Jamie Isenstein: Infinite Invisible Soft-Shoe
Fri, Mar 4, 2016
6–10 pm
Jamie Isenstein, Infinite Invisible Soft-Shoe, 2004. Image courtesy the artist.
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Floor Three, Susan and John Hess Family Theater
Jamie Isenstein’s Infinite Invisible Soft-Shoe (2004) combines video, sculpture, and performance. In a short, looping video, the artist performs a vaudeville duet with an animatronic skeleton, a jaunty dance of death that repeats without end. At the same time, a player piano continuously belts out a four-hand, ragtime version of the Bee Gees’ disco classic “Stayin’ Alive.” Alongside these two mechanical elements, red velvet theater curtains periodically jump and sway to the music thanks to the only living, and hence exhaustible, force in the piece: a human performer who remains off-stage. The artist works behind the scenes to operate the curtains, taking periodic breaks noted by a “Will Return” sign.
This special installation of Infinite Invisible Soft-Shoe is presented in conjunction with Collected by Thea Westreich Wagner and Ethan Wagner.
March 4–6
Free with Museum admission.
