“You Are Here” – A Maze

"You Are Here" is a performance festival in a sculptural maze created by the duo Trouble (AKA Sam Hillmer and Laura Paris) at the chashama's gallery at 112 West 44th Street between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, May 6 – 27. 2007, Thursday – Monday, 5-11PM.

 

"You Are Here" engulfs the viewer, presenting him/her with dead ends, uplifting epitaphs, beckoning inhabitants, and a meditation on passage and desire. The "audience" steps into the space one by one in search of a performer they may have heard about, the beast on the window/stage, or perhaps lured in by the ladies of "Delicious Beverages" who, dressed as Minoan Minotaurs, offer a guerilla open bar. But this is a maze and finding the object of desire may be more complex than anticipated, especially since the performers change location, alternate and throw sound. 

 

Light trickles through the leaf-like canopy, illuminating collaged walls. Transparent figures bearing light gesture to the viewer. Calligraphic paintings adorn each cul de sac. The maze contains other surprises, of the visual, audio, and experiential sort.

 

The "You Are Here" performance festival draws mostly on local performers emphasizing the sprawling interconnected nature of New York's underground. Medium and genre vary including music, dance, theater, film, and performance poetry. Overlapping and simultaneous performances are frequent, each performer establishing a different corner or dead end as his or hers. Among the sprawl are Excepter's John Fell Ryan, Ohsees (OCS), Skeletons and the Kings of All Cities, Zs, Dave Longstreth (aka the Dirty Projectors), and Ben Bromley of Fisher Spooner. Over 150 people have come together to make this installation, and performance festival happen. 

 

Trouble is devoted to creating extreme environments that have no exterior, public art both condoned and illegal, and other kinds of visual/sound art intended to be used for some purpose. Trouble's work is about community, spirituality, politics, craft, and beauty. Trouble does outreach as part of all of our projects as well as what we call "in-reach": designing events that strengthen the ties within the DIY art community and the art world as a whole. Trouble is a for-profit organization. 

 

Sam Hillmer has been active as a composer and saxophonist in New York City since 1998. Hillmer has lead several ensembles under his own name and co-founded the chamber ensemble/band "Zs". He is also co-founder of Wet Ink, a not-for-profit new music presenting organization, ensemble, and composers collective. In addition to his activities as a composer, Hillmer is also active as a saxophonist and improviser performing in and around New York, across North America, and in Europe. Recently he has performed and/or improvised with the Scenery Ensemble, the S.E.M. Ensemble, MOTH, Regattas, and "Zs". Hillmer has had the privilege of working with and playing the music of Christian Wolff, Phil Niblock, Roscoe Mitchell, Petr Kotik, Louis Andriessen and Larry Polanski. Recordings of his music are available on labels Planaria recordings, Epicene sound systems, Tzadik, Sockets CDRs, Shinkoyo, Savage Land, ZUM, and Troubleman Unlimited. Hillmer has been guest artist and speaker at Dartmouth College, and the Manhattan School of Music. Hillmer has received fellowships and awards from the Manhattan School of Music, The Ostrava Days of New Music Festival, and Meet the Composer. Trouble is Hillmer's first collaboration with a visual artist. 

 

Laura Paris' artwork blends her interest in self-development through physicality and community. Her public projects include mosaics, sculptures, and murals that can be seen in various locations in Brooklyn, her hometown. She has shown throughout the world in such diverse places such as Paris, Barcelona, and Honduras. She co-founded the Arts and Literacy arts education program in Brooklyn, New York. This is her first collaboration with a musician.