Animalia is a multi-media inter-species fairytale inspired by the performative behavior of animals and insects. Through aerial movement, projection and live music on accordion, upright bass & singing saw, the work invokes visions of human & animal interrelations, secret bee societies and haunted circus scenes. Exploring metaphors of flight in response to times of violence & war, this narrative travels through a sequence of dystopic tableaux. When the performer falls under the spell of a deer, she at last escapes her humanity and becomes an antlered deer creature. Appropriating the masculine power symbol of the buck rack and reinserting it onto a feminine character, the performance blurs the division between masculine/feminine identity and human/animal forms. Albany Times Union video

32 goose feathers were stitched into my skin over the course of 7 days. Performances lasted 2.5 hours, occurring once or twice a day. The final performance occurred in a tree, located in front of the house. Set within an installation of art, sound and video responding to the military history of the island, visions of violence and flight filled two stories of this family home on Colonels Row. Open birdcages exhibited throughout the house echoed the military prisons once located on this now public island. Recorded names of women and children from cemetary records resonated through the bedrooms, along with other recorded texts.

Curated by the Robert Wilson Watermill Center as part of the New Island Festival, Governors Island, NYC. Sept. 2009.

For additional photos-video please see "Installation" page: http://carolynrydercooley.org/installation.html & visit photographer Tod Seelie's work: http://todseelie.com/rydergovernorsisland/index.html

outdoor site-specific aerial performances, created during a residency at Yaddo, 2009

Interactive musical improvisation series, 2006-2009

musical collaboration between Todd Chandler and Ryder Cooley. Recordings available as CD's and iTunes downloads via http://www.myspace.com/fallharbor

Shadows, stilts, recorded audio, video and live music. Collaborative performance with Sara E. Worden, presented at the Sanctuary for Independent Media (Roots Nests & Limbs event), Troy NY March 2007

Three hour musical performances occured within video-sound installation environments. Hudson Opera House. Hudson, NY. December 2006 & 2007.

Trapeze performance and bridge installation created during an Artist Residency at Contemporary Artist Center, North Adams, MA August 2006.

Musical collaboration with dancer & writer Anah-K, 1996-2003, San Francisco CA.

For more information and recordings please visit Out of Round Records