The performance will involve dancers wearing Cave's silver-colored Soundsuits while interacting with objects designed by Studio Gang as a part of the setting. Fabricating a changeable stage that could be used for other performance groups, Gang was inspired by the idea of a clearing for traditional dances, deciding to define the space through designed objects, instead of treating the stage as an object in itself.

Since the pier extends 3,300 feet into the lake, buoys began to figure into Gang’s thinking. “Buoys move back and forth but they are on water; how do you do that in the land?” That led to the physics of self-balancing objects. The objects needed be soft, friendly, large-scale, and to fall down but not stay down. “Everything has an impact on the movement,” said Gang. “The visual impact of it, and the height, and the weight—it is all a balance.”

The collaborative artwork of Cave and Gang is a part of Here Hear Chicago, a performance series which opens on the pier during the fair Expo Chicago’s vernissage on September 13, then moving to an outdoor location on Saturday as part of the programming for the Chicago Architecture Biennial (opening September 16).