a bottle cap tapestry for Spirited

In 2014, Baketender Kimberly Wetherell commissioned

Emma Cotter of RETTOCAMME Inc to create a

 custom bottle cap tapestry for the event room at Spirited:

a "dessert speakeasy" coming soon to Brooklyn!

 digital mockup and test layout with Spirited's logo

 sorting bottle caps by color

 sewing the caps together with steel wire

 tapestry in progress hanging off work table 

 verso of the completed tapestry

installation in Spirited's event room - August 2014

PREVIEW PRESS ON SPIRITED:

http://www.grubstreet.com/2014/08/20-best-nightlife-picks-fall-preview.html

http://www.urbandaddy.com/nyc/nightlife/31882/Spirited_Everything_Here_Has_Alcohol_New_York_City_NYC_Bar

South Brooklyn Shakespeare - Season Two

http://www.southbrooklynshakespeare.com

PRESS:

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20140716/park-slope/drink-outdoors-as-shakespeare-performances-take-over-park-slope-streets

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/37/29/24-shakespeare-parking-lot-2014-07-18-bk_37_29.html

http://www.bkmag.com/2014/07/23/get-your-shakespeare-fix-this-summer/

Reviews for "HCI (high claim item)"

presented in Out of Frame: Dance + Comics
curated by Patrice Miller
part of the 2014 Comic Book Theater Festival
at The Brick

HCI (high claim item) *
A quick caper set in an art gallery
Concept/Choreography: Emma Cotter
Music made by Loopstock
Projected Animation: William Torres
Hair & Make-up concepts: Amanda Miller
Performers: Emily Berry, Emma Cotter, Elizabeth Douglas

*work in progress - intended to be a chapter in a much large scale dance/theater piece.

Reviews:

"The artistry within well-constructed action is another silent partner in entertainments meant to be experienced rather than reflected on. Choreographer Emma Cotter’s HCI (High Claim Item) gave the common spy-adventure spectacle of the high-tech burglary a context all its own, with an original interpretation of a fine art museum heist complete with dancing ninja-thieves and a living painting, in a work which walks away with the treasure of creativity."
http://therumpus.net/2014/06/crossovers-3-reporting-live-from-the-cultural-borderlines-at-the-comic-book-theater-festival/

"Even better was Emma Cotter’s “HCI: High Claim Item”, which was like Ocean’s Twelve with former Cirque du Soleil members."
http://stagebuddy.com/reviews/review-frame-dance-comics/

HCI (high claim item) - work in progress

The Brick's Comic Book Theater Festival Issue #2 presents:

Out of Frame: Dance + Comics curated by Patrice Miller

"Out of Frame" is a night of collaboration between choreographers and sequential artists, exploring the use of the body to animate comic art. Seven choreographers, including Emma Cotter/RETTOCAMME, tackle this unique challenge in a diverse program of dance.

Brooklyn-based choreographer and visual artist Emma Cotter takes inspiration from her 20+ year career in picture framing presenting HCI (high claim item), a quick caper set in an art gallery. This original dance/theater piece will feature music made by Loopstock, projected animation by William Torres, and hair/make-up concepts by Amanda Miller. Performers include veteran RETTOCAMME Inc dancers Emily Berry and Elizabeth Douglas. 

Shows:

Tuesday 6/24/14 @ 9 p.m.

Saturday 6/28/14 @ 9 p.m.

Sunday 6/29/14 @ 3 p.m.

at The Brick: 

579 Metropolitan

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

tickets available online here: 

https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/934837

creative excursions and observations

The sixth annual RETTOCAMME February Project became twenty-eight days of creative excursions and observations. Results/experiences are still being examined and interpreted, but meanwhile, please enjoy this photo documentation via Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rettocamme/sets/72157640373010893/

Viewpoint - #FebProj2014

In 2009, my collaborators and I launched The February Project. These have all been dance-based events incorporating live music and visual elements. Limitations of time and money have been used as creative tools. For all parties involved this has meant letting go of many formalities and expectations associated with similar public presentations.

After a recent meeting with Jordan Mclean, RETTOCAMME musical director and annual February Project collaborator, we came to the conclusion that perhaps the project had run its course and it was time to take everything we had learned from the past five years (good and bad) and return to a more formal way of working.

This we plan to do imminently, but I am still not quite ready to let go of The February Project.

Every year there has been a shift in dynamics as the project has transitioned from three years in a traditional black box theater: Triskelion Arts, into a gallery setting: United Photo Industries, and finally into a music venue: ShapeShifter Lab. This variation in performance spaces has brought us new artistic contributors annually, which in turn has helped shape an equally entertaining audience. This network of individuals on and off the stage, is by far the most valuable product of this five year experiment. To more deeply explore this abundant resource,  I have decided to take a conceptual twist this February by considering:

the creative contribution of an active, social viewer

I plan to document this in a personal manner, writing down reflections, and keeping fragments of ephemera as they materialize. In addition to inviting old friends to join me at events, I intend to make an extra effort to interact with my fellow audience members, and be more participatory in feedback sessions or other mingling opportunities. As photography has been a key element in every February Project so far, I will primarily use Flickr to capture the visual aspects of these excursions and encounters. The final set of images can then easily be turned into a slideshow to be shared publicly. In the tradition of the previous five projects I have created a postcard - this one specifically designed as a tool for viewers to send a note to an artist or recommend a show to a friend.

 

click to view on Flickr:

POSTCARD FRONT

POSTCARD BACK

A few of these printed postcards are already in circulation thanks to longtime friend, former classmate, and fellow choreographer Emily Berry whose company B3W was presented at Flicfest in Fort Greene, Brooklyn on Jan. 30th, 2014. I have always admired Emily for being extremely engaged in her community - dance and otherwise - so she seemed like the perfect person to physically share the concept with first!

ongoing photo documentation:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rettocamme/sets/72157640373010893/

Please feel free to email suggestions for any art events involving live performance located in the NYC area occurring in the month of February, 2014 to RETTOCAMME@gmail.com

Emma Cotter

RETTOCAMME Inc - dance/art/design

www.RETTOCAMME.com

#FebProj2014

photo taken by audience member John Frame during the 2013 RETTOCAMME February Project. Musicians: Luke Damrosch and Ronald Stockwell with a three-dimensional score by Jordan McLean. Dancers: Elisa LaBelle and Emma Cotter.