In the Bag

They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Case in point: plastic grocery bags, banned by San Francisco last year from city grocery stores. That historic move may reduce plastic waste in landfills, but thousands of dog owners mourn the loss of their discreet Safeway bags. While this exact contradiction may not have been on the mind of Sarah Sass while creating her plastic-bag–inspired Transparent, it serves her point. Depending on the lens through which you view it, the same object can embody menace, utility, even beauty — as Sass sets out to prove by setting five electric fans to a stageful of the flimsy buggers.

Indeed, contradiction doesn’t seem to pose a problem for Sass and cohort Sean McMahon, whose lineup for the Peck Peck Dance Ensemble Sixth Annual Home Season boasts a number of them. McMahon’s solo Lone, for instance, set to music by Argentine bandoneónist Astor Piazzolla and performed by virtuoso dancer Tara Fagan, shares the bill with Who’s there?, a new work replete with knock-knock jokes, fruit, and a soundtrack by Space Ghosts Musical Barbeque. Guest artists from Huckabay McAllister Dance also contribute.
Fri., July 11, 8 p.m., 2008