Christa Dijstelbergen is a native of Chicago, Illinois where she worked with Chicago's Red Moon Theatre, a street theater troupe employing large scale puppets. She has also worked as a costume designer. She is, along with collaborator John Weiler, among the ten founding members of the Upstate Artists Guild, and the pair form the nucleus of crasis d:zyne.
Christa and John have worked together as crasis d:zyne since 2004. The pair has created installations, smaller assemblages, stage sets/production designs, giant puppets, and have coordinated avant garde environments/events.
The work -- intuitive, improvisational and collaborative -- emerges from the egoless concord of creative minds just as the mingling components of the blood pumps life through the unified systems of the body. It is continuous, yet ephemeral: combining and recombining elements from past installations with new materials as the character of the space and fancy dictates. The ideal goal is not merely traditional presentation in the subject/object paradigm, or even a dialogue between same, but rather total immersion in which observer is both participant and component of the work.
Christa and John chose to work under a common name, like a band, because of the flexibility such an arrangement allows. Just as a band can bring in additional musicians, Christa and John can call on other artists and craftspeople to bring their skills into play for specific projects under the crasis d:zyne rubric. Video artist Jason Cosco and caterer Goutam Rajput have been members of the extended crasis family since the beginning. More recent collaborators include glass-blower Scott Pernika and metal-worker Joanne Agopovich.
For more on crasis d:zyne, please see John Weiler's page.
Art 4 Central
Art 4 Central, July 2004,
"not the moon" installation/event
Danse Macabre
Art 4 Central, October 2004,
"Danse Macabre" installation/event
Community Arts United Show
The Mansion, Engleman Ter. March 2005,
"Ascension" three story installlation
1st Anual Memebrs Show
Art 4 Central, July 2005,
? Borealis ? plastics, water, sunlight
The Institute Show
the Albany Institute of History and Art, 9/15/05,
"Stranger Within Silence" installation w/video
UAG's First Night installation project.
Palace Theatre Albany, 12/31/05,
"Col. Gustav and Lady Annabella", giant puppets
Dead of Winter
the UAG Gallery, 2/06,
"re-fract" light, plastics, miror
Jack and the Beanstalk
Confetti Stage,
puppets of the Giant and his Wife
Illuminations
UAG Gallery, 3/06,
"Parc Boreal" instalation with light and tree, "H2 Ohm" light, plastic, miror, water
B.Sides art show
Scarlet East Recording Studio, Albany,
"The Narthex", room size installation with video
Fashion Rock fashion show
Lark Tavern,
stage design with video
Trashion
Revolution Hall, October 2006,
stage design
e' ko-logic Fashion Show
Marvin Neitzel Building, 12/7/06,
stage design
Site Warning:
Your web browser may not display our pages properly.
We recommend using Firefox or Safari for viewing this site.
For more information please see our Site Requirements.