SARAH BEST / CHICAGO, IL / ARTIST RESUME
Contact: sarahbest1@gmail.com
SOLO EXHIBITIONS & PROJECTS
- Sarah Best: Daily Photos. Paperboy, Chicago, IL, April 24 - May 30, 2010.
- Sarah Best: Daily Photos, on the Project Wall at Antena. Antena Gallery, Chicago, IL, February 19 - March 20, 2010.
- Daily Photos on Your Cell Phone, January 1-7, 2010. Sent one photo a day for seven days to 75 individuals located nationwide.
- Coney Island (small banner), 2009, embroidery commission for Achy Obejas.
COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
- Secret School 05 (exhibition), Antena Gallery, Chicago, IL, April 18, 2009. Created a weekend of programming around the themes of Secret School, an exhibition / installation curated by Huong Ngo and Alexander Stewart. Secret School 05 explored “the importance of food in fostering social networks and the possibilities of barter and exchange in decentralizing market systems.”
- What would you take with you on an expedition? (installation), at The Science of Obscurity (event), Jupiter Outpost, Chicago, IL, July 10, 2009. With David Emanuel, an interactive installation around the themes of our zine “Try Less Hard” (see Publications, below). Coordinated by the Chicago Underground Library, The Science of Obscurity was an official lead-up event to the The Poetry Foundation's 2009 Printers Ball.
- Simultaneous Landscapes (installation / performance), at Version<06 (arts festival), Chicago, IL. Created collaboratively with Irene Hodes, Ira Murfin, Brianne Waychoff and David Emanuel, Simultaneous Landscapes invited visitors to interact in various prescribed and improvised ways with elements of real and imaginary landscapes.
PRESS
- "Pondering the Universe at Antena Gallery." Review. Carrie McGath, Chicago Art Magazine.
- "Pocket Pix: Chicago Area Photogs use iPhone camera, applications for art." Hermine Bloom, Columbia Chronicle.
- "In an Instant." Emily Reimer, University of Chicago Magazine.
- "Top 5 Weekend Picks". Stephanie Burke, Bad at Sports.
- "Five Things to Do on February 19," Time Out Chicago (blog).
- "Cell Phone Photography is SO 2010." Kelly Reaves, Gapers Block A/C.
PUBLICATIONS
- Photo Publication. Photos from the Daily Photos series have been featured on the websites of Chicago Public Radio, Chicago Reader, Chicago Art Magazine, Columbia Chronicle, Bad at Sports, Gapers Block, and Chicagoist in 2009-10.
- Dance Journalism, Time Out Chicago, 2006-2008.
- Try Less Hard. 2006. A zine ( artist's book) created collaboratively by Sarah Best and David Emanuel. Original writing and illustrations created around documentation and materials culled and created during "Simultaneous Landscapes" installation at Version >06.
CURATORIAL EXPERIENCE
- Dance Films Kino. (Film and Visual Art Festival). Produced in association with Links Hall, Spring 2011.
- Dance for the Camera 2010, Chicago Cultural Center, October 13-15, 2010. (Film festival). Co-curated with Jan Bartoszek.
- Spooky Action. (Post-Screening Discussion). Links Hall, March 8, 2010. Led a discussion on dance film and the improvistational practices of musicians and movement artists after "an evening of silent films confronting disembodied performance" curated by Rachel Damon and Dan Mohr.
- Dance for the Camera 2009, Chicago Cultural Center, October 13-14, 2009. (Film festival). Co-curated with Jan Bartoszek.
- A film screening “Character Studies” featured films by Pina Bausch, Michael Jackson, Chunky Move, Hedwig Dances and other artists, and explored the themes of character, gender and personality.
- Film Screening Slumber Party, Links Hall, October 3, 2009. (Film screening).
- Featuring dance films, documentaries and shorts by Links Hall alumni: Lucky Plush, Molly Shanahan / Mad Shak, Marianne Kim, Litó Walkey and others.
- Dance for the Camera 2008, Chicago Cultural Center, October 28 & 30, 2008. (Film festival). Co-curated by Jan Bartoszek.
- Two film screenings “Landscapes” and “Interiors” focused on how physical setting forms a background and provides an interactive platform for the human activity in dance film. The program was complimented by a panel discussion “Dance Film Now” moderated by Lucia Mauro, and featuring Deirdre Towers, Artistic Director of the Dance Films Association, as well as several filmmakers
- Dance for the Camera 2007, Chicago Cultural Center, October 24-25, 2009. (Film festival). Co-curated with Jan Bartoszek.
- A screening featuring films by DV8 Physical Theater, David Roussève, Lucy Cash/Lin Hixson, Heddy Maalen / Benoit Dervaux and others, was complimented by a panel discussion with dance film scholars Susan Manning and Norah Zuniga-Shaw and local filmmaker Danièle Wilmouth.
- Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) Dance Programs, Chicago Cultural Center, 2006-current.
- As a member of the DCA Dance Force, I have produced and contributed curatorial work to numerous dance programs at the Chicago Cultural Center and Millennium Park including:
- Dancing in the Park (site specific dance in Millennium Park),
- Link-Up (a presentation of work by Links Hall’s Link Up artists),
- AbonDANZA! International Dance Festival, and
- About Dance (a discussion series).
- My experience encompasses everything from program conceptualization, soliciting and reviewing proposals from artists, drafting budgets, understanding and meeting the artists’ technical needs, helping marketing and communications professionals promote the programs, and coordinating rehearsals, to “being on the ground” during performances.
- As a member of the DCA Dance Force, I have produced and contributed curatorial work to numerous dance programs at the Chicago Cultural Center and Millennium Park including:
- First Friday, New York University, 1999-2002. (Literary Arts, Music, and Performance series).
- My responsibilities included soliciting and reviewing proposals from diverse artists, managing a staff of 3-4 students, coordinating budgets, supervising the production of a zine that accompanied each event, promoting events, coordinating tech rentals, emceeing events, and producing events at venues like the Salmagundi Club, Washington Square Park, the Violet Café, and a church on 4th Street in Greenwich Village.
EDUCATION
- Continuing Education (Performance): Workshops with Goat Island, Morganville, Sprung Theater, Redmoon Theater; Continuing Education (Embroidery): Workshop with Rebecca Ringquist at Lillstreet Arts Center.
- University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Graduate coursework, British Literature and Performance Studies, 2002-03.
- New York University (NYU), New York, NY. Gallatin School of Individualized Study, BA, magna cum laude, 2002. Studio Art and Poetry classes, wit an acedemic concentration in British Literature, cultural practices and ideological systems.
- NYU in London, 2000-01, study abroad with a focus on British Literature and Performance Studies.
- Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts, Erie, PA. Visual Arts, 1997.
HONORS & AWARDS
- Dance for the Camera 2008 was the recipient of a Chicago Seminar on Dance and Performance grant.
- 2006 Community Arts Assistance Program (CAAP) grant from the City of Chicago, Department of Cultural Affairs and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. This grant supported the publication of Try Less Hard (zine).
- 2002 Herbert K. Rubin creative writing award, NYU, poetry
- 2002 Special Service Award, NYU, for contributions to arts programming on campus.
BORN
Williamsport, Pennsylvania. 1980.