THE RITE OF SPRING BREAK, 2022
At the historic Evans School in downtown Denver, 1115 Acoma Street
Thursday, March 17 - Sunday, March 20, 2022 | Nightly from 7pm - 9:30pm-ish
Artists: Bar-Ess, Jeremy Billauer, Alex Branch, Ben Coleman, Trey Duvall, Brendan Fernandes, Adler Guerrier, Sarai Levinson, Cherish Marquez, Maggie Mather, Scott McKinney, Kevin Mercer, Sharifa Moore, Ethan Omo, Oliver Pietsch, Austin Slominski, Emilie Trice, Derrick Velasquez, Joshua Ware, Eren Yazzie, Jullian Young
The Rite of Spring Break is a group exhibition at the historic Evans School that combines site-specific installations with emergent digital practices—including interactive video projections and projection mapping, audio interventions, and augmented reality.
The exhibition’s title is a reference to Stravinsky’s famous ballet, The Rite of Spring, which ushered in a new era of modernism when it debuted in Paris in 1913. Considered sacrilege at the time, the ballet was so avant-garde that it incited a literal riot and forty people were arrested on opening night. The infamous score is an early example of dissonance and is considered by many iconic musicians and scholars as “the most important piece of music of the 20th century.” The premise for the ballet was a pagan ritual in which “a sacrificial virgin dances herself to death.”
Spring Break — i.e. the week every March when university students typically engage in epic debauchery — is also a pagan-like ritual, updated for the 21st century, while still worshipping the gods of excess, intoxication, and sexuality. Since the exhibition venue itself was originally a school, the theme of spring break is also a nod to the historical building itself.
Spring is also the season, of course, of rebirth. The Rite of Spring Break will interweave these themes in a weekend-long celebration that pays homage to — as Stravinsky said — “the mystery and the great surge of the creative power of spring.”
Special thanks to our exhibition partners: Redline and City Street Investors.
