Sarah Cameron Sunde
{{Short description|Artist in New York}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}}
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| name = Sarah Cameron Sunde
| image = Sarah Cameron Sunde at World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2023.png
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| nationality = American
| occupation = Artist
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Sarah Cameron Sunde is an American, New York based interdisciplinary environmental artist.{{Cite web |title=Sarah Cameron Sunde {{!}} Environmental and Time-based Artist and Director |url=https://www.sarahcameronsunde.com/ |access-date=2022-12-29 |language=en-US}} For the first 10 year of her career (1999-2010), she identified primarily as a theater maker and director, and was known internationally as the American-English translator and director of Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse's works.{{Cite web |date=2020-08-19 |title=Sarah Cameron Sunde – About The Artist |url=https://wp.nyu.edu/gallatingalleries/scs-about/ |access-date=2022-12-28 |website=The Gallatin Galleries |language=en-US}} Though she continued theater making/directing through 2017, In 2010, her work shifted primarily to that of a time-based visual artist working at the intersection of public, performance, and video art, which she continues today. At this intersection, Sunde works site-specifically with duration and scale to examine the human relationship to deep time, the more-than-human world, and the environment.
Her most notable work to date is 36.5 / A Durational Performance with the Sea, a public, video, and performance artwork made in collaboration with water and communities across the world.{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Nicole |date=2019-03-30 |title=Sarah Cameron Sunde's Immersive Performances |url=http://hyperallergic.com/490544/sarah-cameron-sundes-immersive-performances/ |access-date=2022-12-28 |website=Hyperallergic |language=en-US}} 36.5 was made over nine years and across six continents (2013-2022).{{Cite web |title=36.5 {{!}} about |url=https://www.36pt5.org/about/ |access-date=2022-12-28 |language=en-US}} The durational video work created from these performances will continue to be worked with, explored, and exhibited through the foreseeable future.
Career
= 36.5 / A Durational Performance With the Sea =
While visiting Maine in 2013, Sunde conceived a performance piece where she would stand at the edge of a body of water from low tide to low tide, allowing the water to rise from her feet, engulf her body, then fall back down again as a metaphor for sea level rise on a human being.{{Cite news |title=This artist gets up to her neck in water to spread awareness of climate change |language=en |work=NPR.org |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/09/09/1121514947/this-artist-gets-up-to-her-neck-in-water-to-spread-awareness-of-climate-change |access-date=2022-09-14}} Each of the nine iterations are made up of three main components: A physical, live performance, a livestreamed performance, and a timelapse and durational video work created from each performance.
Between 2013 and 2022 she staged nine performances on six different continents (Maine, Mexico, San Francisco, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, Brazil, Kenya, Aotearoa-New Zealand).{{Cite web |title=36.5 {{!}} performance |url=https://www.36pt5.org/performance/ |access-date=2022-09-14 |language=en-US}} Locations were chosen based on how affected they have been by sea level rise. The performances were a reaction to Hurricane Sandy, and the final performance occurred on September 14, 2022 in the New York Estuary in New York City (Astoria, Queens){{Cite web |last=Misdary |first=Rosemary |date=2022-09-14 |title=To confront rising sea levels, an NYC artist invites you to stand in the East River for 12 hours |url=https://gothamist.com/ |access-date=2022-09-14 |website=Gothamist |language=en}} At each location she invites community members to join her in the performance as well as in "environmental initiatives".
Notable partners and exhibitions of the work include: the Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA (2020), Gallatin Galleries, New York, NY (2020), Te Uru Gallery, Aotearoa-NZ (2020), Fort Jesus Museum and Cheche Gallery, Mombasa and Nairobi, Kenya (2019), Museu de Arte Moderna, MUSAS, Salvador, Brazil (2019), Britto Arts Space, Dhaka, Bangladesh (2017), and De Appel, and Oude Kerk, Netherlands (2015).
= Works on Water =
In 2017, Sunde instigated and co-founded Works on Water,{{Cite web |title=Works on Water |url=http://www.worksonwater.org}} a nonprofit, triennial, and experimental cultural organization that supports a community of artists working on, in, and with bodies of water. Works on Water's goal is to create a space for visual artists, theater-makers, scientists, and urban planners to collaborate across sectors and think in multidisciplinary ways about water.{{Cite journal |last=Sunde |first=Sarah Cameron |date=2018-01-01 |title=Environmental Art for the 21st Century |url=https://www.academia.edu/38438235 |journal=Works on Water Inaugural Triennial Catalogue}}
= Theatrical work: directing, translating, producing =
From 2004-2014, Sunde directed and translated US debut productions{{Cite web |last=Barker |first=Jeremy M. |date=2012-11-01 |title=Hard Moments Crashing |url=https://www.americantheatre.org/2012/11/01/hard-moments-crashing/ |access-date=2023-10-06 |website=American Theatre |language=en-US}} of the work of 2023 Literature Nobel Prize Laureate{{Cite news |last=Marshall |first=Alex |last2=Alter |first2=Alexandra |date=2023-10-05 |title=Jon Fosse, Norwegian Author, Receives the Nobel Prize in Literature |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/05/books/jon-fosse-nobel-prize-literature.html |access-date=2023-10-06 |issn=0362-4331}} Norwegian poet and playwright, Jon Fosse.
In 2004, Sunde translated and directed Fosse's Night Sings Its Songs{{Cite news |last=Gates |first=Anita |date=2004-06-17 |title=Theater in Review; A Man, a Woman and a Baby, Locked in a Northern Nightmare |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/17/theater/theater-in-review-a-man-a-woman-and-a-baby-locked-in-a-northern-nightmare.html |access-date=2023-10-06 |issn=0362-4331}} at the Culture Project in New York City, and the following year she directed The Asphalt Kiss by Nelson Rodrigues at the Off-Broadway 59E59 Theaters.{{cite web |last=Jones |first=Kenneth |date=7 October 2005 |title=NYC Premiere of Asphalt Kiss Among Celebration of Works by Brazil's Nelson Rodrigues, Oct. 7 - Playbill.com |url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/95534-NYC-Premiere-of-Asphalt-Kiss-Among-Celebration-of-Works-by-Brazils-Nelson-Rodrigues-Oct-7 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020142943/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/95534-NYC-Premiere-of-Asphalt-Kiss-Among-Celebration-of-Works-by-Brazils-Nelson-Rodrigues-Oct-7 |archivedate=20 October 2012 |accessdate=29 March 2011 |work=Playbill}} She directed her translation of Fosse's deathvariations{{Cite news |last=Gates |first=Anita |date=2006-08-21 |title=Young Suicide in the Eyes of Norwegian Playwrights Old and New, Ibsen and Non-Ibsen |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/21/theater/reviews/young-suicide-in-the-eyes-of-norwegian-playwrights-old-and.html |access-date=2023-10-06 |issn=0362-4331}} in 2006 and SaKaLa{{Cite web |last=Willis |first=Paul |date=2008-09-12 |title=As Few Words as Possible Sarah Cameron Sunde on Jon Fosse |url=https://brooklynrail.org/2008/09/theater/as-few-words-as-possible |access-date=2023-10-06 |website=The Brooklyn Rail |language=en-US}} in 2008.{{Cite web |last=Varley |first=Eddie |title=Photos: Oslo Elsewhere Premieres 'Sa Ka La' |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-off-broadway/article/Photo-Flash-Oslo-Elsewhere-Premieres-Sa-Ka-La-20080815 |access-date=2022-12-28 |website=BroadwayWorld.com |language=en}} In 2009, she directed the world premiere of Jessica Dickey's The Amish Project and at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater.{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Timmy |date=June 2009 |title=Talking Amish: Jessica Dickey and Sarah Cameron Sunde with Tommy Smith |url=http://brooklynrail.org/2009/06/theater/talking-amish-jessica-dickey-and-sarah-cameron-sunde-with-tommy-smith |journal=The Brooklyn Rail}} In 2010, Sunde co-directed the world premiere of Marielle Heller's The Diary of a Teenage Girl at 3LD Art & Technology Center.{{Cite web |date=2022-05-20 |title=The Diary of a Teenage Girl - New Georges |url=https://newgeorges.org/the-record-list/the-diary-of-a-teenage-girl/ |access-date=2022-12-29 |website=New Georges - Theater Company |language=en}} She directed her translations of Fosse's A Summer Day{{Cite news |last=Brantley |first=Ben |date=2012-10-26 |title=Tides Come and Go, but She Won't |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/theater/reviews/a-summer-day-starring-karen-allen.html |access-date=2023-10-07 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |last=Blank |first=Matthew |date= |title=Photo Call: A Summer Day, Starring Karen Allen, Opens Off-Broadway |url=https://playbill.com/article/photo-call-a-summer-day-starring-karen-allen-opens-off-broadway-com-199151 |access-date= |website=Playbill}} at the Cherry Lane Theatre in 2012 and Dream of Autumn{{Cite web |last=Pilecki |first=Michelle |title=Quantum Theatre's Dream of Autumn |url=https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/quantum-theatres-dream-of-autumn/Content?oid=1637759 |access-date=2022-12-29 |website=Pittsburgh City Paper |language=en}} at Quantum Theater in Pittsburgh in 2013.
Sunde is a co-founder of both Oslo Elsewhere{{Cite web |title=Oslo Elsewhere / Our Team |url=https://osloelsewhere.org/Our-Team.html |access-date=2022-12-28 |website=osloelsewhere.org}} and the Translation Think Tank.{{Cite web |title=Sarah Cameron Sunde |url=https://wordswithoutborders.org/contributors/view/sarah-cameron-sunde/ |access-date=2022-12-28 |website=Words Without Borders |language=en}} She also served as the Deputy Artistic Director of New Georges from 2001-2017.
Awards
- Guggenheim Fellow (2021){{Cite web |title=Sarah Cameron Sunde |url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/sarah-cameron-sunde/ |access-date=2022-12-28 |website=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation |language=en-US}}
- MAP Fund (2021,{{Cite web |date=2021-04-30 |title=2021 MAP Fund Grantees |url=https://mapfund.org/2021-map-fund-grantees/ |access-date=2022-12-28 |website=MAP Fund |language=en-US}} 2019){{Cite web |date=2019-06-18 |title=2019 Grantees |url=https://mapfund.org/2019-map-fund-grantees/ |access-date=2022-12-28 |website=MAP Fund |language=en-US}}
- New York State Council on the Arts (2021)
- Robert & Gloria Hausman Theater Award, Princess Grace Fellowship in Directing (2005){{Cite web |title=Award Winners |url=http://grants.pgfusa.org/award-winners/view/Sarah-Sunde |access-date=2022-12-28 |website=grants.pgfusa.org}}
- Artist Award, American Scandinavian Society (2005){{Cite web |title=Sarah Cameron Sunde |url=https://americanscandinavian.org/sarah-cameron-sunde/ |access-date=2022-12-28 |website=americanscandinavian.org |language=en}}
References
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Category:American women artists
Category:Climate change artists
Category:American interdisciplinary artists
Category:Environmental artists
Category:American video artists
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:American theatre directors
Category:American women theatre directors
Category:UCLA Film School alumni
Category:Artists from New York City
Category:Translators from Norwegian