TOLEDO – When Toledo Ballet Director and Choreographer Michael Lang first experienced "Anything Can
Break" by Thai conceptual artist Pinaree Sanpitak, he was so profoundly moved that he asked the
Toledo Museum of Art if he could create an interactive dance piece for the work of art.
Visitors can see the resulting piece, "All Are One," when it is performed by Toledo Ballet
dancers Jan. 2 at 2 and 4 p.m. Friday, beneath Sanpitak’s overhead installation in the rear of the
Museum’s Canaday Gallery.
Immediately following the dance there will be a question and answer session with Lang and The Toledo
Ballet dancers. Seating is limited.
The free performances are part of the Museum’s annual Great Art Escape, which features a variety of
cultural events and activities for visitors of all ages.
The Great Art Escape was expanded this year to be part of downtown Winterfest, which runs Friday through
Jan. 4 and is organized by the Toledo Walleye and ProMedica.
"Anything Can Break," which was recently seen at the Biennale of Sydney in Australia, is part
of TMA’s special exhibition "Insight: Contemporary Sensory Works."
Origami cubes hang from a ceiling grid dotted with "cloud" shapes and lit with fiber optics.
Motion sensors trigger a variety of sounds in response to the movement of people below.
"I love how movement of the viewer is the final element that allows Sanpitak’s work to reach its
fullest potential," said Lang. "The work is beautifully impressive as a visual alone; but, it
is not until one becomes physically part of the artwork that it comes to life.
"Because of the way various people will enter it from different angles, with different timing,
different dynamics… it is a lot like dance in that the artwork will never be the exact same twice.
"What I love about works like Sanpitak’s," he said, "is that everyone experiences them
differently."
