Performances
ASCENSION: by Elizabeth Streb, Performed by STREB Extreme Action Company
Gansevoort Plaza (at the intersection of Gansevoort Street, Little West 12th Street, and 9th Avenue)
There is a sense of beauty about a ladder, a device that has existed for centuries to assist us when the need to go higher arises. As the ASCENSION ladder turns, and the forces wreak their confusing havoc on the climbers, it becomes difficult to recognize if the performers are climbing up or down at any given time. One by one they hop on and begin their endless climb, around and around and around all nine bodies go. The climb, the ever revolving Sisyphean ascent to the unreachable top of the ladder, disallows arrival and the accomplishment of the quotidian function, to get somewhere.—Elizabeth Streb
ASCENSION was created as part of the series Whitney on Site: New Commissions Downtown.
Performance schedule:
July 7, 3 pm and 5 pm
July 8, 3 pm and 4:30 pm
July 9, 3 pm and 5 pm
Weather permitting, this outdoor performance will take place at Gansevoort Plaza (at the intersection of Gansevoort Street, Little West 12th Street, and 9th Avenue). The performance is free and no special tickets are required. The plaza viewing area space is limited and is standing-room only. Performance times subject to change.
STREB Extreme Action Company. Photograph by Tom Caravaglia
Whitney On Site
ASCENSION is part of Whitney On Site: New Commissions Downtown, a series of installations commissioned to occupy the site of the Whitney’s future building in the Meatpacking District.
