TABLEAU VIVANT OF THE DELIRIUM CONSTRUCTIONS

SKYLIGHT ONE HANSON 2011

Conception + Direction:

Sarah Small

Production Design:

Paul Tate dePoo III

* Tableau Vivant of The Delirium Constructions celebrates humanity by representing a visual and sonic encyclopedia of the human condition. Part homage to the history of art, part joyous communion, part party, part radical experiment, Small’s Tableaux reveal the evolutionary process of creating art and community.

"As with looking at a painting by Bosch, the more you gaze at the panoply of human figures that Ms. Small arrays with a painterly eye over the stage space, the more you see. By the end, the ordinary — the imperfect, real human bodies in their astounding variety of shapes, colors and forms — seems like a miracle, and “Delirium” like a gift."

- New York Times

"High on the wall, a gold-tiled mosaic sparkles in the glow of chandeliers suspended from a soaring ceiling. But it can’t compete with the living mosaic below. Posed on tiered scaffolding, elbow to elbow, are 120 people of all colors, shapes and ages, most of them naked. Inside all of this, it feels churchlike. Quiet and candlelit, with the electric lights tinted purple. The risers have been swathed in white fabric, and the tiers look like a giant wedding cake. The models are curled up like napping children.

You watch this crazy, wonderful living picture and think:

It’s delirium, all right — unconstructed. There is this incredibly strong visual dynamic — your eye wanders from one drama to the next, and the subtle textures of fabric and flesh, the skin taut or loose, are like daubs and ripples of paint. But what is most moving is the absence of judgment. Everybody — every body — is given equal attention."

- Washington Post