Performance | Chicago Performs
Jonas Becker, New Normal
Jonas Becker, New Normal, 2019. Performance still.
Image courtesy of the artist
Jonas Becker’s New Normal explores how we, as individuals in society, adjust to large-scale cultural trauma, environmental deterioration, the loss of civil liberties, and increased financial precarity. As conditions erode over time, expectations shift silently for some, for others violently. The performance follows an improvisational score in which six masculine-identified performers respond to the slow violence of our current moment through endurance and illusion, struggle and support. Rocks that appear heavy are made of paper, and gestures where performers entangle each other oscillate between aggression and care. Importantly, some radical bodies resist normalization, while for others, the new normal is nothing new. The performers test their limits, adjust and readjust, responding physically to diminishing environmental standards and political conditions. This presentation expands on an In Progress showing of the work in the MCA’s main atrium in 2019, with an emotionally resonant arrangement of motion, sound, and lighting.
Chicago Performs is organized by Tara Aisha Willis, former MCA Curator, with Laura Paige Kyber, Curatorial Associate.
Run time: 45 minutes
Carousel: Gallery - Full Size Images
Credits
-
Creator Jonas N. T. Becker
Vocal Director Adrian Wood
Performers Reign Drop, Sami Ismat, Julian Terrell Otis, Izah Ransohoff, Ashaan Simone, Jean Wildest
Prop Fabrication Steven Besic and Li-Ming Hu
Lighting Design Matt Sharp
Dramaturgy Aram Atamian, Zachary Nicol -
Jonas N. T. Becker (Creator; he/they) makes photographs, videos, and performances that explore how systems of power place value on the body and the resource-rich landscape. His practice is research based, excavating layers of mainstream and marginalized histories, particularly in rural America. Each of Becker’s projects focuses on a specific landscape, drawing attention to interrelated histories and human impact. Becker has exhibited internationally, including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Craft Contemporary Los Angeles, Lancaster Museum of Art, and ICA LA, with an upcoming survey exhibition at the Wexner Center for the Arts. Recent awards include Magnum Foundation Counter Histories Award, Wexner Artist Residency Award, Ohio State University Humanities Fellowship, Montalvo Art Center Residency, and Six Points Fellowship. Becker works between his home state of West Virginia and Chicago, IL, where he is a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Adrian Wood (Music Director; they/them) creates soundscapes, videos, transmissions, and live works that emerge from sonic collisions of identity and landscape. They have been recognized and awarded through institutions including UnionDocs, The University of Michigan, Experimental Sound Studio, and the University of Chicago. Wood currently works as Multimedia Producer with the Repair Lab at the University of Virginia.
Reign Drop (Performer; they/he) is a trans artist, collaborator, and organizer. Over the last six years, they have grown roots in the Chicago dance community focusing on creating sustainable and accessible dance spaces for all ages. They research contemporary movements that demonstrate autonomy, liberation, and connection.
Sami Ismat (Performer; he/him), a Syrian performance and theater research-practitioner, challenges norms via interdisciplinary art shaped by their refugee experience. His work defies conventions, traversing borders and transcending conventional identity notions, and his projects underscore his dedication to narrative transformation. Ismat is a faculty member at Chicago institutions and is a contributing scholar to Deconstructing the Myths of Islamic Art and Arab Stages journal.
Julian Terrell Otis (Performer; he/him), a multidisciplinary artist, creative vocalist, and composer, progressively pushes positive energy into his interests in experimental music, movement, and theater-making. As a vocalist he has worked with George Lewis, Nicole Mitchell, Vijay Iyer, Renee Baker, Douglas R Ewart, Angel Bat Dawid, Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber, and Chicago Sinfonietta, among others.
Izah Ransohoff (Performer; they/he) is a performance artist and playtime enthusiast. They cohost and curate a variety show called YUCK! that celebrates all things yucky. Ransohoff is a metalworker, ceramicist, raver, and teacher. He has performed at the Hyde Park Art Center, Mana Contemporary, Roman Susan, and Links Hall.
Ashaand Simone (Performer; he/they) specializes in trans audacity. You can catch them in Chicago with Mandala South Asian Performing Arts, Such Creatures, and Ishti Collective. Other favorite credits include work with Nick Cave, Ashwaty Chennat, Yes Ma’am Circus, The Laws Group, Joel Hall Dancers, Two Penguins Productions, Abhijeet, Alix Schillaci, The Fly Honey Show, Haven Theatre, Jarrett Rashad, and Kim Brandt. For more, check them out on Instagram @ashaandti.
Jean Wildest (Performer; he/they) blends dance, burlesque, and circus into engaging movement patterns with heartfelt storytelling. Recent works include Dancing People, an acro chairlesque cowboy number, and Just a Touch, a queer trio piece created with support from the Walder Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Learn more about Wildest’s work at jeanwildest.com.
Steven Besic (Set Carpenter; he/him) works throughout Chicago as a residential finish carpenter and has extensive background as a designer, technician, and stage manager in the city’s vibrant theater community including work with The National Pastime Theater, American Theater Company, and Sideshow, and nationally with the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival.
Li-Ming Hu (Prop Fabrication; she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist and former Power Ranger from Aotearoa/New Zealand who is currently based in New York City. She has an MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago, exhibited at Co-Prosperity, Roots and Culture and Mana Contemporary in Chicago and will be debuting a new performance at The 8th Floor NYC later this year.
Previous Cast and Collaborators: Aram Atamian, Fran E. Gallagher, Li-Ming Hu, Zachary Nicol, Divyamaan Sahoo, Luan Joy Sherman, Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste
Chicago Performs
Experience one weekend of groundbreaking performances by Chicago artists.
Related Content
Project Support
The New Normal Ensemble thanks January Parkos Arnall for her vision and support bringing this work into being. Thank you to Tara Aisha Willis for supporting the project as part of Chicago Performs, including but not limited to excellent readings, feedback, and all of the best questions. Thank you to Laura Paige Kyber and Sandy Guttman who have cared for the project and tirelessly facilitated its success through Chicago Performs. Thank you both. Thanks to Mana Contemporary and Watershed Art and Ecology for providing us space to develop and grow New Normal. Thanks to the cast, including the previous cast members and collaborators who have continued to support the work from afar, and the current cast, who have expanded the performance in new ways—thank you for your commitment and energy! A particular thanks for the creative partnership of vocal director Adrian Wood. This project was developed through ongoing support from the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, beginning with the work’s presentation during MCA In Progress and through Chicago Performs this past summer, and I am extremely grateful for the institution’s creative partnership and commitment to New Normal. This work is dedicated to my mother Judith Transue and child Ocean Transue, and all the generations who have worked for change.
Funding
This project is supported by The New Works Initiative, which puts the creative process at the heart of the MCA’s relationship with Chicago by supporting the development of new performances and creative projects. Lead support for the New Works Initiative is provided by Elizabeth A. Liebman.
