ARTISTIC STATEMENT
Troika Ranch is the collaborative vision of artists Mark Coniglio and Dawn Stoppiello. Established in 1994, and maintaining a troika of home bases in Portland, Oregon, New York City and Berlin, Germany, Troika Ranch produces live performances, interactive installations, and digital films, all of which combine traditional aspects of these forms with advanced technologies. The artists’ mission in producing this wide range of art experiences is to create artwork that best reflects and engages contemporary society.
The name Troika Ranch refers to Coniglio and Stoppiello’s creative methodology, which involves a hybrid of three artistic disciplines, dance/theater/media (the Troika), in cooperative interaction (the Ranch). This method preceded the organization Troika Ranch, which was formed as a means to support the artists’ engagement in this process. During the 1990’s, Coniglio, Stoppiello and their company Troika Ranch were among the pioneers in the field that came to be known as Dance and Technology. They performed in festivals and venues internationally and were greatly sought after as guest artists, teachers, and lecturers. In response to the desire in the international arts community to understand this emerging genre, Coniglio and Stoppiello began developing educational programs. Among their public outreach activities are workshops, lectures, online and traditional publications, websites, software and hardware. Having conceptualized and invented much of the technology, equipment, and techniques currently in use, their expertise is unprecedented. The educational programs Troika Ranch provides have become a significant part of their contribution to the arts.
As the use of technology in the arts has developed and integrated over the last decade, the need for the separate moniker Dance and Technology has dissolved. Troika Ranch’s present concerns correspondingly reflect this broader scope, expanding across genres and pioneering new frontiers. As innovators and visionaries, Coniglio and Stoppiello produce art that values live interaction – between viewer and viewed, performer and image, movement and sound, people and technology. It is time-based but typically includes an element of spontaneity, in that the events and images that unfold lie within a certain range but are not exactly replicable. As authors, they establish images, direct performances, determine time frames, and devise technologies. The works may be presented as performances, installations, or in portable formats. In sum, Troika Ranch engages in creative endeavors using all that contemporary invention has to offer.
The company has received major funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the MAP fund and the Arts Council England as well as from the Brooklyn Arts Council, New Your State Council on the Arts, Meet the Composer and Art/NY’s Nancy Quinn Fund. The company tours nationally and internationally with recent performances at L'abbey Royaumont (France), the Laban Centre London (UK), the Forum Neues Musictheater (Germany), ISEA/ZeroOne Festival (CA) and 3LD Art & Technology Center (NYC).