UTOPIA: space
A new performance work living at the intersection of movement and architecture.
August 21 + 22, 2021 | 5:30 PM
Freeway Park | Seattle, WA
UTOPIA: space is a interdisciplinary, site-responsive performance by Vladimir Kremenović and design intervention by VIA – A Perkins Eastman Studio. Set in Freeway Park, it celebrates the work of Angela Danadjieva, the immigrant woman who designed the Park’s renowned landscapes.
UTOPIA: space activates Freeway Park by transforming it into an evolving art-making hub, with two months of open rehearsals, visual installations, and a free performance. The project brings us together to steward our communal reemergence from isolation and rediscovery of public life.
This is the third performance in the UTOPIA series, an ongoing art project initiated by Kremenović in 2019 to explores the heritage of brutalism, contradictions between communism and democracy, the lasting implications of Yugoslavia’s dissolution, and their personal experiences with the Bosnian War and immigration to the United States.
Angela Danadjieva with a model of Freeway Park
Performers: Kara Beadle, Arlo King, Jordan Macintosh-Hougham, Kierra Nguyen, Stefan Richmond, Symone Sanz, Tayler Tucker, Fox Whitney, Bri Wilson
Underwritten by John Robinson. Presented by Freeway Park Association and Seattle Design Festival, with additional support from Velocity Dance Center and funding by 4Culture. It is a part of Bodies of Discovery, a collaborative exhibition organized by the Henry Art Gallery, On the Boards, and Velocity Dance Center, supported by the Metropolitan Improvement District / Downtown Seattle Association.
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PRESENTING PARTNERS
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Freeway Park Association
FPA started as a few concerned neighbors hoping to bring life back into their aging neighborhood park. Today we are a coalition of 1200 individual members, 15 organizational members, 12 volunteer board members and 2 staff – an Executive Director and a Program & Engagement Coordinator. Our members and volunteers make up the backbone of the Association and represent our neighbors on First Hill and Downtown. We are also supported by a diverse array of partners who provide programming, funding and outreach.
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Seattle Design Festival
August 21-22, 2021 | Lake Union Park
As the summer of 2021 is coming into focus we are excited to move into this Festival season with optimism and hope. With this year’s Seattle Design Festival theme EMERGE, we invite participants to explore the opportunities of adaptation and change as we move forward with what we’ve learned from 2020.
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Velocity Dance Center
Velocity is Seattle’s center dedicated to contemporary dance, and an essential incubator for new dance in our region. With artist-driven, community-responsive programming, Velocity provides vital resources and advocacy for one of the most active dance communities in the nation. Velocity’s programming includes classes, workshops, residencies, performances, discussions, and two annual international festivals.
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Bodies of Discovery
UTOPIA: space is part of Bodies of Discovery, an expansive group exhibition organized by the Henry Art Gallery, On the Boards, and Velocity Dance Center, supported by the Downtown Seattle Association / Metropolitan Improvement District. Bodies of Discovery features a series of performances, films, and installations taking place over the Summer/Fall of 2021. Set and performed in outdoor plazas and parks throughout downtown Seattle, this constellation of works explores the (re)activation of the physical body in our again-accessible public space, and will create sites of artistic discovery in unexpected places over the course of the exhibition.
This exhibition is presented in conjunction with Murmurations, a Seattle-wide arts collaboration featuring a series of exhibitions, performances, screenings, community conversations, artist talks, and other programs co-developed between cultural organizations.
