MISSION
Our mission is to remind audiences of their personal connection to the world through art/science collaborations. Capacitor encourages contact with scientific concepts in ways that allow audiences of all ages to see patterns and relationships inherent in nature and the cosmos. Through performance that incorporates a wide range of disciplines including dance, interactive video, cirque nouveau, and sculpture, Capacitor personalizes large, abstract concepts and in doing so, transcends cultural barriers and widens the scope of basic human experience. We believe that by educating ourselves and cooperating, we create more original performance work that encourages creative problem solving and brings audiences closer to themselves. Informed by the spirit of scientific inquiry, Capacitor uses a laboratory-style process, which features artists in working collaboration with the world’s leading scientists, to develop its performances.
VISION
Capacitor was formed to support the vision of Artistic Director Jodi Lomask in collaboration with some of the world's leading scientists and artists. Born out of the collision of cultural influences found only in the San Francisco Bay Area, Capacitor aims to be the embodiment of smart design, creative science, discreet technology, wild nature, and honest expression. We aspire to unprecedented excellence rooted in inquiry, collaboration, and the integration of body and mind.
APPROACH
From the movement of the human diaphragm to the story of evolution, from the behavior of electricity to genetic manipulation, from the birth of the moon to the cycles of digestion - natural and synthetic processes form the basis for Capacitor’s study of performance. Obsessed with the mechanics of the human body as well as machines that propel the body through space, Capacitor artists have become masters of rigging systems, coutures of wearable sculpture, and engineers of large-scale props designed to stretch the limits of physical poetry.
PREVIOUS ACTIVITIES
Capacitor’s past works have tackled the creation of the universe (Within Outer Spaces, 2001); the past and the future of mankind (future species, 2000); video gaming (Avatars, 2002-03); the forest ecosystem (biome, 2007), flower reproduction (The Perfect Flower, 2009), and the ocean (Okeanos, 2012). The company performs extensively, delivering extended runs in New York's HERE Mainstage and the American Theatre of Actors, San Francisco's Herbst Pavillion, Cowell Theater, Project Artaud Theater, the Exploratorium, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Union Square, San Francisco Gay Pride Festival, and SomArts Gallery, and at Burning Man. Capacitor has been commissioned to create original works for the TED 2009 Conference, the California Academy of Sciences, SFO, and the Salvadorian Gymnastics Team. In addition, artistic director Jodi Lomask’s contemplative use of dance, technology, and science has won her invitations to speak at the Monaco Dance Forum, the Ecological Society of America, the American Physical Society, City University New York, Dance USA’s 20/20 Vision Series, TEDxBerkeley, BLUEMiND Summit, and the Bay Area Science Festival.
Touring is an integral part of Capacitor’s effort to bring its innovative approach to art making to as wide an audience as possible. Nationally, Capacitor has been presented at the TED Conference 2009, the Krannert Center at University of Illinois, the Performing Arts Center at SUNY Purchase, Louisville's Brown Theater, the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, FL, University of Maine, University of Virginia, NASA, the Palms in Las Vegas, 314 Project in Chicago, Albuquerque’s VSA North Fourth Art Center, among others. Internationally, Capacitor has performed in Malaysia for ReVolvolution, Canada for the Festival for International Dance Artists, Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival, and twice in San Salvador as guests of the American Embassy.