THE MIRACLE, Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY, 2020
Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY
Curated by Gabriel Florenz
Exhibition: February 21-May 21, 2020
Final Production - THE MIRACLE, THE MUSICAL:
April 4 & 11, 2020 (please note: this exhibition closed March 13, and the final musical production was cancelled due to COVID-19)
Links
Pioneer Works
The Miracle - Exhibition Page
Artnet
Artforum
My Art Guides
One HeART Berlin
Exhibition Press Release
written by Gabriel Florenz, David Everitt Howe and Vivian Chui
Jaimie Warren’s THE MIRACLE is an oversized supernatural set for performance which recalls motifs from coming-of-age dramas, B-movies, camp extravaganzas, mystical movements, and musical comedies. It speaks to the power of cinema and pop culture to render—in larger than life form—the fears, fantasies, and insecurities of childhood.
The occult is present throughout THE MIRACLE. Inside a dark room, a nine-pointed star positions busts of figures that haunted and stimulated Warren's childhood imagination: Gene Simmons and GG Allin, Sesame Street's singing orange, and the mangled monster from Basket Case (1982). An ominous soundtrack plays throughout an enchanted forest, which recalls the Swamps of Sadness from The NeverEnding Story (1984). This forest gives way to an oversized bedroom which references TV sitcoms such as Full House (1987-1995) and films like The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981), wherein Lily Tomlin ingests a potent, chemical cocktail that causes her to shrink into miniature form. On the bed, a shifting, spectral light helps a performer summon possessed teenager Regan MacNeil from The Exorcist (1973).
As artistic director, Warren is developing both THE MIRACLE and a large production THE MIRACLE, THE MUSICAL (April 4 and 11, 2020) by collaborating with dozens of artists and community members of all ages, including children and adolescents from Red Hook Art Project, Beam Center, and Cora Dance. Amassing the ideas and energy of this newly-made community, THE MIRACLE’s nearly endless allusions will become one collectively-made spectacle.
More than any one narrative or reference, the exhibition is an amalgamation of many, combined and reconstituted to disorienting, comical effect. Taken together, THE MIRACLE engages the capacity of popular entertainment to bring people together around shared, cultural touchstones, producing a show defined by both strangeness and joy.
Collaborating youth groups
Red Hook Art Project, with very special thanks to Tiffiney Davis, RHAP Director
Cora Dance
BEAM Center’s “Work Learn & Grow” Program
Exhibition Credits
Curated by: Gabriel Florenz
Curatorial Associates: Vivian Chui and David Everitt Howe
Lead Set Design: Jaimie Warren and Matt Roche
Lead Artistic Collaborator and Installation Director: Matt Roche
Production Manager and Lead Prop Design: Sofia Dixon
Lead Fabricator: Josh Pavlick
Fabrication Crew: Josh Pavlick, Matt Roche and Danny Crump
Lead Sound and Lighting Design: Matt Roche
Lead Costume Design: Sarah Dahlinger
Lead Assistant Costume Design: Mai Shimura
Chief Installer: Julian Townley
Installation Crew: Adrian Hayman, Vincent Sicilio and William Vantapool
Technical Direction: Kyle Keays Hagerman and Federico B. Romero
Lighting Design: Matthew Mann
Technical Installation: Emil Bognar Nasdor, Ryan Caruso, and Logan Miley
Technical Consultant: Jeff Wood
Graphic Design: Daniel Kent
opening reception, THE MIRACLE
opening reception, THE MIRACLE
opening reception, THE MIRACLE
opening reception, THE MIRACLE
exhibition artists and performers, opening reception, THE MIRACLE
Installation images, THE MIRACLE
behind-the-scenes, promo for “The Miracle, The Musical”
THE MIRACLE, THE MUSICAL
program text for April 2020 musical event
(event cancelled due to COVID-19)
Jaimie Warren: THE MIRACLE culminates in THE MIRACLE, THE MUSICAL, a spectacular musical event taking place in a fantasy mashup universe inspired by stories such as The Wizard of Oz, Labyrinth, The NeverEnding Story, and Alice in Wonderland. In this musical, the built environment constituting Warren’s super-sized art installation comes alive to engage the players and audience together in this imaginative dream world. Following the hero’s journey of encountering and overcoming obstacles in the form of bog monsters, witches, goblins, and more, THE MIRACLE, THE MUSICAL will be written in tandem with the run of the exhibition by children and teens from Red Hook Art Project, with dancers from Cora Dance and prop design by students from Beam Center. The musical is created by students, local volunteers, and Warren’s fervent community of artistic collaborators. In this community-theatre-driven musical, characters, story lines, and plot twists are all based on the real lives and imagination of the student artists as a performative celebration of the collective artistic process. Part coming-of-age, part cult-film homage, THE MIRACLE, THE MUSICAL inspires people of all ages to believe in themselves and the power of community.
Youth workshop series images, THE MIRACLE
For nine months, we worked with Red Hook Art Project on a series of workshops creating performances, costumes, and videos for the upcoming (cancelled) musical
Special thanks to additional Installation, Costume, Set Design, Lighting and/or Sound Design artists & volunteers
Natalie Lopez
Bunny Lampert
Harper Tetzloff
Alton King Tetzloff
Adam Tetzloff
Matt Robinson
Sarah Lammer
Roya Haroun
Andrew Cerrito
Barbara Victoria
Aminah Ibrahim
Travis Fitzgerald
Carbon Therrien
Maria Diaz
Jolene Chaiken
Kayla Miller
Jaime Coyomani
Isaiah Feliciano
Terrence Etheridge
Breanna Hayes
Elise Putnam
Claudia Mandlik
Anna Berger
Damilola Fayemi
Imogen Brent
Ali Santana
Ali Goss
Mali Jack
Lin Chen
Trinity Fima
Calder Zwicky
Brian Anderson
Chuang Liu
Leslie Diuguid
Emily Flores
Mya Edwards
Abi Akindude
Rudy Gerson
Amy Tsai
Rebecca Zakheim
Massha Fofana
Jia Yan Yuan
Karryl Eugene
Megan Liscomb
Renqiang Yuan
Madeline Wiryo
Niagra Martin