Jonah Bokaer

In residence
April 19 - April 22, 2018
September 09, 2018 - September 26, 2018

Jonah Bokaer will be conducting a series of visits to our foundation for research, collaboration and inspiration. While here, Jonah will be working with members of the Jacksonville Dance Theater on the creation of a new work, conduct intensive workshops with college students at Florida State College, maintain an annex with his solo studio practice in graphic arts - with plans for an exhibition - while become a member of the community and our foundation. These joint practices will fuse together, for a work called "Did I Remember" with Long Road Projects Foundation, with his company collaborators and with multiple local Jacksonville partners.

Biography
Born to Tunisian and American parents in Ithaca, NY, Jonah Bokaer is an international choreographer, media artist, and artspace developer. His work, which integrates choreography with digital media, is often the result of his cross-disciplinary collaborations with artists and architects. He is widely acknowledged as a leading voice for choreography & visual internationally, having shown work broadly in 24 of the United States, 31 nations, and spanning 4 continents.

The author of 60 original choreographies, ten videos, three motion capture works, three interactive installations, two mobile applications, and one film, Bokaer’s work been produced throughout theaters in Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, India, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Recent performances include two seasons at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival (2011-2012), the Festival d’Avignon in France, Théâtre de la Cité Internationale in Paris, a video artwork for the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, and two engagements at the BAM Next Wave Festival, for which he was commissioned for the inauguration of BAM Fisher, and later, the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House. 

Creating choreography for museum spaces since 2002, Bokaer’s work has been exhibited at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, PS1 MoMA, The New Museum, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City, as well as in The Asia Society Texas Center, Le Carré d’Art à Nîmes, IVAM Valencia, Kunsthalle St. Gallen, and MUDAM Luxembourg, among others. In 2008-2009 Bokaer became the first dance artist to be appointed a Young Leader of the French American Foundation, in acknowledgment of his successful pioneering of two permanent facilities for dance, performance, and related forms, in Brooklyn: Chez Bushwick (established in 2002), and CPR - Center for Performance Research (established 2009), both acknowledged for nurturing a new generation of choreographic output in the United States.

Upcoming works include a commission from The Joyce Theatre with Charles Renfro, Spotlight Festival in Bulgaria, and a project Frank Gehry's newly designed Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris.

Notable Awards & Prizes:
• National Theatre of Serbia / Infant Festival Prize (Serbia, 2017)
• NYU Center for Ballet & The Arts Fellowship (NYC, 2016)
• Civitella Ranieri Foundation Prize in Visual Arts (Italy, 2016)
• United States Artists Fellowship / Ford Foundation (USA, 2015)
• John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship (USA, 2015)
• National Endowment for the Arts (USA, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017)
• Prix Nouveau Talent Chorégraphie, SACD (Paris, 2011)
• Bogliasco Foundation / Jerome Robbins Fellowship, Dance (Italy, 2011)
• Crain’s NY Business “40 Under 40” (NYC, 2011)
• The Nifty Fifty, America’s Up-And-Coming Talent (NY Times, 2010)
• Rockefeller Foundation NYC Cultural Innovation Fund (NYC, 2009–2010)
• OUT Magazine (2009)
• Alumni Achievement Award, UNCSA (2009)
• Young Leader of the French American Foundation (France, 2008–2009)
• NY Dance & Performance / Bessie Award (Lighting: Aaron Copp, 2008)
• NY Dance & Performance / Bessie Special Citation (Bushwick: 2007)
• National Dance Access, Dance/USA (Mellon Foundation, 2007)
• Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative (Dance Finalist, 2007)
• Inaugural Gallery Installation Fellowship, DTW (NYC, Media Art, 2007)
• 25 To Watch, Dance Magazine (2006)
• Passing It On Award, Brooklyn Arts Exchange (Chez Bushwick, 2006)
• Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award (2005–2006)
• Joan Kirnsner Memorial Award (The New School, NYC 2005)
• Human Rights Award (Public Service, North Carolina, 2000)

Artist's Website: http://jonahbokaer.net/