NETWORK

 

NETWORK addresses human survival and what we truly need– from sustainable living practices to communal engagement and empathy, as we recognize and build our resilience.  

Considering climate change and other crises (the  COVID-19 virus) the project is inspired by systems of communication, resource-sharing and survival employed in tree communities. How can we see and feel connectedness, to our own roots, families (blood or chosen) and communities? And how might working directly with tree communities, help us see, feel and recognize our interdependence—with one another and responsibility toward all life. Trees and mushrooms have elaborate root systems under the earth, largely unseen by the naked eye. These same kind of root systems are required for the building of communities and societies. The unseen roots of communities are the energetic pulls to center; social or artistic meeting sites that gather people in and bind them through shared experience, empathy and exchange.  

Working together with a team of national and international artists, we are devising research methods and a creative model based on horizontal exchange, trust-worthiness and healing our scarcity model thinking, in the effort toward a more sustainable and resilient way of living and exchanging.

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PROJECT PREMIERE: July 2 & 3, 2022 @ Djerassi Resident Artists Program

Based on experiential research in the environs of the Djerassi land and trees our team of performers, scientists, urban foresters, community tree stewards and designers will create a multi-dimensional, participatory, tactile experience–working with the trees, land, and site; dance, theater and media design; and material installation. In addition to an experiential, live, tactile, embodied (and we hope transformative) experience, that connects participants directly with trees, nature and their own bodies—there is a larger social impact goal of the project, which is to share research and resources with our audience participants in ways that may support their local communities.

 

 

CURRENT ENGAGEMENTS:

*Find more information about these upcoming events in our Calendar

Djerassi Art Immersion Hikes: March 12, April 30th, and May 21,  2022

Witness art unfold in nature at the Djerassi Program! This is a special opportunity in which small groups will meet & converse with multidisciplinary artists-in-residence in their studios. Witness art inspired by nature including The NETWORK Project, directed by alumni choreographer Krista DeNio, Artistic Director of MovingGround alumni poet and installation artist Cintia Santana. Hike to explore 30+ sculptures and installations led by Djerassi artist board members painter Shara Mays, writer Yalitza Ferreras, and painter Anna Sidana. Join us in challenging your creativity and fitness! These hikes span 3.5 miles with an elevation change of 300 feet over 4 hours.

Costa Rica Residency: April 1-10 2022

Working in a local home and studio, and with the land, ocean, and forests—NETWORK collaborators will further research the biological processes that tree communities use to survive and thrive, to apply to a working design for the NETWORK experience that will be created in the Summer 2022 LEONARDO residency at Djerassi Resident Artist Program.

Tenderloin Tree Planting: Spring 2022

The NETWORK Project will be in creative exchange with the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, in collaboration with CounterPulse, the Tenderloin Community Benefit District, Larkin Street Youth Services’ Art Program, and other community members, in supporting Tree plantings in the neighborhood.

Many thanks to partners and collaborators: CounterPulse, the young people at Larkin Street’s Art Program for doing the Tree Counting, La Cocina for providing meals to Larkin Street Youth Services Tree Counters. Mid-Market Business Association for underwriting the Tree Counter’s Stipends. And Rick Darnell for your ongoing coordination and support of the project and neighborhood.

 

PAST ENGAGEMENTS:

Djerassi Resident Artists Program: Day-use Residency, Summer 2021 Artistic Director, Krista DeNio and Chloe Crotzer (biologist) worked together with an interdisciplinary team of collaborators (performers, scientists, designers, musicians, technologist), to begin research and development of the project, for a 2022 production at Djerassi, co-produced by KDMG, CounterPulse and the Djerassi Program. This residency culminated in a work-in-progress.

WORK IN PROGRESS EXPERIENCE @ Djerassi Resident Artists Program [NOVEMBER  2021]

KD>>MovingGround shared the NETWORK project research and process developed during our day-use residency at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program during Summer 2021.

This work in progress, workshop experience, invited audience to participate and observe, as active choice makers in the experience. The NETWORK project experience featured movement, improvisation, dialogue, and interaction designed by creator/performers Amy Cranch, Chloe Crotzer, Krista DeNio, Heidi Erickson, Diana Lara, and Paige Sorvillo with installation design by Tanja London and lighting by Ashley Munday. Watch the video of the expereince taken by Chani Bockwinkel here: https://vimeo.com/690381966

Other research workshops and residencies have included:  BIONEERS Conference October 2017; KDMG & Dance Monks collaborate at Bioneers in an immersive experience on the grounds of the festival. The heart of this research was at the intersection of two long-term projects: NETWORK (Krista DeNio>>Moving Ground) and Tree of Life (Dance Monks), International Interdisciplinary Artist Consortium and Moving Arts Lab @ Earthdance, July 2017; Krista presented several workshops to colleagues and students, and collaborated in idea sharing with collaborators.  Krista choreographed a student work that was a part of BDP @ U.C. Berkeley April 2017.