Odyssey Works is an interdisciplinary performance collective founded by Abraham Burickson and Matthew Purdon in San Francisco in 2001. The group, composed of artists practicing in various disciplines (writers, composers, designers, actors, performance artists etc.), creates 24hr performances for just one person. The group creates 24-36hr performances for one person audiences. According to the New York Times, "Odyssey Works tends to invite all manner of glancing comparisons: artists like Vito Acconci, Marina Abramović and Aaron Landsman; the interactive

Punchdrunk Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head. The encephalopathy symptoms can include behavioral problems, mood problems, and problems with thinking. The disease often gets worse ...

play “ Sleep No More”; the notion of relational aesthetics; and the largely European trend of performing theater for one person at a time." The performances, which are site specific and highly participatory, are part of the relational aesthetics movement in performance and art and find their roots in the

situationist The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...

movement of the 1960s and the work of such directors as

Jerzy Grotowski Jerzy Marian Grotowski (; 11 August 1933 – 14 January 1999) was a Polish theatre director and theorist whose innovative approaches to acting, training and theatrical production have significantly influenced theatre today. He is considered one ...

and

Peter Brook Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Shak ...

. A book about Odyssey Works' ouvre will be published in the Fall of 2016 by

Princeton Architectural Press Princeton Architectural Press (now PA Press) is a division of Chronicle Books. Founded by Kevin Lippert in 1981 in Princeton, NJ, PA Press has been a leading publisher of books on architecture, design, and visual culture for over forty years, ...

Odyssey Works is currently directed by Abraham Burickson.

References

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External links

WebsiteOdyssey Works Produces Weekend-Long Theater for an Audience of One
(News article, Artinfo Blogs)

(News article, San Francisco Bay Guardian, via the internet archive wayback machine)
The Movable Feast Wants to Blow Some Minds
(News article, Austinist, via the internet archive wayback machine)
"The Midden of Possibility", 2011 documentary about Odyssey Works, trailer
American artist groups and collectives Arts organizations established in 2001 2001 establishments in the United States