Paul Herwig has been creating projection art for events, public art projects, and performing arts productions for the past six years, although he has been working for over 40 years as a professional visual and performing artist. Along with working in events, Paul is also the founding Co-Artistic Director/Manager of Off-Leash Area, a dance and theater company creating original interdisciplinary performance work, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA, winner of the local Ivey Awards and Sage Award, and is now in its 25th year. Paul is a graduate of the Ecole Jacques Lecoq (1981-1983), a famous professional theater conservatory in Paris, France. He has performed lead and ensemble roles in original productions, and has designed and built sets for over 40 local productions.
Paul has received many awards, including a McKnight Theater Fellowship, 7 MN State Arts Board individual artist grants, a Jerome Travel grant, and many others. His set designs an performances have been listed in the Minneapolis press’ Best of the Year lists eighteen times since 2002. In 2019, Paul was chosen among a group of US designers to exhibit at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance and Design.
Recently, Paul presented Rising from the Ruins, a projection performance within the stunning architecture and walls of the Mill City Museum Ruin Courtyard, in the open air and under the stars. Rising from the Ruins is an epic and imaginative story-journey, told through visuals and live music. Rising from the Ruins is an allegory that sets off from the banks of the Owamniyomni (St Anthony Falls), and travels down the rivers of time, history, and space to trace the resilience, recovery, and renewal of all who are affected by its power and fragility.