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Lars Jan '00 Presents Multimedia Performance at Sundance Film Festival

Lars Jan '00 Presents Performance
Art Project at Sundance Film Festival

by Alisa Giardinelli
1/20/12

Lars Jan ['00]'s ABACUS
"At heart, all of our efforts are intended to spark conversation about the complex and pressing issues that face America right now," says director, designer, and media artist Lars Jan '00. "This is the kind of art I believe in, and what I think our society needs more of from its artists."

Lars Jan '00 will present his multimedia piece ABACUS, an official selection of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah, this weekend. Jan has worked for three years on ABACUS,  which he describes as "a visually immersive, genre-bending presentation exploring the future of national borders and how contemporary persuasion works."

The piece features "some hi-tech wizardry, remarkable visuals, musical compositions and performances," he adds, "but at heart, all of our efforts are intended to spark conversation about the complex and pressing issues that face America right now. This is the kind of art I believe in, and what I think our society needs more of from its artists."

In addition to Jan, the ABACUS production team includes Blaine O'Neill '11, whose credited role is "online and public choreographer," Wilson Kello '98 as "anchor in the field," and production assistant Jesse Marshall '11.

Jan is the founding artistic director of Early Morning Opera, a multidisciplinary art lab based in Los Angeles that specializes in live performance. After Swarthmore, he completed his MFA in directing and integrated media at CalArts with the support of a Jack Kent Cooke Fellowship. He is the recipient of the 2008 Sherwood Award, granted by Center Theatre Group to an innovative theatre artist in Los Angeles. Last spring, he returned to Swarthmore as a guest artist to direct the Theater Department's Production Ensemble.