Titles with or about Mary Lucier

MASS: Between a rock and a hard place

1990, 11 min, color, sound

The taut, contracted figure of a dancer on a rock is silhouetted against the towering, vertical landscape of the New York City skyline. This image of contained movement and an unyielding cityscape opens MASS, a collaboration between Lucier and choreographer Elizabeth Streb. Lucier parallels the city's hard-edged, sleek architectural forms and ceaseless movement with the explosive dynamic of Streb's dance. Using a framing device, she constructs a triptych of unfolding space and movement, unified by subtle color and ambient sound. The massed, tumultuous bodies of the dancers crowd the space in an evocation of controlled chaos. Orchestrating a fusion of video and dance, Lucier recasts the frozen architecture of the urban landscape into an architecture of human movement.

Video: Mary Lucier. Choreography: Elizabeth Streb. Performers: Members of Ringside, Inc. -- Elizabeth Streb, Paula Gifford, Henry Beer, Jorge Collazo, Peter Larose, Christopher Batenhorst. Lighting Design: Heather Carson. Audio Processing: Earl Howard. Videotape Editor: Gregg Featherman. Produced for Alive From Off Center. Executive Producer: John Schott.