Superior Concept Monsters
- Superior Concept Monsters
Superior Concept Monsters is an ensemble of performing artists and theatrical technicians devoted to pageant puppetry and processional art. Located in upstate New York, it was "born out of" New York's Village Halloween Parade, in which it is a regular participant. Much of its work is produced with assistance from volunteers participating in puppet-raisings and community workshops.
Ensemble
SCM's chief artists and puppet designers are Alex Kahn and Sophia Michahelles. Kahn's training is in painting and sculpting. While at Harvard, he won a top prize which led him to Nepal, where he developed an interest in ritual art. Michahelles was a shop assistant for SCM, and began to co-design puppets in 2000. She is the designer of the celebrated phoenix puppet presented in the 2001 Halloween parade; the work was a response to the September 11, 2001 attack on New York.
SCM's team of builders, parade marshalls and technicians includes Meg Aldrich, Christopher Fox, Steffen Hyder, Moira Sauer, Kevin Taylor, Bess Williamson. Its choreographer is Sondra Loring. Logistics are handled by Howie Callies.
Its name
The company's name originated "...from an antique sign that hung on the puppet storage barn," the workshop at Rokeby Farm it calls home. The sign reads "Superior Concept Corp." Kahn explains its meaning:
:"The phrase captures the unpredictable moment when a giant puppet is first animated. At this moment we find that each puppet inevitably assumes a will and character of its own, transcending our original concept and design... In asserting their own identities within the carnivalesque realm of processional art the puppets become superior to the concepts or ideas of their creators."
Workshops
Superior Concept Monsters presents workshops in pageant puppetry at the Omega Institute, and each year since 2002 it has led a puppetry workshop in Italy, in the Alpine village of Morinesio. It has been invited to participate as artists-in-residence at Caribbean Contemporary Arts, an international studio program in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The trip was made possible by a research scholarship awarded to Kahn by the Fulbright Scholar Program. SCM hopes to create a puppet workshop there modeled after its work in Italy.
ee also
*New York's Village Halloween Parade
*Spiral Q Puppet Theater
External links
* [http://www.superiorconcept.org/ Superior Concept Monsters]
Wikimedia Foundation.
2010.
Look at other dictionaries:
New York's Village Halloween Parade — is an annual holiday parade and street pageant presented the night of every Halloween (October 31) in New York City’s Greenwich Village. Stretching more than a mile, this cultural event draws two million spectators, fifty thousand costumed… … Wikipedia
Alex Kahn — (b.1967) is an American visual and performance artist, best known for his creation of the large scale puppet performance works that lead New York s Village Halloween Parade each year. Pageant Puppetry and Processional ArtSince 1998, Kahn and his… … Wikipedia
Sophia Michahelles — is one of the two chief artists and puppeteers of Superior Concept Monsters, makers of pageant puppets and other processional art in upstate New York. She works closely with co director Alex Kahn. The couple s work is commissioned each year to… … Wikipedia
Phoenix (mythology) — The phoenix (Ancient Greek: Φοῖνιξ, phoínix) is a mythical sacred firebird in ancient mythologies starting with the Greek and later the Egyptian and the Phoenician mythology. Appearance and Abilities A phoenix is a mythical bird with a tail of… … Wikipedia
Medieval pageant — For other uses, see Pageant (disambiguation). A medieval pageant is a form of procession traditionally associated with both secular and religious rituals, often with a narrative structure. Pageantry was an important aspect of medieval European… … Wikipedia
Jeanne Fleming — is an American Celebration Artist from New York, who organized the Harbor Festival Fair in 1986, the Official Land Celebration for the Centennial of the Statue of Liberty and who is currently director of New York s Village Halloween Parade.One of … Wikipedia
In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre — (also known as Heart of the Beast or HOBT) is a puppet company from Minneapolis, Minnesota. HOBT began in 1973 as Powderhorn Puppet Theatre, named for a neighborhood park and lake in Minneapolis, and changed their name in 1979. In 1987 they moved … Wikipedia
Spiral Q Puppet Theater — is a puppet troupe that was founded in 1995 by Matthew Mattyboy Hart in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After traveling the country he was inspired by the street performance work of the Radical Faeries and the Bread and Puppet Theater in Glover,… … Wikipedia
Frankenstein in popular culture — lists many ways the novel Frankenstein , and Frankenstein s monster, have influenced film, TV, games and popular culture in general and the many derivative works it has inspired.Film derivativesilent EraThe first film adaptation of the tale,… … Wikipedia
Christianity — /kris chee an i tee/, n., pl. Christianities. 1. the Christian religion, including the Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox churches. 2. Christian beliefs or practices; Christian quality or character: Christianity mixed with pagan elements; … Universalium
