Megan and Murray McMillan have been collaborating since 2002. They make interdisciplinary projects that incorporate video, installation, performance and photography. They often start their process by building large sets in their studio or on location. That set then becomes the stage for video and photographs with choreographed actors who activate the set in a filmed performance.
The artists have applied Harpo Foundation funding toward the development of a large-scale site-specific video installation that will debut in “Next Stop Wonderland,” an exhibition opening at MassMoCA in 2015. The piece will consist of a video filmed on-site in a coal bin at the Power Plant building on MassMoCA’s campus and reconstructed elements of the original set.
For the film, nine wooden boulders, each the size of a compact car, were craned into a five-story coal bin and connected to pulley and crank systems that were operated by performers. The camera followed a lead performer’s choreographed ride on one of the boulders to a docked tea house constructed onsite in the coal bin to a ladder that takes her to the top of the structure seven stories above ground. More details about the project found here.