SOMArts Cultural Center presents The Book, a multidimensional, multimedia installation and the the first Commons Curatorial Residency of the 2011-2012 season.  The Book, an installation-performance based in experimental non-theater dance that allows the viewer to freely move within the work and willingly participate during, before, after and between performances, addresses the investigative process of a meditation on the inner world of the artist and the artist’s relationship with a rational society and a technological age.

In The Book artists and audience members allow their personal stories to enter the performance space, creating a collective public diary. The Book is a kaleidoscope of sketches, snippets of thought, debris of feelings, traces of movement, and echoes of sounds that were once heard.

Each performance is a random page from The Book, and each invites a different guest artist to enter the structure, created by Avy K and collaborators, in order to destroy it and give it new life. Guest artists include: Jesse Hewit, Philip Huang, Jeffrey Alphonsus Mooney, PC Muñoz, Tommy Shepherd, Carol Swann, and Ken Ueno with Matt Ingalls, along with Avk K collaborators/performers: Aleksey Bochkovsky, Daniel Bear Davis, Sean Feit, Izmail Galin, Kristen Greco, Grundik Kasyansky, Kristina Kirshner, Vitali Kononov, Lucas Krech, Rob Kunkle, Mihyun Lee, Justin Morrison, Daisy Phillips, Vadim Puyandaev, Erika Tsimbrovsky, Ronja Ver, Andrew Ward, Paul Clipson, Andrew Way and Elena Zhukova.

The Book and Avy K Productions is one of four recipients of a 2011-12 Commons Curatorial Residency at SOMArts. Selected artists and curators receive funding support and access to one of the largest and most beautiful gallery spaces in the heart of the city in order to expand their practice, engage the Bay Area’s many cultural communities, and turn vision into reality. Avy K Productions was awarded the SOMArts Commons Curatorial Residency for July, 2011.