Out of Place

Lake Anne Village Center, VA, 2012

Out of Place is a site-situated installation and contemporary dance performance, inspired by the sculpture, architecture and history of the unique planned community of Reston, Virginia. The installation consisted of cast resin floats which mimicked the character of the cast concrete architecture by day and glowed at night. A network of ropes and pulleys that in turn were attached to the harbor’s edges connected these frames. A duet featuring Mansur and longtime collaborator, Daniel Burkholder that activated the plaza was inspired by pedestrian movements and spatial conditions such as framing, section changes, and the play of horizontal and vertical observed on site. The pair drew the floats across the harbor by pulling on their tensile lines and contrasting this motion with the use of a rope to demonstrate their spatial relationship to one another and to break the horizontal surface of the water. Community members gathered along the water’s edge to participate in the event.

Partners: Sharon Mansur, Dance Artist; Michael Fisher, Design Assistant; Daniel Burkholder + Sharon Mansur, Performers; Zachary Z. Handler + Jeff Gipson, Photography. Support: The Initiative for Public Art-Reston, Reston Community Center, Reston Museum and Friends of Lake Anne, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the University of Maryland