WHEN THE SHOW COMES HOME
Sebastienne Mundheim
January 12 - May 26, 2024
OPENING EVENT: February 2, 2024 | 5 - 9 PM
Kea and the Ark
Performance by exhibiting artist Sebastienne Mundheim
with White Box Theatre
Saturday, May 18, 2024
11 AM preview show | FREE
2 PM show | $30 adults, kids FREE
4:30 PM show with cash bar | $30 adults, kids FREE
Photo credit: Gene Smirnov
AUDIO EXHIBITION TOUR
Artist, Sebastienne Mundheim, has created an AUDIO TOUR of 16 short reflections that you can listen to as you move through the gallery. In the recordings sometimes she talks about when the pieces were made, who commissioned the work, what the making process was like, and how she feels about the pieces on display.
Sebastienne Mundheim is an interdisciplinary performance artist who has spent more than 30 years as an interpretative educator. Her work consistently begins with storytelling; a central idea and narrative framework which is then developed in tandem with visual imagery. Her process evolves simultaneously, employing hand-crafted puppets, objects, and lyrical prose as they inform one another to create a story that inhabits both visual and verbal worlds. Her many collaborations with arts organizations and other artists have created responsive and immersive arts-based learning experiences for all ages. For each interpretation, the puppets remain as artifacts of these thoughtful encounters; each a tableau of Mundheim’s career and a showcase of her as a master of her craft.
Many of these objects are being shown together for the first time; stories and characters unifying to create an immersive environment that provokes fresh dynamics and conversations. Through a range of scale and medium, these artifacts can be revered for their aesthetic beauty as well as their functionality as theater tools. Puppetry is an ancient theatrical tradition with numerous cultural versions that span the globe. However, the practice itself is largely delineated to the performance genre, limiting its scope beyond theater. Mundheim’s approach to puppetry shifts this traditional perspective by blurring the boundary between the craftsmanship of the object and its inherent use as a puppet. The characters are the foundation for her performance and possess complex functional ability, but their delicate creation is nothing other than a fine art practice.
Mundheim will activate the exhibition space throughout its duration. The puppets take the spotlight through a series of audio reflections by Mundheim, who examines their individual creations within the context of her career. Additionally, in collaboration with Mundheim’s Philadelphia-based company, White Box Theatre, the exhibition will become a working space. Mundheim and fellow performers will activate the gallery with a series of performances that will serve to reanimate the objects with original movement and stories, further expanding their previous use with that of their current display. As the space hums with activity, the puppets offer a glimpse into a practice that is referential while showcasing an artist at work.
Curated by Chase Dougherty
Carole Bieber & Marc Ham Gallery
Photo credit: Gene Smirnov
Sebastienne Mundheim is a performance-maker, installation artist, and educator with more than 30 years of experience in interdisciplinary arts and arts education. Her work integrates visual installation, puppetry, storytelling, dance, and theater. In addition to making her own work, Mundheim is a thought-partner and consultant for numerous other artists and arts organizations.
Mundheim began her career as a painter and writer, earning her BA and BFA at the University of Pennsylvania in 1990. Wanting to get away from a solitary studio practice, she began working in communities designing and implementing parades, installations, and arts-based learning experiences. In 2007, she focused her practice by founding and artistic-directing White Box Theatre (WBT), a project-based nonprofit which creates responsive and immersive interdisciplinary, arts-based learning experiences, performances, and public events, for people of all ages. Works are created in partnership with museums, universities, theatre companies, dance troupes, community groups, and schools.
VIRTUAL GALLERY TOUR
Photo Credit: Daniel Jackson Photography
