Theorem began in 2017, when visual artist Antonia Contro and poet Elizabeth Bradfield decided to collaborate. Together, they created a visual, tactile, and lyric experience in book form.
In 2019, Candor Arts published a fine art edition of Theorem that is held by Harvard University, the Menil Collection, and elsewhere. In 2020, Poetry Northwest Editions published a trade edition.
In 2019, Candor Arts published a fine art edition of Theorem that is held by Harvard University, the Menil Collection, and elsewhere. In 2020, Poetry Northwest Editions published a trade edition.
"a radiant example of how we do not go to art for information or even knowledge, but to rock back on our heels before something fully itself, something real and full of wonder, despite its careful elisions of detail."
—Hannah VanderHart, EcoTheo Review, November 2020
Now the Theorem Collective is working to bring this unique expression into a performative space with violin, recordings, and animation in a designed environment.
Meet the Collective
Art Director
Andrew Boyce is a Chicago- and New York-based designer working in Theatre, Opera, and Film/TV. His New York credits include Lincoln Center Theater, New York Theater Workshop, Roundabout Theater Company, Atlantic Theater Company, Primary Stages, Rattlestick Theater Company, Play Company, Playwrights Realm and others. Chicago credits include Goodman Theater, Steppenwolf, Writers, Northlight, Court Theater and Victory Gardens. Andrew is a member of the design collective Wingspace, is a graduate of Yale School of Drama and is currently an Assistant Professor in the Northwestern University Theater Department. andrewboycedesign.com
Writer & Storykeeper
Elizabeth Bradfield is the author of Once Removed, Approaching Ice, Interpretive Work, and Toward Antarctica, and she is co-editor of Broadsided Press: Fifteen Years of Poetic / Artistic Collaboration, 2005 - 2020. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, Kenyon Review, Poetry, The Atlantic Monthly, and she is the recipient of the Audre Lorde Prize, a Stegner Fellowship, and other honors. Editor-in-chief of Broadsided Press, she works as a naturalist/guide and teaches creative writing at Brandeis University. ebradfield.com
Composer
The music of composer Eliza Brown, described as “delicate, haunting, [and] introspective” by Symphony Magazine, has been performed around the world by leading new music ensembles, including Ensemble Dal Niente, International Contemporary Ensemble, Spektral Quartet, Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, and ensemble rechêrche. Eliza’s work is frequently intertextual, interdisciplinary, and marked by collaborations that distribute creative agency and authorship. Eliza is currently Assistant Professor of Music at DePauw University. elizabrown.net
Artist
Antonia Contro is a visual artist whose work ranges from discrete objects to site-specific installations and collaborative projects that engage artists and practitioners from a variety of disciplines. Exhibitions include Tempus Fugit at the American Philosophical Society Museum; Ex Libris at Chicago Cultural Center; Field Guide at Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum; Closed/Open at Chicago’s Newberry Library; and Descry at the Museum of Contemporary Photography. Her work is in the Art Institute of Chicago, Hammer Museum, Harvard Art Museums, Menil Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, and others.
antoniacontro.com
Sound Artist
Daniel DeHaan is a designer, creator, and enabler of sound with over 10 years of experience crafting immersive sonic environments and realizing projects that leverage their medium’s creative potential to create impactful and memorable experiences. I am a detail-oriented and highly-organized professional who is comfortable working in both collaborative and self-directed environments. www.danielrdehaan.com
Performer
Violinist Clara Lyon is an accomplished performer and curator whose practice seeks meaningful connections across sonic languages and societal contexts to build spaces that foster investigation, emotion and imagination. For the last seven seasons Lyon has been a violinist and Director of Programming with the Chicago-based Spektral Quartet, during which time they were nominated for three GRAMMY awards and named 2017 ‘Chicagoans of the Year’ by the Chicago Tribune. She is a prizewinner of the Irving M. Klein International Competition and the Schadt International Competition, and her curatorial work received special recognition as a recipient of the 2020 Music Academy of the West Enterprise Award. Her recordings can be heard on the New Focus, Sono Luminus, Nimbus, and Sideband labels.
Animator
Joseph E. Merideth is an animator and educator who has been a fixture in Chicago’s animation community for 25 years. He has worked as a story artist and character animator for commercials, television, video games, and feature films including Boxtrolls, and upcoming Netflix projects Green Eggs and Ham and Klaus. Joseph’s animated short, Stubble Trouble, was nominated for Best Animated Short at the 74th Annual Academy Awards. He has also collaborated on several video and installation projects with other Chicago-based artists including Field Guide with Antonia Contro for the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.
Andrew Boyce is a Chicago- and New York-based designer working in Theatre, Opera, and Film/TV. His New York credits include Lincoln Center Theater, New York Theater Workshop, Roundabout Theater Company, Atlantic Theater Company, Primary Stages, Rattlestick Theater Company, Play Company, Playwrights Realm and others. Chicago credits include Goodman Theater, Steppenwolf, Writers, Northlight, Court Theater and Victory Gardens. Andrew is a member of the design collective Wingspace, is a graduate of Yale School of Drama and is currently an Assistant Professor in the Northwestern University Theater Department. andrewboycedesign.com
Writer & Storykeeper
Elizabeth Bradfield is the author of Once Removed, Approaching Ice, Interpretive Work, and Toward Antarctica, and she is co-editor of Broadsided Press: Fifteen Years of Poetic / Artistic Collaboration, 2005 - 2020. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, Kenyon Review, Poetry, The Atlantic Monthly, and she is the recipient of the Audre Lorde Prize, a Stegner Fellowship, and other honors. Editor-in-chief of Broadsided Press, she works as a naturalist/guide and teaches creative writing at Brandeis University. ebradfield.com
Composer
The music of composer Eliza Brown, described as “delicate, haunting, [and] introspective” by Symphony Magazine, has been performed around the world by leading new music ensembles, including Ensemble Dal Niente, International Contemporary Ensemble, Spektral Quartet, Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, and ensemble rechêrche. Eliza’s work is frequently intertextual, interdisciplinary, and marked by collaborations that distribute creative agency and authorship. Eliza is currently Assistant Professor of Music at DePauw University. elizabrown.net
Artist
Antonia Contro is a visual artist whose work ranges from discrete objects to site-specific installations and collaborative projects that engage artists and practitioners from a variety of disciplines. Exhibitions include Tempus Fugit at the American Philosophical Society Museum; Ex Libris at Chicago Cultural Center; Field Guide at Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum; Closed/Open at Chicago’s Newberry Library; and Descry at the Museum of Contemporary Photography. Her work is in the Art Institute of Chicago, Hammer Museum, Harvard Art Museums, Menil Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, and others.
antoniacontro.com
Sound Artist
Daniel DeHaan is a designer, creator, and enabler of sound with over 10 years of experience crafting immersive sonic environments and realizing projects that leverage their medium’s creative potential to create impactful and memorable experiences. I am a detail-oriented and highly-organized professional who is comfortable working in both collaborative and self-directed environments. www.danielrdehaan.com
Performer
Violinist Clara Lyon is an accomplished performer and curator whose practice seeks meaningful connections across sonic languages and societal contexts to build spaces that foster investigation, emotion and imagination. For the last seven seasons Lyon has been a violinist and Director of Programming with the Chicago-based Spektral Quartet, during which time they were nominated for three GRAMMY awards and named 2017 ‘Chicagoans of the Year’ by the Chicago Tribune. She is a prizewinner of the Irving M. Klein International Competition and the Schadt International Competition, and her curatorial work received special recognition as a recipient of the 2020 Music Academy of the West Enterprise Award. Her recordings can be heard on the New Focus, Sono Luminus, Nimbus, and Sideband labels.
Animator
Joseph E. Merideth is an animator and educator who has been a fixture in Chicago’s animation community for 25 years. He has worked as a story artist and character animator for commercials, television, video games, and feature films including Boxtrolls, and upcoming Netflix projects Green Eggs and Ham and Klaus. Joseph’s animated short, Stubble Trouble, was nominated for Best Animated Short at the 74th Annual Academy Awards. He has also collaborated on several video and installation projects with other Chicago-based artists including Field Guide with Antonia Contro for the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.