Charles Atlas was born
in St. Louis, Missouri in 1958. Atlas is a filmmaker and video artist
who has created numerous works for stage, screen, museum, and television.
Atlas is a pioneer in the development of media-dance, a
genre
in which original
performance
work is created directly for the camera. Atlas worked as filmmaker-in-residence
with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for ten years. Many of the
Atlas’s works have been
collaborations
with choreographers, dancers, and performers, including Yvonne Rainer,
Michael Clark, Douglas Dunn, Marina Abramovic, Diamanda Galas, John
Kelly, and Leigh Bowery. “Television Dance Atlas”—the
artist’s critically acclaimed prime-time event on Dutch television—was
a four-hour montage of original and found footage incorporating
dance styles as varied as ballet, burlesque, and figure skating.
Atlas also creates video
installation
works. “The Hanged One”—a work inspired by symbolism
from the Tarot and foot-fetish
culture—incorporated
numerous video elements as well as rotoscopes, motorized mannequins,
and theatrical lighting. Atlas is the recipient of three Bessie
(New York Dance and Performance) Awards. His feature-length film
“Merce Cunningham: A Lifetime of Dance” won the Best Documentary
Award at Dance Screen 2000 in Monaco. His work has been shown at
international institutions including the Whitney Museum of American
Art; the Museum of Modern Art; Musée National d’Art
Moderne, Centre Geoerges Pompidou, Paris; the Institute of Contemporary
Arts, London; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and the
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Atlas acted as Consulting Director
for Art21 (Seasons 2-4), creating the original Program Opens
for each hour-long segment of Season 2, as well as supervising the “Stories,” “Loss & Desire,” “Memory,” “Play,” “Protest,” and “Paradox” episodes. Charles Atlas lives and works in New York
City and Paris.
For additional biographic & bibliographic information:
Participant Inc., New York | Electronic Arts Intermix, New York
Charles Atlas on the Art21 blog
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