Today is a historical marker for the New York City based performance art venue, Grace Exhibition Space [NYC] as it celebrates 15 years of performance actions, happenings, lectures, workshops, festivals and so much more. Grace Exhibition space has focused primarily on contemporary performance art over its 15 year tenure but it has also provided a Space for experimental theatre and unconventional dance. Performance art luminaries such as Martha Wilson, Ron Athey, Linda Mary Montano and La Pocha Nostra have performed at Grace along with an incredibly diverse array of international and emerging artists. Co-Directors Jill McDermid and "Hoke" Hokanson have devoted their lives to not only creating space for performance art to happen but they have also cultivated a community. Even throughout the dreaded pandemic they continued presenting performance from artists across the world. Notably last spring nearly 100 artists contributed live, virtual performances from across 11 different countries. WILD & ALIVE opens today as a kick-off to their 15th year anniversary program. The exhibition will feature artifacts of past performances from both their Brooklyn and Lower East Side (NYC) locations. Expect an eclectic array of energized objects, piercingly captivating images and raw, hand held video documentation. The true essence of Grace and performance art as it has evolved in New York City will be on view and this is a must see. The exhibition is scheduled to continue through May 2022 with ongoing performance programming interspersed throughout the fall and spring seasons Visit the exhibition: Friday, September 17th 2021 9pm EST Grace Exhibition Space 182 Avenue C, New York, NY 10009 DONATE to help keep the space alive. The pandemic has made it extraordinarily challenging for performance spaces and Grace needs financial support now more than ever. A BRIEF HISTORY OF GRACEOpened in 2006 by friends and performance artists Jill McDermid and Melissa Lockwood, Grace Exhibition Space is devoted exclusively to Performance Art. We offer an opportunity to experience visceral and challenging works by the current generation of international performance artists whether emerging, mid-career or established. Our events are presented on the floor, not on a stage, dissolving the boundary between artist and viewer. This is how performance art is meant to be experienced and our mission is the glorification of performance art.
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Grace Exhibition Space Directors, Erik "Hoke" Hokanson and Jill McDermid-Hokanson | photo by Miao Jiaxin Grace Exhibition Space launched the Great American Performance Art Festival (GAPAF) in February 2015. The festival runs thru June 2015 and is the long-term vision of Jill McDermid-Hokanson, (chief curator, director and co-founder of Grace Exhibition Space). Thus far the festival has offered performance workshops, lectures and of course- live performances from both local and international artists.
I was astonished to receive an invitation announcing live performances by seminal performance artists, Linda Mary Montano and Martha Wilson in conjunction with GAPAF. Both Montano and Wilson have presented performances around the world since the 1970's. They shared the roster with both seasoned and new performance art practitioners. As the evening grew closer, the artist roster grew. Ultimately, I witnessed nearly 5 hours of performance art from 9 performers! The following day Preach R. Sun led a street action as a continuation of the festival. Overall the programming was truly inspiring. After a weekend of viewing historic performances, I was reminded of the incredible significance and influence of the curator. The Great American Performance Art Festival is a wonderful example of artists curating artists. It provides an audience and space for performance art- a medium that scarcely receives funding. Of course, GAPAF is not the only festival of its kind (thank goodness!). Rapid Pulse in Chicago is currently in its final days of an equally compelling group of performers and events. For this week's post, Jill McDermid-Hokanson provides further insight into curating performance art in America. All too often the efforts of curators are overlooked, so I am pleased to share our conversation with you. Enjoy! -Quinn |
CONTRIBUTORSIan Deleón Archives
July 2023
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