Museum Programs
& International Touring
PERFORMA is building international tours for all of its Commissions. PERFORMA also functions as an independent ‘performance department’ for museums, curating programs to accompany exhibitions of visual art by artists for whom performance has been critical. For Daniel Buren’s 2005 retrospective The Eye of the Storm at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, PERFORMA (in association with Works & Process) organized an accompanying performance evening, Couleurs Superposees: Acte VII, 2005, demonstrating the critical role of Buren’s live actions throughout his career.
Isaac Julien & Russell Maliphant: Cast No Shadow
Isaac Julien, True North Series, 2004. Courtesy of Victoria Miro Gallery, London and Metro Pictures, New York
Cast No Shadow is a collaboration that has been created by Isaac Julien with Russell Maliphant as a live evening of film and dance. The trilogy originated as three audio-visual film installations by Julien, of which two have live choreography by Maliphant, and one is a stand-alone film that features dancer and choreographer Stephen Galloway. They focus on aspects of location and dislocation in the 20th and 21st centuries. A starting point for True North (2004) is the story of Matthew Henson, the African American explorer now considered to be the first man to set foot on the North Pole. In Fant??me Afrique (2005) Ouagadougou is featured, the capital city of Burkina Faso that was at the heart of radical pan-African cinema, and that continues to keep a powerful hold on the imagination of modern day film-makers. Finally Small Boats (2007) considers the journeys of people traveling across the Mediterranean from Africa to Europe, seeking a better life. The figure of Vanessa Myrie appears both live and cinematically as a significant but elusive figure in all three works. Co-commissioned and produced with Sadlers Wells, London. Running Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Technical Rider: Cast No Shadow
Press Coverage: Cast No Shadow
Yvonne Rainer: RoS Indexical
Sally Silvers, Pat Catterson, Emily Coates, and Patricia Hoffbauer in Yvonne Rainer’s RoS Indexical, 2007. Photo copyright Paula Court. Courtesy of PERFORMA.
In her third major new piece of choreography since 1975 Yvonne Rainer has re-visioned the controversial premiere of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, which was presented at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris in 1913. In her inimitable style Rainer has recreated the chaos and scandal of that infamous evening featuring Stravinsky’s dissonant score, Vaslav Nijinski’s then shocking choreography and the theatrical outrage of the audience in attendance. Co-commissioned with Documenta. Running Time: 40 minutes
Technical Rider: Yvonne Rainer
Press Coverage: RoS Indexical
Adam Pendleton: The Revival
Vanesse Thomas, Adam Pendleton, and Renee Neufville in The Revival, 2007. Photo copyright Paula Court. Courtesy of PERFORMA.
Taking the tradition and energy of the Southern-style religious revival and fusing it with experimental writing practices, Adam Pendleton’s The Revival is a new form of community performance. The minimalist setting of a white floor scattered with simple wooden benches and/or black ceramic seating cubes creates a space for contemplation and reflection that builds via a live gospel, jazz, and pop score to a final crescendo. Pendleton’s sermon, dream of an uncommon language, invokes the power of experimental language to subvert the confines of everyday discourse. Featuring jazz pianist Jason Moran. Running Time: Approximately 1 hour
Technical Rider: Adam Pendleton
Press Coverage: The Revival
Sanford Biggers: The Somethin’ Suite
Sanford Biggers, The Somethin’ Suite, 2007. Photo copyright Paula Court. Courtesy of PERFORMA.
Multimedia artist Sanford Biggers presents The Somethin’ Suite, a conceptual exploration of the ‘Negro variety show’ which was popular at the turn of the 20th century. Arguably the first distinctively American theatrical form, Biggers suggests that the oppressive system behind blackface entertainment has evolved into today’s popular music industry. Following minstrelsy’s traditional 3-act structure, The Somethin’ Suite, is performed by Sanford Biggers, along with spoken-word artist Saul Williams, singers Esthero, Shae Fiol, Imani Uzuri, and Martin Luther, and DJs CX KiDTRONiX and Jahi Sundance, whose talents combine to provide a sonic history of contemporary music as well as a clear-eyed examination of today’s popular music industry. Running Time: Approximately 1 hour
Technical Rider: Sanford Biggers
Press Coverage: The Somethin’ Suite
Japanther in 3-D
Matt Reily, Dawn Riddle, and Ian Vanek in Japanther in (3-D), 2007. Photo copyright Paula Court. Courtesy of PERFORMA.
One of Brooklyn’s favorite noise-rock bands, Japanther (Ian Vanek and Matt Reily) present a new rock-opera of unpredictable scale, repercussions, and decibel levels. Using a high-energy multi-media format ‘ their ‘tool kit’ integrates live music, dance, an interactive set, and video projections, plus an animatronic robot dinosaur ‘ Japanther create a full-immersion theatrical concert experience that sports a sharp political edge and an equally edgy heart. The set, designed by acclaimed conceptual artist Dan Graham with Eugene Tsai, becomes a canvas for simultaneous stimuli - meanwhile, robbinschilds dance up a storm. Other collaborators include Safe Clothing, lighting by Eugene Tsai, and spoken word by Penny Rimbaud, (co-founder of legendary anarchist punk band Crass). By daring the audience to laugh at sad truths, Japanther opens up a door to hope and makes it cool again. Running time: Approximately 45 minutes
Technical Rider: Japanther in 3D
Press Coverage: Japanther in 3D
Carlos Amorales: Spider Galaxy
Galia Eibenschutz in Carlos Amorales’s Spider Galaxy, 2007. Photo copyright Paula Court. Courtesy of PERFORMA and Fundaci??n/Colecci??n Jumex.
Carlos Amorales’s 400-piece sculpture resembling a spider’s web is the site for an ongoing performance by a lone dancer, accompanied by a subsonic sound composition by Julien Lede transmitted through the sculpture itself. Spider Web Negative (stage) adds to Amorales’s oeuvre of ritualistic performance projects and animations, including Amorales vs. Amorales, which involved professional wrestlers and was exhibited at the Tate Modern in London and at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, amongst other venues. “Spider Galaxy” premiered on October 16-17, 2007 in Mexico City at the Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo, and was subsequently installed at the IBM Atrium in New York City for a two-week period in November 2007 as part of Performa 07. Co-commissioned with Fundaci??n/Colecci??n Jumex. Running Time: Installation runs 8 hours per day minimum plus 1 x :30 Performance daily
Technical Rider: Carlos Amorales
Press Coverage: Spider Galaxy
The X-Patsys: Devouring Time
The X-Patsys, Devouring Time, 2007. Photo copyright Paula Court. Courtesy of PERFORMA.
Performed by The X-Patsys ‘ Barbara Sukowa, Robert Longo and John Kesller - Devouring Time is an attempt to deal with the simple yet daunting subjects of death, love, night, loss and aging through words and songs. The songs and texts live through the Baroque impact of brilliant contrast and surprising harmonies that blend both historical (Shakespeare, whose Sonnet 19 inspired the title for the concert, Purcell, Gryphius etc.) and contemporary (Tom Waits, Patsy Cline, Joy Division, etc.) cultural references to create a sonic journey of magical intensity. Running Time: Approximately 1 hour & 30 minutes.
Technical Rider: The X-Patsys
Kelly Nipper: Floyd on the Floor
Kelly Nipper, Floyd on the Floor, 2007. Photo copyright Paula Court. Courtesy of PERFORMA and the Savannah College of Art & Design.
Floyd on the Floor, Nipper’s first live performance, examines the movement of a hurricane in relation to technology and human emotion. Working with an enormous striped parachute, eight contemporary dancers will lay down the hurricane’s pattern in movements. Working with basic movement principles in a variety of mediums, Nipper is principally known for her work in photography, which explores time, space, and shape in relation to the impending future of technology-based relationships. As author Gloria Sutton writes in Vitamin PH, ‘Core to [Nipper's] projects is the formulation of a hypothesis about a structure or system of meaning. Using the studio as a lab, she often works with professional dancers to stage a series of exercises bearing on the system in question.’ Co-commissioned with the Savannah College of Art & Design.
Technical Rider: Kelly Nipper
Press Coverage: Floyd on the Floor
Christian Marclay: Screen Play
Christian Marclay, Screen Play, 2005, Performance Still, Elliot Sharp on Guitar. Co-produced by Eyebeam and Performa for Performa05
A 20 minute moving image musical score in which Marclay has combined found film footage with computer animation to create a visual projection to be interpreted by live musicians. Running Time: Approximately 1 hour & 30 minutes with 10 minute breaks. Currently touring: Mexico City, April 2008
Technical Rider: Christian Marclay
Press Coverage: Christian Marclay
Markus Schinwald & Oleg Soulimnenko: Stage Matrix 1
Markus Schinwald & Oleg Soulimenko, Stage Matrix I, 2007. Photo copyright Paula Court. Courtesy of PERFORMA.
A minimal and elegant performance with flashes of deadpan humor, in which the performer plays with a furniture machine that has a will of its own.
When you furnish a flat, a kind of self-portrait emerges. If you set up a stage, however, then you are portraying a person about whom you not only don’t know what they actually like, but you cannot even say exactly who they are. In A Stage Matrix, the performer is assisted by a ‘furniture machine’ which is so stubborn that one almost gets the impression that the person is portraying the furniture and not
vice versa. The performer moves between the role of a Utopian craftsman ‘ a specialist in extraterrestrial environment ‘ and that of a tool in a big machine. What remains unclear is what or who is influencing or initiating whom.
Technical Rider: Markus Schinwald & Oleg Soulimnenko
Press Coverage: Stage Matrix
FILMS
Laurie Simmons: The Music of Regret
Laurie Simmons, The Music of Regret, 2005. Film Still. Commissioned by Salon 94 and Co-produced by Performa.
A 35 minute 35 mm film by American artist Laurie Simmons. Simmons’ first live action film is a mini-musical in three acts, which examines the mundane challenges of modern living in three tales of disappointment and regret. Music of Regret can be accompanied by small survey exhibition of Simmons’ photographic work.
Daria Martin: Harpstrings & Lava
Daria Martin, Harpstrings & Lava, 2007. Film production still. Photograph by Thierry Bal. Courtesy of PERFORMA and Maureen Paley, London.
A 14 minute 16 mm film by American artist Daria Martin’s film Harpstrings & Lava, created in collaboration with musician Zeena Parkins and actor Nina Fog, conjures the atmosphere of childhood anxieties in an expanded tableaux vivant that blends film, dance, painting, music and sculpture. Co-commissioned with SMAK.
Press Coverage: Daria Martin
For information please contact:
Esa Nickle/Mike Skinner
PERFORMA
Phone: 212.366-5700
email: esa at performa-arts.org
mike at performa-arts.org