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XØ PROJECTS INC PRESENTS

NICE TO UNDERSTAND YOU

A Tangent in Seven Parts

A site-specific performance installation based on interviews with a machine specialist and conversationalist who lives and works near Gowanus in Brooklyn. Site, sound, movement and text trace the history of a friendship and takes a fragmented walk down memory lane.  See < BACKGROUND > below for additional project information.

Conceived by Stephanie Skaff and developed with: Johanna Linsley (direction);  Paul Damian Hogan (original music/sound);  Kelly Kivland (choreography);  Nathan Elbogen (site/visuals); and Hugo Picciani (text).  See < PROFILES > below for collaborators' bio information.

Performed by Paul Hogan, Kelly Kivland and Stephanie Skaff.  

SATURDAY  12/10/05  3:33 PM + 6:33 PM  |  SUNDAY  12/11/05  3:33 PM

ADMISSION $10  |  AUDIENCES LIMITED  |  RUNS APPX 40 MIN WITH CHAMPAGNE TO FOLLOW

DOWNLOAD < PROGRAM > PDF 54 kb

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BACKGROUND

Nice to Understand You began as a research and performance project documenting people working in and around the Gowanus manufacturing neighborhood. We developed a series of questions to gain insight into their experiences of work, attributes of their daily lives, and their individual characters. We asked these questions to our new friend, Hugo Picciani, whose unique perspective and gregarious personality changed the nature of our project. Therefore, Nice to Understand You is a micro study of one working man with a lot to share.

This project was made possible in part with funding from Puffin Foundation Ltd.

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PROFILES

Paul Damian Hogan

Paul Damian Hogan (b. 1976, Maryville, TN) is a composer and sound designer in New York City. He writes songs for his group Frances, a miniature rock orchestra whose flexible instrumentation expands the standard rock combo to include toy piano, accordion, autoharp, Pakistani banjo, glockenspiel, strings, brass, woodwinds, electronics and field recordings. Besides creating his own sound installations for gallery and outdoor exhibitions, he has contributed music to installations by visual artists Tony Luensman at the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati and Jamie Isenstein at PS1 in New York City. Most recently, Paul has completed a new opera, The First and Last Photograph, which is slated for production in 2006. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in Composition at Columbia University, and teaches music production at the Computer Music Center. For additional information, please visit < WWW.FRANCESTHEBAND.COM >  < WWW.PAULDAMIANHOGANTHETHIRD.COM >

Kelly Kivland

Kelly Kivland is a performance/video artist residing in Brooklyn. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a BS in Interarts and Technology. Since moving to New York in 2002, she has participated in several contemporary dance, performance and theater projects, and has worked with Nora Stephens/ noranewdanceco, Rebecca Davis, Mandy Morrison/mandymachine and Stephanie Skaff, among others. Kelly is an associate at the performing arts production company, Pomegranate Arts.

Johanna Linsley

Johanna Linsley is a writer, director and performing artist. She is also executive director of UnionDocs, a documentary arts collaborative based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. UnionDocs recently returned from Berlin where they were invited by the Volkesbuehne Theater to present their performance project, The Commons, written and directed by Johanna in collaboration with UnionDocs founder, Christopher Allen. The Commons is a performance documentary using material produced by UnionDocs members to explore the relationship of the individual to the group. Johanna's work has been seen at HERE Arts Center, the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, and a recent project is on the syllabus this semester of a graduate seminar at the Humboldt University in Berlin. She has taught classes in experimental theater at the Powerhouse Series at Vassar College and is a member of the Lincoln Center Director's Lab (2003).

Stephanie F. Skaff

Stephanie is a performing artist and writer. Her original work has been performed at The Old American Can Factory, The Construction Company and The Culture Project. She sings and plays random instruments in Paul Hogan’s ensemble, Frances;  is a member of UnionDocs, a Brooklyn-based arts collaborative and exhibition space;  and, is a member of Only Make Believe, an organization that brings theater to hospitalized children. She is currently developing a chamber-opera Rural Electrification with composer Elizabeth Brown, and is performing with lyricist/performer Todd Almond and composer Paul Hogan in an original musical The First and Last Photograph also in development. In addition to her performance work, Stephanie does management and grants consulting for individual artists and arts companies including, JoAnna Mendl Shaw's The Equus Projects and Theatre Mitu, among others. She received a BFA in Dramatic Performance from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music in 2001 and received a Theatre Apprenticeship Award from The Princess Grace Foundation-USA in 2003 for her work with Bond Street Theatre. Stephanie was born and raised in Perrysburg, Ohio, and lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.  For additional bio information please visit < WWW.STEPHANIESKAFF.COM >

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