Untitled (Elephant) 

Untitled (Elephant) continues the collaboration between Every house has a door and Finland-based artist Essi Kausalainen in response to Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals, with an emphasis on endangerment. Director/choreographer Lin Hixson oversees Elise Cowin, Matthew Goulish, Nakiyah Jordan, and Bryan San-er performing movement and text in response to the elephant’s communal mind, enacting mourning in the wild. The title, from a Barbara Rossi drawing, connotes a subject that exceeds description. A constructed elephant form encloses a piano for live accompaniment layered over electronic noise composition. This work en-counters the elephant as entity and concept.

*This project is partially supported by a CityArts grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.

Artist Bio

Lin Hixson co-founded Every house has a door in 2008, the Chicago-based performance company that she directs. She has received awards from the United States Artists, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and Chicago Dancemakers Forum. From 2023 to 2025, Every house has a door presented four works from Carnival of the Animals, the multiyear collaboration with Finnish textile artist Essi Kausalainen: Royal March of the Lion, January 2025, Constellation, Chicago; Broken Aquarium, September 2024, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; The Fossil Record, October 2023, Link’s Hall, Chicago and Turku Biennale, Turku, Finland. Learn more everyhousehasadoor.org