About Sara

Baltimore City

Sara Dittrich is an interdisciplinary sculpture artist who builds introspective experiences that shift perspective from passive seeing to active looking, from passive hearing to active listening. Using musical thinking, Dittrich illuminates the dynamic and unconscious rhythms of the body and environments. The work is simultaneously gestural and architectonic: gestural in that it evokes the body’s expression in physical movement; architectonic, in that it occurs in a built… more

Arrhythmia of the Body

Arrhythmia of the Body is a series of twenty photographs documenting the artist's movements in a photographer’s studio while wearing a pair of absurdly large prosthetic hands and feet carefully crafted from papier-mâché and foam.

The clumsy and unwieldy prosthetics are designed to disrupt Dittrich's everyday movements in order to no longer take them for granted. Heightening the sense of these limbs and phalanges makes one not only care more for their body and its needs, but also their surrounding environment.

"We are only conscious of most of our rhythms when we begin to suffer from some irregularity." 
—Henri Lefebvre, Rhythmanalysis 


  • Arrhythmia of the Body
    Arrhythmia of the Body
    20 Digital C-prints / 8” x 10” in. each / 2015.
  • Arrhythmia of the Body #16
    Arrhythmia of the Body #16
    Digital C-print / 8"x10”in. / 2015.
  • Arrhythmia of the Body #4
    Arrhythmia of the Body #4
    Digital C-print / 8"x10”in. / 2015.
  • Arrhythmia of the Body #6
    Arrhythmia of the Body #6
    Digital C-print / 8"x10”in. / 2015.
  • Arrhythmia of the Body #10
    Arrhythmia of the Body #10
    Digital C-print / 8"x10”in. / 2015.
  • Arrhythmia of the Body #7
    Arrhythmia of the Body #7
    Digital C-print / 8"x10”in. / 2015.

Trio for Solo Contrabass

Trio for Solo Contrabass is a life-sized video projection that depicts two musicians and the artist working together to play a single pitch on the contrabass indefinitely using a two-meter long bow. The extended bow unifies the bodies into one being. In this video, multiple points of tension (hair of the bow, strings of the contrabass, muscles of the performers) precisely come together to create a meditative sound experience.

The continuous motion of the performers and unending sound creates a space to "just be" and feel present in the space. The work creates a moment for reflection on the communication and collaboration of the three bodies.

Projected life-size HD video (approx. 8’ x 15’ ft.) with 2-channel sound
Duration: loops indefinitely
  • Trio for Solo Contrabass (Excerpt)
    Projected life-size HD video (approx. 8’x16’ft) with surround sound / seamlessly loops indefinitely / 2013.

Score for Room

Score for Room is an experimental music notation installation that transforms the gallery into a participatory performance and composition studio. The entire floor, patterned to look like enlarged sheet music, accumulates the wears and tears of everyday rhythms. As visitors walk through the gallery, the sound of their footsteps are picked up by hidden floor sensors (contact mics) and emitted from an amplifier, producing a sonic architectural landscape. Over time, visitors’ footprints will mark and soil the paper, leaving a written record. Near the end of the installation, a musician is invited to translate the score underfoot into an audible composition as a live improvised performance.

This multimedia work recalls a range of historical precedents, from Allan Kaprow’s happenings and Alvin Lucier’s sound works, to the notational experiments of such Czech artists as Jan Sagl and Vladimir Havlik. Drawing on these contexts, Score for Room further investigates communal aspects of music creation, and aims to give a renewed awareness of the body to the viewer.
  • Installation view at beginning of exhibition
    Installation view at beginning of exhibition
    White and black construction paper, contact mics, wire, amplifier, the accumulation of dust, dirt and movements over a 5 week period while installed in an office/gallery space / 41’ x 34’ ft. / 2017.
  • Installation View
    Installation View
    White and black construction paper, contact mics, wire, amplifier, the accumulation of dust, dirt and movements over a 5 week period while installed in an office/gallery space / 41’ x 34’ ft. / 2017.
  • Installation View
    Installation View
    White and black construction paper, contact mics, wire, amplifier, the accumulation of dust, dirt and movements over a 5 week period while installed in an office/gallery space / 41’ x 34’ ft. / 2017.
  • View into the gallery
    View into the gallery
    White and black construction paper, contact mics, wire, amplifier, the accumulation of dust, dirt and movements over a 5 week period while installed in an office/gallery space / 41’ x 34’ ft. / 2017.
  • Musician Benjamin Buchanan performing at closing reception
    Musician Benjamin Buchanan performing at closing reception
    White and black construction paper, contact mics, wire, amplifier, the accumulation of dust, dirt and movements over a 5 week period while installed in an office/gallery space / 41’ x 34’ ft. / 2017.
  • Room Schematic
    Room Schematic
    White and black construction paper, contact mics, wire, amplifier, the accumulation of dust, dirt and movements over a 5 week period while installed in an office/gallery space / 41’ x 34’ ft. / 2017.

Going/Staying

Going/Staying is a performance/installation that uses long range bluetooth technology to send signals from pressure sensors in the artist’s shoes to a kick drum when the artist is within a 1 mile range of the drum. This technology enables an immediate real-time connection with no delay between the artist’s footsteps and the drum beating. The drum “plays” recorded data when the artist is not present.

The work investigates the unconscious everyday rhythm of walking. This awareness makes one more conscious of where they are and where they are going, and creates a new awareness and appreciation of these unconscious movements.

“He listens—and first to his body; he learns rhythm from it, in order consequently to appreciate external rhythms. His body serves him as a metronome.” — Henri Lefebvre, Rhythmanalysis 
  • Going/Staying
    "Going/Staying" is a performance/installation that uses long range bluetooth technology to send signals from pressure sensors in the artist’s shoes to a kick drum when the artist is within a 1 mile range of the drum. This technology enables an immediate real-time connection between the artist’s footsteps and the drum beating. The drum “plays” recorded data when artist is not present. / Duration variable / 2015-2017.

Physical Arrangement for String Quartet

In Physical Arrangement for String Quartet, musicians perform a new composition created by Benjamin Buchanan while placed in strenuous/precarious positions throughout the designated space. Using custom fabricated furniture, a cellist plays from a 9 ft. tall chair, a violist lays on their back on a bench, and two violinists lay against the floor.

The music composition employs contemporary and experimental genres, as well as cinematic qualities. Buchanan also enacts a plethora of extended techniques, which are unconventional or non-traditional methods of playing musical instruments used to obtain unusual sounds or timbres.

The composition and choreography amplifies each musician’s body in space and in relation to one another while providing a playful and meditative atmosphere where the norms of musical traditions are defied in an absurd fashion. Over time, the musicians learn to adapt and collaborate from their new postures.

Physical Arrangement of String Quartet was performed as part of the collaborative exhibition Symphony of Gestures, created by Dittrich and Buchanan at the Urban Institute of Contemporary Art within the context of ArtPrize, an international art competition based in Grand Rapids, MI that attracts over 500,000 visitors in a three week period. Symphony of Gestures was an ArtPrize Seven Public Vote Top 5 Finalist in the Time-based category.

Full duration: approx. 10 min.

*Special thanks to Zachary Graft, violin; Jenna Michael, violin; Elizabeth Boyce, viola; Willis Koa, cello; and the Urban Institute For Contemporary Arts
**Footage courtesy of the More Art Upstairs documentary film and director Jody Hassett Sanchez
  • Physical Arrangement for String Quartet (Excerpts)
    A performance choreographed by the artist using 2 violinists, 1 violist, 1 cellist, custom furniture fabricated by artist, and a custom composition by composer Benjamin Buchanan / Full duration 10min. / 2015.
  • Physical Arrangement For String Quartet (Full Version)
    A recorded performance from the Urban Institute for Contemporary Art in Grand Rapids, Michigan from 2015. The custom furniture was fabricated by the artist Sara Dittrich.
  • Physical Arrangement for String Quartet
    Physical Arrangement for String Quartet
    A performance choreographed by the artist using 2 violinists, 1 violist, 1 cellist, custom furniture fabricated by artist, and a custom composition by composer Benjamin Buchanan / Full duration 10min. / 2015.
  • Willis
    Willis
    A performance choreographed by the artist using 2 violinists, 1 violist, 1 cellist, custom furniture fabricated by artist, and a custom composition by composer Benjamin Buchanan / Full duration 10min. / 2015.
  • Zach
    Zach
    A performance choreographed by the artist using 2 violinists, 1 violist, 1 cellist, custom furniture fabricated by artist, and a custom composition by composer Benjamin Buchanan / Full duration 10min. / 2015.
  • Elizabeth
    Elizabeth
    A performance choreographed by the artist using 2 violinists, 1 violist, 1 cellist, custom furniture fabricated by artist, and a custom composition by composer Benjamin Buchanan / Full duration 10min. / 2015.
  • Jenna
    Jenna
    A performance choreographed by the artist using 2 violinists, 1 violist, 1 cellist, custom furniture fabricated by artist, and a custom composition by composer Benjamin Buchanan / Full duration 10min. / 2015.

Cadence

Cadence involves two performers both attached to a heart pulse sensor. Each sensor is connected to a motor which is attached to a drumstick. Each drumstick taps to the individual's pulse. The work brings the internal unconscious rhythm of the heartbeat to the exterior, creating a reminder of a commonality we all share. The rhythmic tension created by the patterns and irregularities of the drumming heartbeats reinforces how fragile our bodies are as well as the fragility of the relationships our bodies share with each other.

The piece can be performed in two variations. In a durational setting, such as a gallery exhibition, predetermined performers can sit with the drum for 30+ minutes at a time throughout the course of the show. Video documentation can be incorporated when performers are not present.

At an event with a set time limit, volunteers can be paired at random and instructed to sit with the drum for two minutes at a time while an audience watches the interaction of the two people’s heart beats.
  • Cadence
    Performance using heart pulse sensors, drumsticks, snare drum, and electrical components / Duration variable / 2013.
  • Installation View
    Installation View
    Installed at the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts in Farmville, VA, 2022.
  • Performance View
    Performance View
    Performance views from Maryland Art Place, 2019.

Call and Response

Call and Response is site-specific installation that is participatory and designed so that multiple people can improvise on the piece together in the same moment. An acoustic pickup amplifies the strings. 
  • Call and Response
    Call and Response
    Wire, found double bass bridge, acoustic pickup, amplifier, speaker, ladder / Dimensions variable / 2013.
  • Call and Response (Detail)
    Call and Response (Detail)
    Wire, found double bass bridge, acoustic pickup, amplifier, speaker, ladder / Dimensions variable / 2013.
  • Call and Response
    Call and Response
    Wire, found double bass bridge, acoustic pickup, amplifier, speaker, ladder / Dimensions variable / 2013.

Variations on Listening (Series)

Variations on Listening is an ongoing series of 2D mixed media works that span sculpture and drawing as a means of fielding questions about close listening. These works consist of hundreds of small, clay-molded ears, arranged in geometric patterns on wood panels. In some works, black thread becomes a device to connect the ears. The arrangements of ears implies multiple bodies listening to each other in a multitude of ways. Made through a meticulous and repetitive process using rubber push molds, these works give visual form to the labor of listening.

Crafting the ears becomes a meditative tool for reflection, renewing our awareness of the role they play in our lives.

This series of works range in size from 8x8” to 60x60” in.
  • Variations on Listening #1
    Variations on Listening #1
    Polymer clay, embroidery hoop, fabric, thread / 25" x 23" x 1.5" / 2017
  • Variations on Listening #1 (Detail)
    Variations on Listening #1 (Detail)
    Polymer clay, embroidery hoop, fabric, thread / 25" x 23" x 1.5" / 2017
  • Variations on Listening #2
    Variations on Listening #2
    Polymer clay, thread, acrylic paint on panel / 20" x 10" x 1" / 2017
  • Variations on Listening #3
    Variations on Listening #3
    Polymer clay, acrylic paint on panel / 12" x 12" x 1" / 2017
  • Variations on Listening #4
    Variations on Listening #4
    Polymer clay, thread, acrylic paint on panel / 20" x 20" x 1" / 2017
  • Variations on Listening #5
    Variations on Listening #5
    Polymer clay, acrylic paint on panel / 60" x 60" x 2" / 2017
  • Variations on Listening #5 (Detail)
    Variations on Listening #5 (Detail)
    Polymer clay, acrylic paint on panel / 60" x 60" x 2" / 2017

Grapevine

  • Grapevine
    Grapevine
    Polymer clay, acrylic paint, wire on panel / 8" x 8" x 2" in. / 2016.
  • Grapevine (Detail)
    Grapevine (Detail)
    Polymer clay, acrylic paint, wire on panel / 8" x 8" x 2" in. / 2016.

Score For Last Week

An ongoing series of participatory performances created in collaboration with Jiří Žák that asks audience members to examine how they individually interpret and experience the moving image. Each audience member receives a toy instrument with a unique rule attached to it. The rules collectively create a unique musical score for the silent selection of Youtube videos compiled by Dittrich and Žák. The compilation is sourced and edited using videos which had been uploaded to Youtube the week prior to the performance. A collective interpretation of the compilation is made audible through the sounding of the audience's instruments.
  • Segment from Score For Last Week (3/14/15)
    Audience participatory performance using toy instruments, compiled YouTube video clips, written instructions / Duration variable / 2014-Ongoing.
  • Score For Last Week (3/14/15)
    Score For Last Week (3/14/15)
    Room set up at the Bemis Center in Omaha, NE for "Score For Last Week (3/14/15)"
  • Score For Last Week (3/14/15)
    Score For Last Week (3/14/15)
    Toys used in "Score For Last Week (3/14/15)"
  • Score For Last Week (11/15/14)
    Score For Last Week (11/15/14)
    Room set up at Karlin Studios in Prague, CZ for "Score For Last Week (11/15/14)"
  • Score For Last Week (11/15/14)
    Score For Last Week (11/15/14)
    Example of toy with attached written rule for "Score For Last Week (11/15/14)"