A Reason to Go to New Jersey

Aside from the fabulous ongoing repertory series at the Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre (a bonafide movie palace in Jersey City; read more about it–including how you can help clean up the theater at its adorable annual “Dumpsterthon”–here), and the upcoming Magnetic Fields show at the same theater this October 23, there aren’t many reasons, for city-dwelling art fans, to trek out to New Jersey.

But the biggest reason of all might be Peak Performances, the criminally under-publicized performance series at Montclair State University, which just announced its powerhouse 2008-2009 season. Artists and companies to be featured include Jan Fabre, Dumb Type, and DV8 Physical Theatre, making its first US appearance in 15 years with the premiere of To Be Straight With You.

One of the most unexpected inclusions in the season is a double performance by geeky alt rock band They Might Be Giants (pictured), who will play a “children’s matinee” followed by a show for adults (at which, the press release promises, the band will play “its 1990 classic “Birdhouse in Your Soul,” among other hits”) on January 27. You don’t want to miss out on such great programming–so get on the cheap charter bus to Montclair and check it out!

Posted by Lana | Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 | 0 comments

Chris Burden @ Gagosian 21st Street

Dropped by Gagosian’s summer group show (21st Street location) today and found the performance documentation for Chris Burden’s most notorious performances from the early 70’s - a must see for any performance buff.

Also next door Eyebeam has an entertaining group show up worth seeing - the kids will love it…

Posted by Esa | Thursday, July 31st, 2008 | 0 comments

Dynasty Handbag + AVAF at Deitch LIC this Saturday!

THIS SATURDAY NIGHT 9 PM
ASSUME VIVID ASTRO FOCUS presents
DYNASTY HANDBAG
@
NEW DEITCH STUDIO
4-40 44th Drive, Long Island City

http://www.deitch.com

>>>>>>>Deitch Studios’ riverfront building will not only be teeming with sculpture and installation, but the gallery
will be transformed into an avaf demolition disco will a full performance and event schedule!!!!

the night includes…
a performance by Tara DeLong entitled “Living Among” with guest Chloe Dzubilo, and the world premier of the new music video for La Bruja by Escandalo directed by Bec Stupak with a special performance
Extravaganza and some members of the House of Extravaganza. Dynasty will be performing her unique mix of music, video, voiceover, and comitragic performance. Tara Delong will be premiering a performance entitled “Living Among” with special guest Chloe Dzubilo and will also be doing a live video shoot.

Absolutely Venomous Accurately Fallacious (Naturally Delicious), a sprawling exhibition by artistic force assume vivid astro focus, opened May 10th at Deitch Studios, Long Island City from 7-11 PM.

Posted by Esa | Thursday, July 17th, 2008 | 0 comments

My Barbarian at the New Museum

Los Angeles based collective My Barbarian delivered two enthusiastic performances to a small crowded room in the lower level of the New Museum over the July 4th holiday weekend. As part of the collectivea€™s New Museum residency program, the collectivea€™s members Malik Gaines, Jade Gordon, and Alexandro Segade produced and performed Post-Paradise, Sorry Again which operated in the style of a variety show-cum-theatrical workshop weaving together a series musical interludes, audience participation exercises, and short vignettes of ambitious performances followed by theoretical critiques by the cast. The evening opened with the introduction of their role for the evening as the Post Living Ante-Action Theatre in a campfire style sing-along by the trio who were joined here by six New York based artists including LTTRa€™s Ginger Brooks Takahashi and video artist Jennifer Sullivan. Audience members were brought to the stage to participate in ritualistic meditations and at one point invited to remove part or all of their clothing as the cast members did half way through the performance. Although typically energetic and bawdy, this performance veers from politics and societal ills the group has taken as a subject in the past and operates more as a wry self critique via a backwards glance at the tenets of collaboration in the 1960s counter culture. Adapting elements from the Living Theatera€™s 1968 landmark performance Paradise Now and antitheatera€™s 1969 Pre-Paradise, Sorry Now into a workshop format, the group openly and playfully explored contemporary notions of radicality in todaya€™s highly self-reflexive environment.

Posted by Guest Blogger | Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 | 0 comments

Performance INSIDE Hidden Tunnel July 13!

GUEST BLOGGER: Lana Fee, PERFORMA

Written and Directed by Andi Stover. Dramaturgy by Amee Davis. With Cary Curran, Natasha Warner, Elizabeth Taylor and Eben Lillie on Accordion.

A Fine Mix of New York Scandal, Severe Claustrophobia, Brooklyn Grit and Theater Intervention! Truly Underground Performance!

If you haven’t heard of the Atlantic Street Tunnel in Brooklyn uncovered by the sharp and adamant Bob Diamond- a man driven by conspiracy and unmoved by skepticism- this is the day to buy your ticket for the FIRST EVER PERFORMANCE SET INSIDE. Inactive since 1859, the LIRR tunnel was built to connect to Boston and relieve congestion in Brooklyn. This Sunday, Bob’s thick Brooklyn accent will guide a group of people through the tunnel that supposedly didn’t exist. I’ll leave the story to him and cannot say much more about the performance other than this: performers integrate themselves in the tour itself; the writing is based around the history of the tunnel, the prominent people of the time and a slight guerilla spirit to spook you. A thrill no doubt.

Earlier this year, Stover and Davis presented Black Eye Fixer at Rehab (previously Club Midway), a cheeky interpretation of the bar personas we are all familiar with and perhaps embody. With a sort of early Alex Bag aesthetic, one must appreciate the smart and campy cynicism. Similar to the tunnel tour, Black Eye Fixer actively engaged the audience and attempted to challenge your idea of appropriate behavior. Although, the truly unique opportunity to present in such a playground cannot be compared to any other performance space. Just imagine the acoustics alone.

Bring a flashlight. Bring a date. Bring your mom. Precious apparel ill-advised.

$15

Manhole at the intersection of Atlantic Ave and Court Street.

More info, please visit:

http://www.brooklynrail.net/bhra_events.html

Posted by Lana | Thursday, July 10th, 2008 | 0 comments

Tiny Theater!

From the Ontological Hysteric Theater website:
“TINY THEATER! festival, a four-night multi-arts event designed to promote interest in new forms of spatially challenged performance. The festival will feature short works by established and emerging artists. ”

“TINY THEATER = theater/dance/dance-theater/puppet-theater/object-theater/installation that takes place in 6′ x 6′ x 6′ or smaller and in under 10 mins. ”

Tiny Theater! festival is curated by Michael Gardner (of The Brick), Shannon Sindelar and Brendan Regimbal (of the Ontological). The festival will take place both at the Ontological and The Brick, Thursday-Saturday, May 22-24 at 8pm. (On Saturday 24 there will be an additional performance at 11pm). Definitely a good chance to survey the work of new performance artists!

Posted by Guest Blogger | Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 | 0 comments

Toy Theater Festival

GUEST BLOGGER: Beatrice Barbareschi, PERFORMA

In 1991, members of the Great Small Works theater company began putting on tiny puppetry shows in response to the Gulf War. Since then, every couple of years the troupe mounts the Toy Theater Festival, a week long celebration of toy theater that takes place at St. Ann’s Warehouse. With 6 different programs and a final Toy Theater Cabaret, this year’s festival looks very promising! Look out for work by Peter Schumann (Bread and Puppet Theater), by Frank Maugeri & Seth Bockley, and, of course, by Great Small Works.

Posted by Guest Blogger | Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 | 0 comments

NOBILE A week-long performance by Ivan Civic

Ivan Civic’s piece, NOBILE, was first staged at the 2007 Dance and Performance Biennale in Venice, as part of Body and Eros, a project by IPG (Independent Performance Group), curated by Marina Abramovic. Civic’s performance at Artists Space further explores the obsessive narcissism and dependency on perfected images in Western culture. The work is also inspired by highly ritualized exercises in auto-eroticism developed by nobility in the late 17th century.

GUEST BLOGGER: Marianne, PERFORMA
NOBILE is the second installment of When Time Becomes Form, an ongoing performance series of long-durational work, curated by Marina Abramovic for Artists Space. The series explores and questions issues of concentration, will power, and determination, and involves the artists’ use of the entire gallery space for 6 hours during each day of their performance. Twelve distinct, but interrelated, durational performances, each created and presented by a different performance artist (a member of the Independent Performance Group (IPG)), will occupy the Main Space galleries between exhibitions. The entire series will unfold over the course of the next two years.

Posted by Guest Blogger | Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 | 0 comments

Tamy Ben-Tor Performs at Kitchen

PERFORMA 05/07 Artist Tamy Ben-Tor’s video work opens at Zach Feuer Gallery tonight with a reception from 6-8 pm. The exhibit is on display untill May 3rd. The artist is also performing at the Kitchen this Friday and Saturday, shows are at 8pm and the ticket cost is $8. Read about it at Artinfo.com

Posted by Lillie | Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 | 1 comments

Analogos 10 a night of “vintage” analog synthesis - Highly recommended!

This is a powerhouse of really interesting people and worth the trip to Diapason’s new space in Sunset Park, Brooklyn

Diapason gallery for sound and intermedia presents
Analogos 10 a night of “vintage” analog synthesis

Performances and informal discussions, with KABIR CARTER, DAVID GALBRAITH, JAMES FEI, KATO HIDEKI, MICHAEL J SCHUMACHER, SERGEI TCHEREPNIN, STEFAN TCHEREPNIN AND ED TOMNEY

Saturday March 22 at 8:00pm
$5 suggested donation

Kabir Carter: MoogerFooger and Moog pedals and synthesizers
David Galbraith: self-built electronics
James Fei: Arp 2600 synthesizer
Kato Hideki: Octave “Cat” synthesizer, bass
Michael J Schumacher: Steiner-Parker Synthacon synthesizer
Sergei Tcherepnin: Serge modular synthesizer
Stefan Tcherepnin: Serge modular synthesizer
Ed Tomney: EMS VCS 3 “Putney” synthesizer, various
882 Third Avenue (between 32nd and 33rd Street), 10th floor
Brooklyn, NY 11232
Subways: D, N, R to 36th Street
Phone 718.499.5070 | E-mail info@diapasongallery.org

About Diapason http://www.diapasongallery.org
Diapason gallery for sound and intermedia was founded by composer Michael J. Schumacher and choreographer Liz Gerring in 2001 and its program builds on the efforts of Schumacher’s previous sound space, Studio Five Beekman, founded in 1996. Diapason is the sole venue in New York City and one of few internationally dedicated to the presentation of multichannel sound installation where composers and sound artists can realize their work for an interested public. By providing an optimum listening environment, two high quality multi-channel sound systems, a regular audience, and a place for experimentation, Diapason seeks to engage composers and the public in dialogue about the place of contemporary music and sound practice in a broader cultural context. Diapason is supported by NYSCA, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Phaedrus Foundation, the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, The Trust for Mutual Understanding, Kirk Radke, and by generous individuals. Diapason is a 501(c)3 organization.

Posted by Esa | Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 | 0 comments