For Immediate Release: Artist Awakening with
Spontaneous Combustion
A new & adventurous performance series curated by Hassan Christopher

Contact
Hassan Christopher
209 S. Garey St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213.926.9078
openspacela@gmail.com

The 1st  ever Spontaneous Combustion -

When: May 3rd 2008 8:00pm

Where: Downtown at The Open Space 209 S. Garey Street LA, CA  90012

Tickets: $10-$20 suggested donation at the door, no reservations, street parking

What: The first of an on going series curated and produced by Hassan Christopher where selected artists are "locked" in collaboration at The OPEN Space with 24 hours, a bottomless cup of coffee, sofa beds and anything they can carry in to create a performance. From 8pm til' 8pm show time the next night they work round the clock to mastermind a masterpiece. See what happens when talent of different disciplines, genres and backgrounds come together for some Spontaneous Combustion. Be sure to check out Hassan's OPEN Space Video Blog.

Who is Combustible?  (Participating Artists for the First Spontaneous Combustion)

Combustible # 1 is an interdisciplinary artist whose focus is on live video performance and performance-based video installation. This artist has exhibited and performed widely in the US and abroad. Recent venues include the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Museum of Contemporary Art-Los Angeles, REDCAT/Disney Hall, the Getty Center, Springwave Festival/LIG Performing Arts Hall (Seoul, Korea), Trampoline: Platform for New Media Art (Nottingham, England), the Stanford Jazz Festival, Engine 27 (New York), Arizona State University-West Interdisciplinary Arts & Performance Program (Phoenix, AZ), the Knitting Factory (LA), ArtSonje Center (Seoul, Korea) plus numerous festivals and performance series.

Combustible # 2 is a Dance artist who also received a Ph.D in English from the City University of New York. She has worked with choreographers Jennifer Monson, DD Dorvillier, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Sarah Michelson, and Yvonne Meier. In 1997, she performed in Jennifer Monson's Bessie award-winning Sender at the Kitchen, and in 1998, and also appeared at the Danspace Project in DD Dorvillier's Canard. This artist's choreography has been presented at P.S. 122, Dixon Place, Judson Church, the City University of New York, 848 Community Space, and other venues in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia.

Combustible 3 is an emerging Musician/Composer and Video Instillation artist whose images and sound scapes riff on themes of collective memory within contemporary urban ritual. Integrating hip hop as a modality of Afro-Caribbean aesthetic into traditional but non-linear narrative structure his work subverts notions of hierarchy based on class, color or geography. Most recent exhibitions include Ohio's SPACES and Fisher Galleries in addition to numerous appearances as an experimental guitarist / electronic musician in his hometown of Providence. He holds a B.A. from Oberlin College with Honors in Visual Art, Cinema & Political Theory.

Combustible #4  Wild Card Artist-TBA (pending)

About Hassan Christopher

The mad scientist behind this experiment is Hassan Christopher. He is currently developing a new interdisciplinary art & performance venue dubbed The OPEN Space where he produces independent works, screenings and special events in addition to subsidizing rehearsal space for local artists. Hassan Christopher creates original performance for stage, screen, and alternative spaces. He is the recipient of the NAACP Best Choreography award for his contribution to Ameenah Kaplan's original production Every Man For Himself and a recipient of the Lester Horton award for innovation in dance. He has been nominated for an Ovation award, LA Drama Critics award and many others for his groundbreaking direction, staging and choreography of Sable and Batalion's uproarious satire JOB the Hip-Hopera. Some recent film-television and music video credits include work as choreographer on Comedy Centrals' T-Bone and Naked Trucker show and Dreams by TV on the Radio. He continues to focus on his upstart interdisciplinary performance ensemble The Company of Strangers. Since founding the Strangers in 2004 he has developed a reputation for making humorously poignant pieces daring in their choreographic innovation and at times surreal theatrical sensibility. In the press his work with has been called "hair-raising, breathtaking, brilliant, ingenious and electric ". He is currently  performing at the Unknown theater in Velvet Monkey's Dirty Mean Tricks a choreographic collaboration between himself, long time partner Marissa Labog and Creator Jennifer Li. Visit www.unknowntheater.com for information.

Spontaneus ComBustion

Who is Combustible?