VAULT
Final Vault gathering at Ann Hamilton and Michael Mercil’s studio in Columbus, OH.
Vault is an artist-driven convening of artists, curators and scholars to share innovative methodologies for documenting, conceiving, archiving and sharing our dance-making practice. From Bebe Miller, Project Director:
What do we value?
Once again, we are in a time of change. The significance of the creative process in dance is in a familiar re-stabilizing ride between relevance and potential. My perspective as a full-career artist reflects a related tension. My impulse to document my process along with pursuing my creative goals asks basic questions about value, time and effect.
To my generation, ¾” video was the archival method of choice: hold it and keep it while not really being sure who would actually look at it 30 years later. We are now at a very different “horizontal” perspective in the notion of an archival record, quite different from the vertical axis of the historical container. It seems like the hashtag phenomenon that says “look at this now,” rather than “keep on looking at this one moment in time for the next 30 years,” is accounting for value in a very different way. The immediacy of the artist-driven archive right now—conceive it, broadcast it, inject it into the mindset of the culture—reflects a shift that impacts all aspects of dance-making.
It seems the word “archive” is not quite right; what else might encompass the resonant value of what dance artists present to the world? In that difference between the vertical and horizontal timelines, is there—on a fascial, embodied level—a difference in the work we make? Do we need to re-contextualize both axes, or even invent a new direction? As important as a consideration of affect, documentation and dissemination in dance-making is the question of what matters, and what matters to whom? Could the question of what matters be a guiding principle in creating an archive?
Vault is an inquiry into these questions. Activities range from informal “campfire” talks, presentations on recent practices, and resource-sharing. Gatherings began in March 2017 and concluded February 2020, in New York City; On the Boards, Seattle, WA; Jacob’s Pillow, Becket, MA; Dance Center Columbia College Chicago, IL; and Ann Hamilton and Michael Mercil’s studio, Columbus, OH.
An online resource shares the findings and furthers the conversation.
Project Director: Bebe Miller
Project Manager: Lila Hurwitz (Doolittle+Bird)
Participants: Julia Antonick; Rachel Boggia; Betsey Brock (On the Boards); Bonnie Brooks; Mayfield Brooks; Ann Carlson; Ellen Chenoweth (Dance Center Columbia College Chicago); Margi Cole; Nena Couch (The Ohio State University); Jenai Cutcher; Lane Czaplinski (Wexner Center for the Arts); Ginger Farley; Mara Frazier (OSU); Melanie George; Alice Gosti; Pat Graney; Nadine George Graves (OSU); Dayna Hanson; Angie Hauser (Smith College); Judy Hussie-Taylor (Danspace Project); Jane Jerardi (DCCC); Ishmael Houston-Jones; J’sun Howard; Darrell Jones (DCCC), Raja Feather Kelly; Erin Kilmurray; Jaamil Olawale Kosoko; Claudia LaRocco; Sarah Lass; Russell Lepley; Tonya Lockyer; Gesel Mason; Ellen Maynard; Jonathan Meyer; Diana Muhammad; Cori Olinghouse; Lauren Slone (MAP Fund); Imogen Smith (Dance/USA); Alex Springer (Smith College); Dana Whitco (Tisch Initiative for Creative Research); Ni’Ja Whitson; Reggie Wilson.
Vault Website: FAILSPACE Design Services
Vault is made possible by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; Ohio Arts Council; and Greater Columbus Arts Council. We’re grateful for the support of our meeting hosts (Ann Hamilton and Michael Mercil; Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago; Jacob’s Pillow; On the Boards; Wexner Center for the Arts). Our thanks to the Vault participants across the country for their collective and full-hearted voice in our regional meetings. Huge thanks to Lila Hurwitz/Doolittle+Bird for project management; Shannon Drake for website materials wrangling; Benjamin Van Buren for initial website. And a shout-out to Lane Czaplinski for picking up what Bebe was putting down.
