Untitled (Erika), 2000. C-print. Photo taken by Natascha Wittgenstein.
Untitled (Erika), 2000. Polaroid. Photo taken by Natascha Wittgenstein.
Untitled (Erika), 2000. C-print. Photo taken by Natascha Wittgenstein.
Julia Mandle created Erika, a three-part multidisciplinary outdoor performance, to heighten environmental awareness by bringing attention to an ecological disaster. In December 1999, oil tanker Erika spilled several thousand tons of heavy fuel into the Atlantic Ocean near the French coast.
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Inspired by the hundreds of people who worked to save the wildlife and foliage from the contaminated water, Mandle evoked this event through changing compositions in blue and black expressed through symbolic costumes, movement, music and a sixty-foot long stage.
A core of six performers alluded to the aftermath of the spill—their movement drawn from a range of imagery including the methodical, factory-like cleanup efforts of washing and sifting gestures; the wreckage site and the overturned tanker; and the birds with oil saturated wings and their transformation. A chorus of thirty dancers in identical blue dresses shook geometric hand boxes, sifting blue powder onto the stage. The symbolism of the performance also extended to the sifting through of issues of liability among the oil company, ship owner, and crew, and the repetition of similar disasters. Recurring environmental devastation, like the cyclical structure of Erica, underscored the vulnerability of the environment and the struggle to restore ecological balance.
Julia Mandle created Erika, a three-part multidisciplinary outdoor performance, to heighten environmental awareness by bringing attention to an ecological disaster. In December 1999, oil tanker Erika spilled several thousand tons of heavy fuel into the Atlantic Ocean near the French coast.
PAGEBREAK
Inspired by the hundreds of people who worked to save the wildlife and foliage from the contaminated water, Mandle evoked this event through changing compositions in blue and black expressed through symbolic costumes, movement, music and a sixty-foot long stage.
A core of six performers alluded to the aftermath of the spill—their movement drawn from a range of imagery including the methodical, factory-like cleanup efforts of washing and sifting gestures; the wreckage site and the overturned tanker; and the birds with oil saturated wings and their transformation. A chorus of thirty dancers in identical blue dresses shook geometric hand boxes, sifting blue powder onto the stage. The symbolism of the performance also extended to the sifting through of issues of liability among the oil company, ship owner, and crew, and the repetition of similar disasters. Recurring environmental devastation, like the cyclical structure of Erica, underscored the vulnerability of the environment and the struggle to restore ecological balance.
Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York, NY, 2000.
Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York, NY, 2000.
