Project Desription

Who moves these walls anyway? - Vito Acconci

In an interview, Vito Acconci referred to the Storefront facade project, that he co-designed with Steven Holl in 1993, as a 'space-maker- an instrument between the inside and the outside.' J Mandle Performance designed SIX SQUARE for the Storefront and intended to turn the gallery space inside out. The dancers manipulated the positions of the rotating facade panels as they navigated between the threshold of the interior and the exterior of the gallery. This spatial investigation is mirrored in the multi-layered costumes worn by the dancers. Similar to the panels, the costumes were transformed by the dancers throughout the piece, calling into question the convergence of interior and exterior space, whether it be physical or psychological.

As the performance inhabited the gallery and sidewalk, the audience was relocated to the street. While this dynamic challenged the traditional experience of viewing a performance, it is a paradigm for much of the work by J Mandle Performance. Similar to the original intentions of the facade, the mission of the company is to take the performance out of the theater and into the streets.

Text in part from SIX SQUARE program notes by Sara Herda, Director: Storefront for Art and Architecture