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Artist Statement My first language is dance, and so my primary materials are the body and mind. In letting go of fixed ideas about the body, I can escape the solidity of the flesh and re-examine assumptions about the self. I use digital means such as visual programming, scanners, data, and biosensors to make these departures. I am interested in making experiences where we can forget ourselves long enough to reconsider where and what is the mind, to what extent the "self" is relational, and how BCIs and technology impact our sense of self. My work is a vehicle for a philosophical inquiry that is initiated through the experiential: where the mystery of consciousness has not or cannot be adequately explained through scientific methodology alone, I am investigating being through qualitative experience and quantitative intangible data. I am a believer in the power of beauty and shared aesthetic experience. I am a believer in the use of technology to promote a greater sense of well-being and connection. The aesthetic vehicles I create span interactive and immersive bio-reactive video, light, and sound installation, fulldome creation, and choreographic performance. The research that feeds my work draws from writings about consciousness, neuroscientific study, and meditation practice. Each involves constant reconsideration of the relation of body and mind, the role of movement in life, and what it’s like to be. Biography Overview: Gibson facilitates research-creation around the body-mind, selfhood, and conscious experience through immersive/interactive installation, choreography, sound installation, bio-reactive video light installation, and full dome projection. Her work in new media has been presented by MUTEK (MTL), Ars Electronica (AUT), the Satosphere (MTL) the Fels Planetarium (PHL), Contemporary & Digital Art Fair("CADAF") (NYC), Lightbox (NYC), Urban Screens Production (AUS), and The Hexagram Network (CA), . Her work has been further supported through an internship with the BIAPT neuroscience lab at McGill University. She teaches dance and new media practices, and her work is represented by Chimera Gallery in Philadelphia. Gibson is a devoted teacher, and has designed courses in Embodied Approaches to Research-Creation, Introduction to Digital Art and New Media, as well as an Introductory Workshop in Touchdesigner for Movement Artists. She has taught ballet, pointe, physical theater, and composition in the US and abroad, including Temple University, University of the Arts, the Zawirowania Festival, and many other institutions. Her work as a ballet teacher at Temple University garnered her the Outstanding Teaching award in 2018. She has also taught ballet and pointe classes privately at the Philadelphia Studio ballet for ages 8-18, and served as ballet mistress to Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers. As the director of Nora Gibson Contemporary Ballet, a contemporary ballet company based in Philadelphia for a decade, Gibson's choreography was presented by New Dance Alliance at Joyce SOHO, at Dance Place in Washington DC, Philadelphia Dance Projects, The Williams Center for the Arts, and by the Franklin Institute, one of the oldest and most prestigious science and technology museums in the US. Her work has received consistent critical acclaim, heralded by the Philadelphia Inquirer as "the most authoritative work in Philadelphia. . ." Gibson’s innovative approach to ballet garnered her an invitation to speak to an audience of programmers and visual artists at the Touchdesigner summit at MUTEK in Montreal in 2018 about the making of her dome ballet, MANDALA. Gibson's choreographic work has been commissioned regularly by universities such as Bryn Mawr College, Georgian Court University, Alma College, and University of the Arts. Gibson trained in ballet at Baltimore School for the Arts under Sylvester Campbell of the Dutch National Ballet, and earned a BFA in dance from Tisch, at NYU. Gibson performed from 2010-2013 with Lucinda Childs in various iconic 70s works as part of the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage's Virtual Reconstruction project. As a choreographer, Gibson has been invited as a resident artist in the US and abroad, including the nEW Festival in Philadelphia (2009-10), the CEC New Edge Residency (2009-10), the Ellen Forman Memorial Award (2011), the PHL/Poland Artist Exchange Residency (2012), the Choreographers on Campus Residency, funded through the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (2014), Diepenheim Werkplaats (2016), Kaatsbaan (2017), and The Dance Visions Residency (2018). She earned an M.F.A. in Intermedia from Concordia University in Montreal. CV Presentations/Awards/Residencies for New Media MIT x Boston Tech Poetics - (September 2024) Hackathon participant; co-developed and performed interactive dance performance with AI integration MUTEK - Mutopia/ Village Numérique (August 2024) (Montréal, CA) Presentation of bio-reactive visual and sound installation, Transplant Biodesign Challenge (April 2024) (NYC/online) Guest speaker for webinar on artists working in art and technology SAT Festival (March 2024) (Montreal, CA) Official Selection: "Tree of Life" for International dome projection festival. Music Hackspace (2023) (virtual/International) guest speaker on interactive installation Hexagram Artist Residency (2023) (Montreal, CA), technical residency and public exhibition Ars Electronica (2023) (Linz, Austria) “the dream”, bio-reactive visual and sound installation presented through Imprints by the Hexagram Network Hexagram Network Gala (2023)(Montreal, CA) Bio-reactive visual and sound installation, Transplant 1 Elspeth McConnell Award Recipient (2022-23) Research-Creation project in dance and neuroscience hosted by Convergence Initiative, an organization dedicated to collaborative research and artistic projects between artists and neuroscientists. Internship with the Biosignal and Personhood Technologies Lab (2022-2023)(Montreal) Project development and research within this neuroscience lab at McGill University regarding the subject of consciousness and physiological phenomena in the context of live performance. Laboratoire Publique (2022) (Montreal) Team leader for a research-creation conference produced by Hexagram Network. Brain Canada AGM Conference (June 2022) (Toronto) Presenting artist: "We are all energy beings" VR work made in collaboration with Audrey Coulombe and Dr. Moushumi Nath Art-Sci Symposium (2022)(Montreal) Presenting artist "We are all energy beings" VR work made in collaboration with Audrey Coulombe and Dr. Moushumi Nath. Produced by Convergence Initiative and Native Immigrant Gallery, Montreal, CA Laboratory Spokane (2021) Resident Artist to create interactive installation for gallery exhibition (CANCELED due to pandemic/funding) Urbain Screens Production (AUS) (2021) Outdoor billboard installation of audio-reactive video, Merge VJ Open Lab (Berlin) (2020) Online audio-reactive performance of Merge Lightbox (NYC) (2020) Immersive audio-reactive installation, NGV_265, presented by Never Knows Better Contemporary & Digital Art Fair (CADAF), Digital Art Month, (NYC) (2020) Audio-reactive installation, Waterfall, shown at 500 Broadway, NYC Ars Electronica, Global Online Gallery (2020) Kinetic Painting, Aria NKB Presents: Creative Code Virtual Art Showcase, Feat. We Are Tundra & Intus (2020) Virtual Performance of selected audio-visual works Fidget Space (2019) (Philadelphia) Audio-visual performance of Dark Energy Touchdesigner Summit (presented during MUTEK) (Montreal) (2018) Guest speaker about the making of Mandala, a ballet for the dome using volumetric point cloud technology and touchdesigner. Gallery Representation Chimaera Gallery, Philadelphia, USA Management/Leadership 2024-present Production Coordinator, Concordia University Department of Dance, Montreal 2009 - 2020 Artistic Director & Production Manager, Nora Gibson Contemporary Ballet 2016 - 2017 Curator and Production Coordinator for the Philadelphia Screendance Festival 2001 - 2005 Associate Attorney, Swartz Campbell, Philadelphia Academic Positions 2023 Professor of record: Introduction to Digital Media, Concordia University, Montreal 2023 Teaching Assistant to Nelson Henricks, 350 Video History and Theory, Concordia University, Montreal 2022 Teaching Assistant to Samuel Meech, Intermedia 400 Advanced Practices in Video/Performance/Electronic Art, Concordia University, Montreal 2021 Teaching Assistant to Samuel Meech, Intermedia 332 Performance Practices and Performative Video, Concordia University, Montreal 2013 - 2021 Faculty, Ballet and Physical Theater, Temple University, Philadelphia (recipient of Outstanding Teaching award 2018) 2017 - 2021 Ballet instructor, Philadelphia Studio Ballet 2018-2019 Faculty, Ballet, Georgian Court University, NJ 2019 Ballet mistress for Yun-Yang Lin/Dancers company of Philadelphia 2013 Faculty, Ballet, University of the Arts, Philadelphia 2012 Composition workshop at the Zawirowania Festival, Warsaw, Poland 2009-11 Seasonally, Ballet instructor at the nEW Festival, Philadelphia Choreographic Repertoire Adaptation (TBD)(Philadelphia) Interactive choreographic and immersive visual experience for live dance and real time audience input diffusion_Dance (2024) Interactive dance performance with real-time AI integration (in development); co-presented by MIT Theater and Boston Tech Poetics Ballet for humans and sensors (2020) Interactive Visualsl/Dance co-presented by Vox Populi Gallery and Philly AV; to be presented at the Performance Garage Gala April 2020 (cx due to Pandemic) Dances by Brainwaves (2020) Multimedia Interactive Installation for dance, brainwaves, visuals, and movement-reactive sound presented by The MAAS Building Residency Mandala (2019) Digital Ballet for Dome presented by Franklin Institute/ Philadelphia Science Festival/ Fels Planetarium. Made in collaboration with Jason Haggerty (AUS) with support by the Philadelphia Cultural Fund Project Stream grant for multimedia work HUMAN (2018) Full-evening ballet premiering featuring original digital scenography, supported through the Dance Visions Residency award Neural Lace (2017) Ballet Commissioned by University of the Arts N o t h i n g T h a t I s N o t T h e r e (2017) Full evening ballet presented in partnership and support from The Franklin Institute and Drexel Department of Physics, Materials Lab; residency & workshop performance to be presented by Kaatsbaan, with support through the Kaatsbaan Upstream, Choreographic Residency A Mind of Winter (2016) Ballet Commissioned by University of the Arts Ephemeral (2016) Full-Evening ballet made with support from The Netherlands America Foundation and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, Choreographic grant recipient Dark White (Dance for Camera)(2015) Film presented by Triskellion Arts Dance Film Lab Festival 2^57,885,161 - 1 (2014-15) ½ evening ballet commissioned with support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's Choreographers on Campus Initiative (Philadelphia premiere: February 2015; re-presented in 2016 by The Williams Ctr for the Arts) Temporal Objects (2014) Quintet presented by Philadelphia Dance Projects Simple Restrictions (2014) Quartet presented by Bryn Mawr College and the Come Together Festival Divergent Iteration (2013-14) Duet commissioned by Bryn Mawr College Antarctica Preview Choreographic Video (dance for opera) (2013) presented by Fidget Space Trinity (2011) Trio performed at The Painted Bride, Philadelphia, funded in part by New Stages for Dance, and presented by Appel Arts, NJ, in 2013 Corollary to Fugue in G Minor (2013) Duet Presented by Koresh Dance Company and Performance Garage, developed through support by the Dance/USA Philadelphia Poland Artist Exchange, Residency Fugue I Choreographic Dance for Camera (2012) Presented by Mascher Space, Philadelphia Three Four Twelve (2012) Ensemble ballet commissioned & presented by Drexel University, Philadelphia, with support by the Ellen Foreman Memorial Award for choreography. Vested Souls (2010) Full evening ballet Co-presented by Dance Place, Washington D.C. in 2012, and presented by the CEC in Philadelphia in 2010 through funding from Dance Advance, a program of the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage. Etude (2009) Ballet presented by the nEW Festival in Philadelphia in 2009, though support by the nEW Festival Residency, and by Joyce SOHO, in NYC in 2010. Education Concordia University (MFA, Intermedia & Cyber Arts) Pennsylvania State University (Juris Doctor, Law) academic distinctions: Law Review; ATLA Appellate Moot Court Team New York University (BFA, Dance) academic distinctions: Trustee Scholar Baltimore School for the Arts (HSD, Dance) Professional Certifications Touchdesigner Operation Foundations (2021) Issued by the Interactive and Immersive HQ Graduate Seminar in University Teaching (2023) Issued by Grad Pro Skills, Concordia University Teaching Online (2020) Issued by Center for the Advancement of Teaching, Temple University What the press is saying about Gibson’s work: “...Stunning” “If there was any amount of polished performance in the room that evening, it was the opening ballet with interactive visuals and choreography by Nora Gibson.” (Leslie Bush, thINKingDance) HUMAN explores artificial intelligence and technology’s complication of objectivity and otherness. It is a posthuman dance that uses the language of classical ballet to imagine new vistas, drawing on the strengths of its dancers, choreography, score, and staging. . . Gibson’s creative staging served HUMAN’s theme of the tensions between natural and unnatural, human and artificial. (Melissa Strong, Broad Street Review) 2018 . . What is ballet in the 21st century? This question is central to the mission of Nora Gibson Contemporary Ballet (NGCB). If you love dance, you may have considered the same question. Is the timeless beauty of classical ballet incapable of expressing the experience of living in today’s hyperconnected world? I thought so — until I saw the premiere of NGCB’s HUMAN. (Melissa Strong, Broad Street Review) 2018 A mash-up of data-driven inquiry and aesthetic exploration, N o t h i n g T h a t I s N o t T h e r e is a science experiment in the guise of a ballet performance – as well as vice versa. . . . The abstract beauty of [this ballet] makes it a fitting piece for a science festival. The viewer must be curious and alert to what’s happening, but at the same time open about its sense and significance. It’s a dance I’d like to see again in order to investigate its underlying principles further. (Jane Fries, The Dance Journal) 2017 "...Ephemeral, her smartest, most accomplished work to date. She is truly someone to watch, a choreographer who shows a new and strangely poetic direction, a dreamer, a philosopher, a seer." (Merilyn Jackson, critic for Philadelphia Inquirer, on FB) 2016 "The polyrhythmic visuals and music mix in synchronicity, unraveling though time and space like glaciers gliding toward each other over millennia." ThINKing Dance, Zornitsa Stoyanova 2016 "poetically charged atmosphere " (Philly.com) "[F]resh, postmodern ballet" (Philly.com) "The precision and control in this piece is fascinating, disturbing and finally spellbinding." (The Dance Journal) "devotion to technique, razor-sharp dancing, and a laserlike vision of each work's arc." (Philly.com) "Gibson. . . is a serious choreographer who braces her works with the formalism of her ballet training, then isolates those movement phrases into still frames." (Philly.com) "severely focused intellectual beauty" (Philly.com) "[T]he most authoritative work in Philadelphia this year." (The Philadelphia Inquirer) Listed under Broad Street Review's "Critic's Choice: Dance Highlights" for 2010 and 2011 "innovative choreography and vividly met intent" (Philly.com) "unrelentingly dynamic movement." (The Philadelphia Inquirer) "Gibson . . . takes tedium . . .to the brink." (The Washington Post) ". . . exceptionally clean . . ." (The Washington Post) "spellbinding" (The Philadelphia Inquirer) "Gibson’s design of space . . . enlivens the composition; moments of explosive spatial shift punctuate the repetition." TheDanceJournal "a kaleidoscopic collage of movement" The Triangle.org, 1.28.11 |
professional certifications
