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iMAP (Interdisciplinary Mobile Architecture and Performance)/Ridgewood Reservoir is a collaborative project between choreographer Jennifer Monson, architect Gita Nandan and landscape architect Elliott Maltby of thread collective, and composer Kenta Nagai. iMAP/RR is a sustainably designed mobile performance space and interdisciplinary laboratory, based in Highland Park on the border of Queens and Brooklyn in New York City. The iMAP vehicle will facilitate intensive on-site exploration and research, with a particular emphasis on cooperation between artists and scientists. These investigations will lead to the development of a series of performances that will engage local communities in new understandings of their environment. The collaborators will use the natural processes of adaptation and symbiosis manifested at the site to guide their creative process and generate 3 performances throughout 2007 (March 23-24, June 23, and September 21-22). Jennifer Monson and thread collective will begin by investigating the natural history of the Ridgewood Reservoir area and the human interventions that have shaped it. Scientists will join the collaboration for an in-depth study of the local plants and animals, including humans that are adapting to the abandoned reservoir. This research will be used to develop the performances, which will adapt to seasonal cycles, the changing conditions of the site, and the information gathered. The performances will in turn impact the focus of the research. The concept extends from processes that Monson developed in her improvisational dance projects that include BIRD BRAIN and the Urban Migrations. iMAP exemplifies the type of creative solutions that interaction between different disciplines can generate. The collaborators are committed to seeking tangible solutions to urban dilemmas such as equitable access to the arts, sustainable development, dwindling urban habitats, and the commodification of public space. iMAP engages the public's imagination and responds to the flux of urban development with wit and adaptability. |