Eclipsed Bodies is a theatrically devised work for improvised cello, violin, and electronics by the intergenerational duo of Caroline Jesalva and Katinka Kleijn. Drawing from post-structuralist theories on female identity, Eclipsed Bodies explores resisting stereotypical representations of the ‘feminine physique’ through unorthodox performance and parodic identities.

About the Duo:

Jesalva and Kleijn have carved out a shared practice that continuously morphs their beings, bodies, presents, and pasts—both as women and as string players—into a mix of heavy instrumentalism, conceptual theater, and experimental sound worlds. Seemingly tethered to their instruments as extended creative limbs, both welcome and loaded, they clearly consider their entire selves as the source of their creative practice.

An intergenerational collaboration based in Chicago, Jesalva/Kleijn will present Eclipsed Bodies at the International Museum of Surgical Science on March 14 and 16, 2025. The piece is a devised interdisciplinary work that explores post-structuralist theories on female identity and (dis)embodiment in female sexuality and gender.

–

Caroline Jesalva is a performing artist, curator, and violinist-vocalist who traverses between the worlds of improvisation, devised theatre and experimental sound. Her musical universe is a vivid collage of Dadaist absurdity, theatrical whimsy, raw songwriting, ecstatic glossolalia, and the unbridled energy of free improvisation. An adventurous spirit at heart, she thrives on sharing music in unexpected places and forging electrifying collaborations across disciplines. From composers to puppeteers, rappers to visual artists, she weaves a tapestry of creative synergy. Her current projects include the genre-bending bands Banana Acid, Blind Glass, and Joygarden, as well as Music in the Garden, a vibrant Chicago festival uniting improvisers and visual artists in kaleidoscopic collaboration.

–

Hailed by The New York Times as “a player of formidable expressive gifts,” Katinka Kleijn enjoys a genre-defying, interdisciplinary career. Classically trained, she has cultivated an exploratory practice at the intersection of improvisation, composition, and collaboration. Much of Kleijn’s work illuminates the cello’s anthropomorphic qualities, often by placing the instrument in thought-provoking new contexts. Her collaborations with the performance art duo Industry of the Ordinary resulted in the widely publicized Intelligence in the Human-Machine, a duet between Kleijn’s cello and her own brain waves which Time magazine called “a balancing act for Kleijn’s whole body.” Kleijn presents many of her conceptual projects as co-constructions with the performer(s) or audience, as in her situation-based composition Forward Echo, for 11 improvisers (2019), performed at Big Ears Festival by Ensemble Dal Niente. A member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and International Contemporary Ensemble, she presented solo projects at North Carolina Performing Arts, the Library of Congress, and the Chicago Humanities Festival. She recorded for the SONY Japan, Cedille Records and Drag City labels.

Official Website

More events on this date

Tags: Caroline Jesalva, Chicago, Eclipsed Bodies, International Museum of Surgical Science, Katinka Kleijn, Near North Side