Ascension (2012)

In Collaboration with Elizabeth Streb

There is a sense of beauty about a ladder, a device that has existed for centuries to assist us when the need to go higher arises. As the ASCENSION ladder turns, and the forces wreak their confusing havoc on the climbers, it becomes difficult to recognize if the performers are climbing up or down at any given time. One by one they hop on and begin their endless climb, around and around and around all nine bodies go. The climb, the ever revolving Sisyphean ascent to the unreachable top of the ladder, disallows arrival and the accomplishment of the quotidian function, to get somewhere.

Director: Elizabeth Streb
Concept Design: Jeff Becker

Photos: Joe Kusumoto

Watch Video of ASCENSION on NewYorker.com