Aura

Aura is an immersive multimedia work exploring the cycles of the natural and human worlds. Across four 12-minute movements—jungle, desert, mountain, and ocean—the piece synthesizes seasons, lunar phases, time of day, four elements, and the arc of human life. Using sound, video, and movement defined by the texture and color of fabric, Aura translates these ecosystems into a sensory experience that transcends language. This performance invites the audience to inhabit ephemeral moods, fostering a deep sense of wonder and interconnectedness through the sculptural manipulation of light, sound, and form.

Push Up Something Hidden

Agnes Szelag and Amy Lewis have been collaborating on multimedia pieces since 2015.  Ona, created for Soundwave ((7)) Biennial Architecture, included sound by Agnes Szelag, lighting design by Agnes Szelag and Norman Teale, and movement by Amy Lewis. This work was followed by 16 Electras, a site-specific piece with sound and movement created for SFIAF.  ANIMA, created in 2019, wove together sound, movement, and video design by Szelag and Omri Glaser.  What’s Done Is Done (2021), consisted of site-specific dance and movement. Both Szelag and Lewis hold MFA’s from Mills College, the former in music and the latter in dance.

Artist Biographies

Amy Lewis

Amy Lewis is a choreographer and dancer. Lewis' work has been supported by dance festivals, choreographic programs, residencies, and commissions, including Women’s Work, West Wave Dance Festival, DUMBO Dance Festival, San Francisco International Arts Festival, SwapFest, ODC’s Pilot Program, Mills Dance Alumni Association, Meridian Gallery, The Garage, SAFEhouse Arts, SPF9, Shawl-Anderson’s Youth Ensemble, 8x8x8, SPACE 124, Djerassi Resident Artists Program, and RAWdance’s CONCEPT series.  Lewis thrives on collaboration and interaction with other Bay Area artists.  Lewis’ belief–that it takes a great number of artists making and supporting work to move the field forward–drives the creation of certain projects that have at their core an interest in collective impact.  Supporting other Bay Area choreographers is one of Lewis’ commitments to the field of dance; therefore, Lewis has served on the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards committee (2018-2019) and assisted in curating West Wave Dance Festival 26, a three-program festival presenting twenty dance artists and musicians.
Lewis holds a BA in theater from UCLA, an MFA in dance from Mills College, and an MLIS from San Jose State University.

Agnes Szelag

Agnes Szelag is a Polish-American sound artist, designer and performer. Agnes works with sound, light/video, and movement. She oscillates between or combines her visual and sound tendencies and produces experimental work that challenges our perception of how our bodies relate to space, time, symbols and the natural world. She is interested in the intersection of composition and improvisation, immersion and performance, and the material and immaterial.
She has performed and toured nationally and internationally and been a featured artist at the Electronic Music Midwest Festival, San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, Soundwave Festival, Audio Art Festival, Cologne Online Festival and Streaming Festival. She has performed or installed work at de Young Museum, Theater Artaud, Artists Television Access, CCA, The Stone NY, the Lab SF and many more. Agnes has received support from the Fulbright Research Grant, the Black Rock Arts Foundation, and the Subito Composers Grant.
Agnes earned her B.S. from Northwestern University in Radio/TV/Film and her M.F.A in Electronic Music from Mills College. In 2011 Agnes received a Fulbright grant to research performance and technology in art and music in Krakow, Poland where she was born.