Jessica Scott, Ship of Fools
Pete McCabe interviews visual artist, puppeteer, and performer Jessica Scott on her new multi-disciplinary theater project Ship of Fools, which she is developing in the course of her 2013 artistic residency at the HERE Arts Center. The metaphoric title of her project alludes to the medieval practice, depicted in engravings, of boarding the insane and unwanted onto a so-called Ship of Fools where they were forced to sail without a captain and left abandoned to their fate. Interested in the intersection between women and madness, Ms. Scott goes back to France's famous all-female asylum Saltpetriere and the Mary Laundry’s of England to explore the overwhelming incidence of modern female depression and the fearful connotations inherent in “femaleness.” Ms. Scott also discusses her life as a puppeteer and the anthropological background of "fetishistic" idols.
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Clocktower Radio’s series of recorded HERE programming. HERE builds a community that nurtures career artists as they create innovative hybrid live performance in theatre, dance, music, puppetry, media and visual art through residencies, event production, and commissions.
Since 1993, HERE has been one of New York’s most prolific producing organizations, and today, it stands at the forefront of the city’s presenters of daring new hybrid art. HERE supports multidisciplinary work that does not fit into a conventional programming agenda. Our aesthetic represents the independent, the innovative, and the experimental: HERE has developed such acclaimed works as Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues; Basil Twist’s Symphonie Fantastique; Basil Twist and Joey Arias' Arias with a Twist; Hazelle Goodman’s On Edge; Young Jean Lee's Songs of The Dragons Flying To Heaven; Trey Lyford & Geoff Sobelle’s all wear bowlers; Faye Driscoll's837 Venice Boulevard; Taylor Mac's The Lily's Revenge and original musical and dance works created and directed by HERE Co-Founder and Artistic Director Kristin Marting.
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