More photos.
