Chaos was the overall theme of an international exhibit that took place in downtown Montreal in July-August, 1997.  Organized by performance artists Norm Davis and Marie Andre Rho,  the large exhibit featured installations and performances by visual and multi-media artists from Montreal, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, New York City, Munich, Prague, Mexico, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The first part of the video highlights the light/wood sculptures created by Washington, DC artist Michael Gessner.

The second part focuses on two major works by Ruth Stenstrom, Chaos, a series of five hanging canvases, painted and collaged front and back and hung like scrolls from tree branches.  On the wall behind, is the unframed 72” x 144” acrylic and pastel work on canvas, Fragmentation.  Her original sound installation used electronic keyboards and vocals to reflect on the dichotomy between chaos and order, destruction and creation, as they affect the artistic process. 

We collaborated with Washington, DC choreographer/dancer Anne McDonald to create Second Stage Chaos, a 15 minute performance work that incorporated the installation soundtrack, Gessner’s wood sculptures and two of the hanging canvases from my art installation.  The performance was reprised in October, 1997 in an two evenings of works with Cynthia Word and Prosser Stirling at George Washington University’s Dance Department.

Production assistance by Denzil Spicer.

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