Artists & Projects Directory
Dean Moss/Gametophyte Inc.
Nameless forest is a multidisciplinary performance work conceived by Dean Moss and developed in collaboration with contemporary Korean sculptor and poet, Sungmyung Chun. The project explores subjectivity and the nature of perception by both transforming Chun's figurative installations into live performance.
The artistic partnership at the heart of Nameless forest is rooted in two years of exploratory communication between Moss and Chun. Viewing Chun's 2007 and 2008 solo exhibitions "Swallowing the Shadow" in Seoul, Moss felt that they resonated with strategies he recognized from his own work. He sensed a strong commonality with Chun, and became intrigued with the idea of sharing perspectives and backgrounds, and developing out of that confidence a multidisciplinary work that would challenge and reflect a quintessential blending of multiple individual practices.
Structured in three parts, Nameless forest features diary fragments and war zone imagery by photojournalist Mike Kamber, neon sculpture from abstract artist Gandalf Gavan, an original score by experimental musician and sound composer Stephen Vitiello, lighting and technical design by Vincent Vigilante, and costumes by Roxana Ramseur. The work is embodied by a deeply committed cast of six individual performers, each representing a unique combination of cultural traditions and contemporary, dance, music, and theater practices.
Nameless forest continues Moss' formal investigations of both the dialogue between self and other, and the role of the audience in the performance experience. Up to 12 audience members will join the cast onstage for each performance, reflecting, through their undirected response, the community's role (and risk) in the perceptually individual and existential nature of art making.
Nameless forest premiered at The Kitchen in May 2011.
Check out this recently created e-book documenting Nameless forest.