The project brings local history to life with dance, cinema and storytelling
Behind the boarded-up and huge rooms of a factory hall, human stories emerge: connections between friends and lovers, the old country and a new opportunity and disappointment.
Bridgman|Packer Dance’s “Ghost Factory” will bring these stories to life during the 2024 Projection Arts Festival on Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. The film, which will be performed at the Forum Theater at 236 Washington St. in Binghamton, combines experimental light projection, video and a live performance by Bridgman|Packer Dance based on local narratives from Johnson City’s history.
The indoor performance is accompanied by the installation Places with hidden stories in the reception hall of the Forum, created in collaboration with Binghamton University’s Environmental Studies, Cinema, and Anthropology programs and the Center for Civic Engagement.
This is the first time that Ghost Factory, which premiered in Scottsdale, Arizona, in June 2021, will be performed in the region that inspired its creation. In 2018, Guggenheim Fellows Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer performed their work at TRUCK in the parking lot of the Firehouse Stage in Johnson City; as the name suggests, the performance takes place in a vehicle.
“That’s when we saw these huge, abandoned factories and started asking questions,” Packer said. “We were curious about the history behind all these things, and that was the seed of Ghost Factory.”
The two worked on the piece throughout the pandemic, interviewing around 30 people from the village whose voices are part of the soundtrack. They also received permission to film in the factories for the video projection portion of the performance.
Local histories are fragmented and distilled in the stage work that Packer and Bridgman perform in and between projected images.
“It’s almost like a dream sequence, as if these voices are coming from the walls of these former factories,” Packer said. “In the installation, the stories are more linear and more like an oral tradition.”
Local stories
Binghamton undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty members completed the accompanying installation, which was part of environmental studies and cinema courses last spring. Each station in the exhibit features a projector with a looping video that plays excerpts from oral histories along with images.
In an environmental studies course called “Ruins: Abandoned, Remembered,” research assistant professor David Mixter encourages students to think about the ways people engage with the past through the surrounding landscape. His class interviewed nine other Johnson City residents for Places with hidden stories; Afterwards, graduate students from the course of Tomonari Nishikawa, associate professor of cinema, filmed additional locations throughout the village to accompany the interviews.
“Some of them were still children at the time and talked about what it was like to live in the factories as a child. Others talked about working in the factories, gender relations in the factories and the social context,” Mixter said. “Some of the students were very fond of the people they interviewed and developed relationships that lasted beyond the classroom.”
Residents also spoke of other places, such as a public swimming pool from long ago, the Goodwill Theater in its heyday and former bars. The 20- and 30-year-olds remembered a different Johnson City in the throes of an economic crisis, when abandoned factories came to life as illegal party places for teenagers. There are other voices too, like Imam Anas Shaikh, who spoke at the local mosque about his community and the growing Muslim population.
Katharine Stirber, an environmental science student, interviewed longtime village resident Corinna Johnson, whose home was built by the Endicott-Johnson Corporation. In fact, her basement cabinets are made from old EJ crates, a unique piece of local history, Stirber said. Johnson is deeply committed to volunteering, loves her hometown and reminisced about people she once knew and the simple joys of childhood.
“From hanging out at the bus stop under a neighbor’s apple tree to exploring abandoned buildings for boy band performances, her stories brought Johnson City’s past to life,” Stirber said. “She also shared her thoughts on the conversion of local schools into housing and the current problems of the real estate market in a city with a shrinking population.”
Stirber and her project partner were deeply moved; they sat in silence for a long time while Johnson spoke. The history of a place plays an important role in creating community bonds and creating a sense of belonging, Stirber learned.
Before taking Mixter’s class, Stirber had only visited the village once or twice. Now she wishes she had spent more time there, learning more about the history and people and enjoying the diverse shops.
“There’s this one cafe that stays open later during exam week, which is perfect if you’re studying late or just need a change of pace,” she said. “Exploring Johnson City can be a great way to relax, grab a delicious coffee, or find unique things you can’t get at big chain stores. Plus, supporting these local businesses helps keep the city vibrant and thriving.”
Packer was moved by the intergenerational bonds that were formed over the course of the project, she said. Ultimately, what matters is that people’s lives touch and are touched by other people’s lives.
“Our mission in creating this project was to amplify these individual human stories rather than presenting a general history of Endicott-Johnson or Johnson City,” Packer said. “In a metaphorical sense, the voices of the people who spent a lot of time there live within those walls. In the stage work, we evoke those stories, those lives and those voices.”
About Ghost Factory
Ghost Factory will be performed on the Forum stage on September 7th at 7pm. The installation Places with hidden stories is open to the public on 6 and 7 September from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in the Forum’s reception hall.
Admission to the installation is free. Tickets for Ghost Factory are $5 and can be purchased at the door the night of the event or online at this link.
The event is co-presented by LUMA, Binghamton University, and American Dance Asylum. In addition to choreography and performance by Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer, the creative team includes filmmaker Peter Bobrow, lighting designer Frank DenDanto III, and composer/sound designer Ansel Bobrow.
The creation of Ghost Factory was made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, a National Dance Project Finalist Grant Award, commission support from the American Dance Asylum and the New England Foundation for the Arts, with additional funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Support during production also came from Firehouse Stage and Spool Contemporary Art Space.
The university’s sponsors include the Center for Civic Engagement, the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH), the Harpur College of Arts and Sciences, the School of the Arts, Binghamton 2 Degrees, the departments of Anthropology, Art History, Cinema, Environmental Studies, History, Sociology, and Theater.
Known for his stunning combination of live performance and videography, Bridgman|Packer has received 12 grants from the National Endowment of the Arts and many other awards and has toured throughout the United States, Asia, Europe, Central America and the Middle East.
