Leibniz’ Folly
hanne tierney
Installation on view: October 16 - October 27, 2007
Performances: Tuesdays through Saturdays at 7:30pm
Tickets: $15, students and seniors $10
Text, construction and performance: Hanne Tierney
Music and voice: Grant Smith and Jane Wang
Light design: Trevor Brown
2 x 4’s and plumbing pipes are the performing objects Hanne Tierney uses to probe into the 17th century philosopher Leibniz’ belief in the existence of minute perceptions and consciousness in matter. Manipulated through a counterweight stringing system the movements and gestures of these materials are remarkably expressive; collaged with text, sound and light they set out to verify Leibniz’ metaphysics.
Holland Cotter, the art critic for the NY Times wrote of Tierney’s work as “sculpture, installation art, sound art, dance and an act of magic.” To construct a performance around Leibniz’ ideas on the possibility of perception in matter provides a perfect vehicle for Tierney’s artistic focus: looking for the profound in the ordinary. Here it is embodied in the echoes of long copper pipes reverberating in the air, or the visual delight of a shimmering choreography of metallic beads.
Hanne Tierney has performed this kind of theater without actors for the last two decades. She has performed at the Guggenheim and Whitney Museums, at the Sculpture Center, at several Jim Henson Festivals of International Puppet Theater and at BAM’s Artists in Actions performance series. Hanne Tierney is the founder of FiveMyles, an exhibition and performance space in Brooklyn.
Jane Wang’s compositions and performances on the double bass have enriched Tierney’s theater for the last fifteen years. Wang’s chamber works have been performed in the U.K. and Boston. She is a a member of numberous world music groups and of the Sabir Matteen and Butch Morris ensembles.
Grant Smith is a member of The Klezmer Conservatory Band, of Moving Sound, and of many world, jazz and circus projects. His theatre credits include the American Repertory Theater's production of "The King Stag," featuring a solo multi-percussion score with staging and costumes by Julie Taymor. Smith and Wang co-founded Movement/Sound, an interational performance group.
Trevor Brown designed lights for the Jim Henson Festival and has worked with Tierney from the beginning.
DIRECTIONS:
Take 2, 3, or 4 trains to Franklin Avenue. Walk two blocks against the traffic on Franklin. Walk ¾ block to 558 St. Johns Place. FiveMyles is within easy walking distance from the Brooklyn Museum.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
This production is supported by The Jim Henson Foundation and the New York Foundation for the Arts.