SUMMARY
agent mT was Co-Founder and Creative Director of The Ransom Corp. Collective, 1998 to 2002, producing over sixty events and performances involving hundreds of artists and thousands of attendees (often in visceral participation) in NYC, the US and abroad including two European tours. agent mT also performed and served as Master of Ceremonies. Homage to the Corp!
SYNOPSIS BELOW:
NOTE: The documentation here in this “site within a site” is an edited, slightly expanded adaption of and serves as a backup for www.ransomcorp.org a site originally developed circa 2007 as an archive. Thanks to zemi17 for maintaining that site.
SYNOPSIS
The Ransom Corp. embraced inner and outer risk. We sought to scramble and unscramble the senses, to explore spatial and perceptual possibilities in order to give birth to new and sometimes very ancient experiences. We cultivated personal and collective mythologies to enable and inspire understanding and transformation within our species and our brother and sister organisms.
The Ransom Corp., 1997 to 2003, was a dynamic, flexible collective of artists based in New York City who collaborated on experimental dance and theater pieces, site-specific multimedia happenings, large scale performances, and guerilla actions while sponsoring a diverse range of events and projects in various media.
Brothers Geoff and Aaron Taylor Kuffner founded the RC and co-led with dancer/filmmaker Kathi Von Koerber Kaesha KvK. Performances featured video installation, interactive musical instruments, butoh-inspired dance, aerial performance and audience immersion in service to emergent ritual. The Ransom Corp toured Europe several times in the 2000s staging productions at various scales in both conventional performance spaces as well as public spaces, derelict buildings and in nature.
Upon return from the SKY PLOTS European Tour in late 2000, the RC founded 23 Windows in Bushwick, Brooklyn on the 4th floor of an old Brewery. This served as RC headquarters for artist residencies, performances and further experiements through 2003. Following the RC, 23 Windows continued among collaborators (for many years stewarded by Dok of Amoeba Technology and Plan 23) as an underground venue and active studio through 2018. The Ransom Corp returned to Europe in 2002 for a residency at Schloss Brollin, Brollin Germany to develop a new show, Fractal Seed, that would eventually anchor The Resonant Wave Festival at Kultur Im Spannwerk (K.I.S.) Berlin.
The Ransom Corp’s main organizers and many members continue to work in artistic, cultural and spiritual veins. Many continue to collaborate on a wide breadth of projects. Through their present endeavors, the spirit, ideals, and experiences they shared persist and evolve.
