Geneva Foster Gluck

Geometry of the West 

In the shadow of power

geometries formed

and the future stalked

prismatic, iridescent and teeth exposed.

Geometry of the West is an attempt to deconstruct and decolonize the “western,” starting with an object - a box, a traveling set and story collector. In 2019 the box traveled through souther Arizona, sometimes pulled by animals, other-times arriving in pieces and assembled by hand to collect stories of the “Future West” as told by the people who live in it. From these stories I used design and scenographic narratives to create an intimate and nomadic “Wild West Show” in which female performers use reenactment, survival skills and embodied imaginations to explore the tension between modernity/coloniality. The intention of this work was that it would continue to develop as it traced the space between the American West and the Mexican North, but alas it got no further than Arizona.

Original Sound Score: Gabe Sullivan of XIXA 

Original Cast: Serena Tang, Natalie Brewster Nguyen, Geneva Foster Gluck

Direction, Set Design, Costumes, Choreography, Video: Geneva Foster Gluck

Development support from The Circus Space and a Lab:time Award. 2014, London, UK; Tucson Pima Arts Council New Work Grant; Arizona Commission of the Arts, 2015. Produced by Sugar Beast Circus.

http://azarts.gov/news/geneva-foster-gluck-geometry-of-the-west/