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Education University of Colorado Boulder Awards Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts, US & Canada | ||
Michelle ellsworth s clytigation a primer
Michelle Ellsworth is an American performance artist and an associate professor at the University of Colorado-Boulder as the co-director of the dance department. Ellsworth's work spans video, performable websites, drawing and live performances and employs absurdist humor, new technologies, monologue, and dance. She has exhibited or performed at Fusebox (Austin), On the Boards (Seattle), Counterpath (Denver), Chocolate Factory (Long Island City, NY), DiverseWorks (Houston, TX), Dance Theatre Workshop (New York City), and the Abrons Arts Center (New York City).
Contents
- Michelle ellsworth s clytigation a primer
- Michelle ellsworth performance of the burger burial
- The Objectification of Things
- Obsolescence of the Y Chromosome
- References
She has been called a "jittery performer who expertly folds nervousness into her character" and "an excellent comedian, impersonating a slightly scatterbrained TED talk lecturer." Her major works include TIFPRABAP.ORG, The Objectification of Things, Preparation for the Obsolescence of the Y Chromosome and Clytigation: State of Exception. She has received the Doris Duke Impact Award, is a Creative Capital grantee and is a United States Artists Knight Fellow. ArtForum has said she is "doing some of the most engrossing explorations of how the body and technology coexist and collide."
Michelle ellsworth performance of the burger burial
The Objectification of Things
The Objectification of Things is a performance which follows the life of a hamburger from birth to death and ultimately resurrection. Taking the attention away from humans and instead focusing on consumable things of the everyday, the work approaches serious issues like climate change through an entry point of humor. The work weaves together dance, game shows, lectures, and scientific data and research.
Obsolescence of the Y Chromosome
Ellsworth's 2015 performance Obsolescence of the Y Chromosome presents the notion of preparing for a world without men. She conflates both the passing of a friend's father as well as a 2003 article in which New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd presents the notion that the Y chromosome has been slowly losing matter over millennia. Combining recent scientific research by collaborating with evolutionary biologists with personal narrative and absurd gestures, creates an "artistically wild, scientifically accurate movement/theater, performance piece." Beginning the performance with the statement, "I don't mean to make trouble" as she snaps her fingers, the critic Nancy Wozny writes in response, "Oh, yes you do, Ms. Ellsworth!" pointing to the rebellious and irreverent perspective that informs and energizes this piece and her body of work at large.
