Jen DeNike
born 1971 in Norwalklives and works in New York
Jen DeNike places individuals in artificially staged social situations as a means of investigating the myriad ways in which we are socially conditioned. She does not work with professional actors, instead discovering her subjects in everyday locations and situations. Trained as a photographer, DeNike’s videos are short continuous loops that focus on a single action or a series of singular actions.
Her new project Scrying is a non-narrative performance ballet, choreographed by DeNike and a professional choreographer trained in ballet. Inspired by Balanchine’s neo-classical stylistic structure emphasizing repetitive patterns and movements; Scrying translates the iconic ballerina image into an original contemporary score performed with Prima Ballerinas in traditional Tutu’s. All three acts of the ballet will happen simultaneously in the architecture of the museum space, but within sight of each other.