There are a handful of cities within the U.S. that not only recognize performance art as a meaningful contribution to the contemporary art world but also financially sponsor its development. As noted in last weeks post with performance art curator and practitioner, Jill McDermid-Hokanson, there is limited funding for performance art. Limited, but not non-existent. This year The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Boston awarded 2 out of 4 James and Audrey Foster Prizes to current performance art practitioners - Vela Phelan and Sandrine Schaefer.
I have followed Vela Phelan's work for many years. His visually alluring performance rituals blend contemporary culture, technology and religious deities. Phelan has a bewildering ability to charge spaces and objects. This energy often lingers with viewers post-performance and further extends into the secular world. I am pleased to share Vela Phelan's work for our next Artist Feature. The feature focuses on Phelan's exhibition and performance series "Obscurus Fidem" is a site-specific video altar dedicated to Jesús Malverde, a folk legend elevated to the rank of sainthood by Mexican narco-traffickers currently on view at ICA Boston. Thus far, Phelan has completed six of nine live actions entitled "Obscurus Novena" in honor of Jesús Malverde. Enjoy the interview and go see the exhibition! (On view thru August 9th.) - Quinn
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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
Performance artists frequently occupy the blurred conceptual boundaries between art and life. Chun Hua Catherine Dong spoke to this nebulous territory in her Artist Feature stating "Performance has the capability to blur boundaries because it is live art that can happen at any place and any time - with or without audiences."
Weaving through the boundless art/life fusion requires tenacity and vulnerability, something distinctively present within JOHN BONAFEDE's performance works. Bonafede is a multi-disciplinary artist and curator based in New York City. For our next Artist Feature, Bonafede traces his performance art lineage extending from experimental theatre to social activism. He also discusses the compelling influences of curation and pronounced ties between athleticism and durational performance. Enjoy! - Quinn Previously featured performance artists VestAndPage embark on a month-long performance project tomorrow, May 8th 2015. The work is entitled 'Plantain'. During this ambitious work the duo plans to walk the path of war exodus that Stenke’s ancestors trekked 70 years before. The artists have prepared several explorative texts on their website which illuminate an even deeper investigation of personal narrative, memory and identity.
I was recently exposed to the work of Vivian Ezugha, a young performance artist born in Nigeria and currently residing in Cardiff, Wales. I am struck by Ezugha's arresting imagery and personal narrative. Ezugha shares further insight into her current project entitled "Because of Hair" for this week's feature.
- Quinn
Because of Hair by Vivian Ezugha -
Hair in African culture is about definition of power. Your hair is a canvas that is used to display your position in your social setting; hair no longer becomes a material that protects our heads from the sun or the cold. It becomes a power tool, an object to display rejection or conformation. Growing up in the village (in Nigeria) having no hair marked my position as a female. The divide in class became evident because of one’s hair. Village girls were bald and looked like men, while city girls wore extensions and adorned their head with beautiful jewels. They always use to say; ‘you can see the girls that come from the village by their hair or lack of it’. Moreover, hair became a form of identification. Leaving Nigeria at the age of eight to come to the UK, I was made aware of the differences in cultures by the visible dissimilarities of children in the village and the children in the UK. The first visible difference was their hair; this experience was heightened even more when I was bullied for having no hair. Additionally, when my mother was dying of cancer, hair was the first bodily factor to depict the deterioration of her body. Losing my mother became a turning point in the way I saw hair. For the first time I became aware of the fragility that is life and in with every hair that fell off my mother’s head came a realization of the value we place on hair. My mother became a different person when she lost her hair and the experience of seeing her hair fall marked a finale moment. Hair became the object of concealment in that moment, for I saw my mother without the cover that crowned her head for so many years. ‘Because of Hair; the dichotomy of culture and identity became the project that started the process of dealing with my experiences and analyzing the function of hair in society. I started the project while studying at university in Aberystwyth and have continued the process of developing the project since graduating in 2014. Through performance research and theoretical research I am creating a language that is unique to my experience but is universal in its subject matter hair. In the project I explore hair as a subject and an object of concealment. Using my memories of seeing masquerades and masks in Nigeria, I created a series of masks that function as performance objects and sculptures. Within the project I try to deconstruct my memories of Nigeria as well as my experiences as a black female in the UK. I create characters that I embody in my performances. The masks for me becomes a tool of expressing that which was hidden and my movements become somewhat of a reference to the feeling in being in the moment. I use my body to create a disturbance. I challenge the notion of the black body, the black female and I use my ancestral background to formulate a presence that neither my audience nor I can deny. The masks thus become power objects. Concealing and revealing, my face is hidden but my movements become my intentions. Performance artists are often met with the challenge of the performance art archive. What to do with the video footage and hundreds of performance stills following a live action? Do they convey the same energy as the original performance? Did the live performance meet the artist's expectation?
Ayana Evans and David Ian Griess explore these very questions in a discussion about their recent collaborative work entitled "Frying Chicken." Enjoy! -Quinn Jill McDermid has curated an ambitious schedule of performances over the next 2 months on the occasion of the Great American Performance Art Festival at Grace Exhibition Space. Don't be misled by the title- this programming presents artists from around the world.
Tomorrow, March 27th, the space presents live performances by Ivy Castellanos, Kledia Spiro, Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow, Rudi Salpietra, Fritz Donnelly and Uniska Wahala Kano. Performances commence at 9:30pm. Grace Exhibition Space, 840 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY 11206. grace-exhibition-space.com I am delighted to present Chun Hua Catherine Dong for our next Artist Feature. I was led to Dong's work through previously featured artists Preach R. Sun and Poppy Jackson. Both Sun and Jackson acknowledged Dong as inspirational to their performance practice.
Chun Hua Catherine Dong presents provocative performances that explore her personal identity as a Chinese-born female currently living and working in Canada. Chun Hua's opposing experiences as a resident in both communist and democratic nations commonly establish the framework for her performances. She also investigates the blurred boundaries between public and private and considers her body a vessel for political action. For this week's Artist Feature, Chun Hua discusses her perception toward ritual, the blur between life and performance and recalls her first performative experience. Enjoy! -Quinn Dukes
Next week NYC kicks off Armory Week. Thus far, only a few fairs have promoted performance art as a part of their programming (sigh). With the break of Fountain Art Fair from Armory Week this year, performance art viewing possibilities are noticeably lean.
I am delighted to report however that SPRING/BREAK ART SHOW will present performance art programming throughout the duration of Armory Week thanks to the curatorial selections of AKArt in an exhibition titled, Transgressive Inversions + Identities. The multi-media exhibition will feature works by 7 artists including live performances by KATYA GROKHOVSKY and UJIN LEE. I have always deemed Katya an entertaining, relevant and critical performance artist. This is a wonderful opportunity to view her live works.
According to the press release, Grokhovsky will engage with exhibition attendees during 'Slow Dance', a participatory, live, durational performance-intervention — and 'Status Update', a durational action-intervention, in which digital social media status updates are transported into physical reality via acrylic-on-canvas banners. Lee will present 'Small Rotunda' a participatory, site-specific performance during which Lee fills the exhibition space with a common household item bojagi—traditional cloths collected from Lee’s hometown of Seoul, South Korea, used for wrapping and transporting goods from time immemorial.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE Rooms 4024-4026 Katya Grokhovsky Tuesday, March 3, 5-8pm Wednesday, March 4, 5-7pm (Status Update) Thursday, March 5, 4-7pm (Slow Dance) Saturday, March 7, 4-7pm (Status Update) Sunday, March 8, 3-6pm (Slow Dance) Ujin Lee Tuesday, March 3, 1-5pm Saturday, March 7, 12-4pm
For our next Artist Feature, we present the work and words of a provocative and ambitious performance art duo, VestAndPage, Verena Stenke (DE) and Andrea Pagnes (IT). Not only does the collaborative present performances and workshops across the globe, but they also curate the Venice International Performance Art Week. I was lucky enough to meet the pair at Grace Exhibition Space in Brooklyn, NY for their MayDay workshop (2010). During the workshop, VestAndPage reconnected us (the participants) to our bodies, to our breath, our heart rhythms, our physical agility and emotional fragility. It is through these same physical and emotional connections that the pair explores their own work.
For this feature, I asked Verena and Andrea to discuss their approach toward live performance versus film, their evolution toward performance art and inspirational/influential artists - questions that I deem integral to this site. They provided wonderfully elaborate and insightful responses of which you can find in full below. I hope you enjoy - Quinn Dukes There is an exciting series of performance events scheduled for the last week of February entitled "PERFORMING FRANKLIN FURNACE" organized by a true performance art pioneer, Martha Wilson. Please find details about the event below.
head 2012, Not Ready Yet, Studio Gallery Jangva, Helsinki, Finland | Photo: Tomasz Szrama
When considering the next featured artist, I was brought back to a performance experience that gave me chills, literally. The performance was by WILLEM WILHELMUS, an artist who (like many) grapples with the title of performance artist, live artist or actionist. During the performance, Wilhelmus projected a collaborative video work while simultaneously guiding a perfectly shaped snowball across every inch of his body. The frozen object noticeably altered his body temperature and seemed to take an eternity to melt. His actions concluded shortly following the end of the video, which revealed that the snowball was carefully selected and flown by Wilhelmus from Finland to New York. The simple and poetic performance narrative has remained present with me for nearly 5 years now. Needless to say, it was a powerful gesture.
I am pleased to share the work and words of U.S. based artist and art facilitator, FAITH JOHNSON. Among many mediums, Johnson explores art and life as a performative hybrid. Her interest in building community and fostering inter-connectivity are but a few reasons that I find her work so compelling. I first witnessed Johnson perform at Lumen International Video & Performance Art Festival (2010), where she traced the outline of willing participants in a piece entitled, Collective Spirit. During that time her interactive performances explored the collective unconscious, a sentiment which undoubtedly carries through her present work. Johnson portrays her relationship with performance art through a responsive text entitled "....and yet no action is too small to be felt by the universes in their entirety." This thoughtful and inquisitive text was generously prepared for Performance Is Alive. Please find Johnson's full response below. "….AND YET NO ACTION IS TOO SMALL TO BE FELT BY THE UNIVERSES IN THEIR ENTIRETY"
- an exploration of performance art by Faith Johnson
Artist Feature & Interview with Preach R. Sun
January 1, 2015 Greetings to you on the first day of our new year! I thought it fitting to initiate the new year with the work of a U.S. based activist and performance artist. I am honored to feature PREACH R. SUN. Sun has been cultivating a path toward absolute liberation as a part of his life's mission. In this week's Artist Feature, Sun addresses his current project, ONEMAN, confronts his views on performance art and the importance of the viewer.
Quinn Dukes: Can you discuss your current project?
Preach R. Sun: My work is part of my ongoing life’s mission (and praxis) – for absolute liberation – which I call, ONEMAN: The Liberation Project. I am currently in the second phase/series of this project. The first phase/series, ONEMAN: MY-Story of the Angry Black, also referred to as the, 'Sermon Series', dealt with what I considered to be the first step towards liberation, which is the act of speaking. The 'Sermon Series' involved 3 chapters (1. The Street Speaker, 2. A-MAN? And 3. Blood-N-Brothers) and culminated into what I call a Reveal – the Reveal represents the completion of one phase and the coming of another. The Reveal for the Sermon Series was Chrysalis [CRY-SOLACE]. The current series is, ONEMAN: Fugitivism, Black Arts and Barbarian Invasions. This series deals with what I consider to be the next step in the process of liberation and that step is action. Mind you, this phase/series is also intended to serve as a type of statement and or question regarding my idea of art as a tool and a vehicle for social change and activism. I am pleased to feature the work of UK based performance artist, Poppy Jackson. Jackson presents actionist based performance works that explore the autocratic female body. Her paintings and live performances apply a grunge aesthetic to the Western iconographic tradition, using a methodology of violence as creative and transformational catalyst. Her practice spans drawing, printmaking, painting, performance and video. Jackson's ongoing collaboration with Nina Arsenault aims to 'explode gender through mind, body and spirit'. Her current research considers the menstruating body as inherently "performic". I was led to Jackson's work through fellow performance artist, Benjamin Sebastian. Both Sebastian and Jackson are an essential part of ]performance space[, a non-profit organization devoted to the cultivation and promotion of performance art. I asked Jackson to consider the initial lure of performance art and name influential artists. Here was her response: QUINN DUKES: What led you to performance art? POPPY JACKSON: My body QD: Are there performance artists working today that influence your practice? PH: Sinead O'Donnell, Hugh O'Donnell, Rocio Boliver, Chun Hua Catherine Dong, Bean, ( ]performance space[ founder), Alastair MacLennan, Victoria Gray, Kira O'Reilly, Mark Greenwood, Julia Bardsley, Lynn Lu, Benjamin Sebastian, Anne Bean. SELECTED WORKS FROM POPPY JACKSONAll images are courtesy of the artist.
One of the largest and most comprehensive performance art events in the world begins this Saturday, December 13th. The Venice International Performance Art Week website is a wonderful resource to connect with performance artists working today. If you are in Venice next week, this is a must! www.veniceperformanceart.org The project consists of a vibrant program of live performances, installations, photographic and video documentation, conferences, daily round tables talks, a Study Room, a Movie Room and meetings with the participating artists, researchers and curators.
For the second edition with the focus “Ritual Body - Political Body” the VENICE INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE ART WEEK 2014 aims to investigate a wide range of concepts such as: art as a space for civil negotiation where human ethical values are the core; interconnectivity; political confrontation; utopia; ecological issues; social and individual conflicts and responsibilities, and how the self relates to them, at the same time concentrating on the fact that the presence of the human beings in this world is always more than a temporary condition. The communication that can be triggered between artists and the audience is an essential element. The topics addressed during the week will relate to the need to look at social relations and the lives of individuals with greater care. Due to the specificity of the theme of this second edition “Ritual Body - Political Body”, the live performances and works on display will also seek to provide reflection and further considerations on how to find meaningful mechanisms to foster positive change through contemporary art and culture in a clearly vital way. The VENICE INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE ART WEEK wishes to enrich the highly renowned art scene in Venice with the audacious art form of performance art. Curated by VestAndPage and organized in collaboration with Studio Contemporaneo, Venice Open Gates, Weexhibit and Global Art Affairs Foundation, which hosts the event in its prestigious premises at Palazzo Mora on Strada Nova. ART WEEK BLOG updated daily during the week with features, interviews and reviews on veniceperformanceart.tumblr.com. I am truly delighted to initiate the Performance Is Alive: Artist Feature Series with the compelling performance duo, ZIERLE & CARTER! I met Alexandra Zierle and Paul Carter in 2011 at Grace Exhibition Space (Brooklyn, NY) following their durational work, Love Spills. Zierle (DE) & Carter (UK) perform around the world, presenting dynamic work that investigates relationships and inter-connectivity. I asked the duo a few questions that are the cornerstone of this site. Their response can be found (in full) below. - Quinn Dukes
Emergency Index and Ugly Duckling Presse just announced the release of their latest volume documenting 333 performances made in 2013.
ABOUT Emergency Index: Every year, Emergency INDEX invites authors to document performances they made in the previous year. By including performances regardless of their country of origin, their genre, aims, or popularity, INDEX is the only print publication of its kind, revealing a breathtaking variety of practices used in performance work as it actually exists today. For readers, INDEX offers a cutting edge view of performance as it is used in dance, theater, music, visual art, political activism, scientific research, poetry, advertising, terrorism, and other disciplines. For artists, INDEX provides an opportunity to document the most important aspects of new work, without the need for spin or salesmanship. For anyone interested in contemporary performance, INDEX is required reading. www.emergencyindex.com/ Well hello world! Today embarks the beginning of a new venture in performance art. My name is Quinn Dukes. I am a New York based performance artist, activist and curator. I have viewed powerful performances from artists based around the world. My viewing experiences are largely due to the incredible curatorial efforts of Jill McDermid at Grace Exhibition Space, Brookyln, NY. The performance art community emerged in the 1960's during a radical time in art history. These performances are heavily documented and readily available for emerging artists and academic scholars. During my time in academia, I have come to realize that institutions struggle to keep up with performance artists working TODAY. This site is intended to share the names and work of influential performance artists working today, around the world. Performance is Alive. If you find yourself in New York, make sure to check the calendar for Grace Exhibition Space!
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CONTRIBUTORSIan Deleón Archives
July 2023
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