Discarded Clouds – The Discarded 2.0
Discarded Clouds – The Discarded 2.0 is the second show of The Disappearing Trilogy, following the premiere of the first piece, How I Disappeared, at HERE in August 2022. It is a thought-provoking and immersive theatrical experience that innovatively weaves together game theatre, object performance, and cutting-edge technologies. In an increasingly anthropocentric world, urbanites, particularly immigrants, find themselves ensnared in a prison of constructed meanings. Rather than fostering connections with nature, the cosmos, and the energies of others, we tend to perceive the world solely through symbols, intellectual abstractions, and highly individualistic interpretations. Taking inspiration from Fluxus, The Discarded 2.0 offers an immersive experience of nonsensical competition, uniting people and forging a temporary community rooted in pure joy and playfulness. Through this piece, we invite our audience to reevaluate the relationship between the isolated theater and the broader world beyond its confines, as well as how the weighty meanings humans have imposed can divide individuals and all existence on our planet.
Directed by Tianding He
Co-creators: Deniz Khateri, Non Kuramoto, Brian Shin-Hua Ellis, Tong Wu & Yuguang Zhang
Dramaturg: An-Ru
Updated: March 8, 2023
HERE is now a mask-optional space. All patrons attending HERE performances and events will no longer be required to wear masks.
We ask all audience members to please stay home if they have a sore throat, are feeling sick in any other way, or have been recently exposed to COVID-19, and to please contact the box office for refunds or exchanges.
All of our performers, technicians, and staff members are required to be fully vaccinated. Additionally, they are participating in an active testing regimen to keep everyone as safe as possible.
HERE reserves the right to revise protocols as the rate of transmission changes and in light of new scientific data that may present itself.
FRI at 7 PM
SAT at 2 PM & 7 PM
Tickets: $20
We understand the extreme challenges that our current financial climate presents. No matter your socioeconomic status, we want everyone to have access to groundbreaking art. There are ten tickets priced at $10 available for each performance on a first-come, first-served basis, for those in need of financial assistance. These tickets are available with the code ACCESS. Limit two tickets per patron. Subject to availability.
Running time: 60 minutes, no intermission
Project Artists:
The Disappearing Ensemble
Tianding He (Director; she/her/ta), originally from China, is an experimental theatre director, object performance deviser, and arts leader. She is the founding artistic director of B·O·N·D International Virtual Performance Festival, a proud associate member of SDC, and an arts leader of NYFA’s Incubator for Arts & Culture Leaders of Color. Through her work in object performance, physical theatre, and cutting-edge technologies, she hopes to challenge the anthropocentric ideology that permeates society. Tianding has directed various performances produced by CHUANG Stage, in venues and festivals including HERE Arts Center, Rattlestick Theatre, New Ohio Theatre, La Mama, Dixon Place, Margo Feiden Gallery, Soho Gallery, and Williamsburg Arts Nexus, Dumbo Six Foot Platform in NYC and Brooklyn, CHUANG Stage and Pao Arts Center in Boston, Shanghai Theatre Academy in China; Rattlestick Global Form Theatre Festival, New Ohio Theatre Ice Factory Festival, Object Movement Festival, Irvine Writer’s Festival, Wuzhen International Theatre Festival in China, B·O·N·D International Virtual Performance Festival, Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance, International Virtual Toy Theatre Festival, and UNFIX Festival. She was a resident artist of Object Movement Residency, Orchard Project Performance Lab, Dumbo Six Foot Platform, Observership recipient of Stage Director and Choreographer Foundation, and Green Theatre Grant winner. 1st MA: Performance Studies of NYU, 2nd MA: Theatre of Hunter College. PhD: Drama and Theatre at UC Irvine and UC San Diego. tiandingcybersoma.me.
Deniz Khateri is a multidisciplinary artist (actor, director, playwright, shadow puppetry artist, and animator) based in New York. Her works experiment with form and focus on memory, grief, immigration, and the concept of home. Deniz has performed extensively in Tehran, Boston, and New York and her plays have been performed in several national and international festivals. She has designed and directed international shows and shadow puppetry visuals for several contemporary classical composers. A playwriting lab resident at NYC’s New Perspective Theatre, and former artist in residence at Center at West Park, she has trained in master classes with prominent international artists including Peter Brook, Krymov, Paul Zaloom, and Gardzienice theatre company of Poland. She is an adjunct lecturer at Hunter College and Queens Borough Community College of CUNY. Deniz is the recipient of the NYFA award for her Oscar-qualified documentary animated web series, “Diasporan”, for which she is the writer, director, animator and singer and explores the daily struggles of immigrants. www.denizkhateri.com
Non Kuramoto (they/she) is a Brooklyn-based Japanese fool, who tells the truth wrapped in glittery wrapping paper, and wants every day to be a disco. They have shared laughter at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Persisticon, NYC Sketchfest, Nasty Women Unite Fest, and more. They can also be found screaming over punk rock ruckus as the front person of the First President of Japan. www.nonkuramoto.com
Brian Shin-Hua Ellis is a creative coder, composer, and multi-instrumentalist. His artistic drive lies in using code to democratize creative expression. He founded the Brooklyn Motion Capture Dance Ensemble to explore this concept through the medium of dance, and to expand the possibilities of movement-based musical interfaces. Brian additionally maintains many performance practices. He incorporates classical guitar, mountain dulcimer, live electronics, and no-input-mixing into his solo practice, and is an ensemble member with Echo Ensemble and SANS; duo.
Tong Wu & Yuguang Zhang are a new media artist duo raised on the Internet. They now co-exist with their digital doubles in Brooklyn, New York, and Chrome browser. Their joint artistic practice, which incorporates interactive installation, AI models, web pages, creative design, and workshops, explores the subtle yet dynamic connections we make with ubiquitous AI systems embedded around us and the societal or cultural shifts that come along. Wu & Zhang’s collaborative work has been showcased at iidrr Gallery in New York, the Code: ART Festival 2023 in Palo Alto, California, U.S., and the INDEX Biennale 2022 in Braga, Portugal. They also have been invited to lead creative workshops about generative AI at CultureHub Art Center, New York, and the School of Visual Arts, New York.
Tong Wu holds a master’s degree in New Media Art from the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at the New York University, and a bachelor’s degree in Documentary Journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park. As an independent artist, she had her solo exhibition “Daily Dividuals” in LATITUDE Gallery New York in 2021 and has exhibited her work internationally, including Koganechō Art Management Center in Yokohama, Japan, CURRENTS New Media Festival in New Mexico, U.S., International Documentary Film Festival (IDFA) DocLab Session in Amsterdam, Netherlands, U.S., SandBox Immersive Festival Acceleration Program in Hangzhou, China.
Yuguang Zhang is a lead machine learning technologist at DE-YAN design studio, a member of the multidisciplinary artist collective NUUM, and an adjunct professor at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). He’s a recipient of the S+T+ARTS S2S award and the Re: Humanism Art Prize. His works have been showcased at MAXXI, Le Centquatre, Beijing Times Art Museum, New Inc., New York Live Arts, and more.
An-Ru (Dramaturg) is a theatre researcher and practitioner. As a doctoral student in the UC Irvine/UC San Diego joint program, her current research examines the intersections of performance, migration, East Asian modernities, folklore, and religious studies, with an emphasis on “ghosts and performances” in Taiwan. She is also an actor, translator, and journalist. Her acting credits include Jia-Jen Lin’s Treading On Thin Ice (2022), Jen Liu’s Pink Slime Caesar Shift: Electropore (2021), Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio’s Bucchetino (2011-2015), and Craig Quintero’s Amnesia (2011).