Guard Everything Appropriately and All Will Be Well Reception at Sanitary Tortilla Factory Tomorrow @ 5:30pm

For the past couple of days, Nora Wendl has been redacting the trial transcript from van der Rohe vs. Farnsworth in a perfomative action called Guard Everything Appropriately and All Will Be Well at Sanitary Tortilla Factory. You can get some background to the project.here.

 

I stopped in to view the progress late this afternoon and found the task seemingly complete.  

The installation including an accompanying dual projection video will remain on view though tomorrow.

There is a reception tomorrow evening to cap off the performance tomorrow from 5:30 to 7 pm.

The two videos, straddling one corner of the gallery depict an enactment of the performance, the redaction here happening line by line.  In the present instance of the performnce, Wendl has used ink and a brayer to strike the text in broad compositional forms, selectively leaving fragments of the text visible to create a kind of humorous and random concrete poetry while at the same time revealing the obvious animosity within the transcript if not the substance of the interaction documented in the text.

Passport reviews Trickling...or maybe Ebbing in.

I've been hoping to get some kind of review from someone who attended the performance of Robert Whitman's Passport in Beacon and Montclair, NY on Apr 17 and have heard nary a peep from anyone other than a few museum employees.
Paddy Johnson of Art Fag City was there.  Today, she posted some images from the scene to the website, saying that she's still weighing her reaction to the work...

.....I just found one review of the performance on artreview.com by Jonathan T.D. Neil.

Dead Hare Radio wants your review: Robert Whitman's Passport

If you have an inclination to view Robert Whitman's Passport this weekend, you'll have to head down to New Jersey; the Beacon portion of this simultaneous two-city performance is sold out.  There seem to be tickets available to view the work from Montclair, though.  The work will be performed tonight and tomorrow at 8pm.
Those of us here at MAYKR and our sister media outlet, The Dead Hare Radio Hour, will not be able to experience the work, but we are interested in hearing responses from those who were able to witness it.

If you're attending Passport and wish to share your reaction to it, give us a call on the Dead Hare Hotline:  (480) 442-7311

Give us a 15 or 30 second review...or leave your information so we can speak about it in the near future.
You can also leave us an email at deadhareradio at gmail.com or leave a comment here or over on the Dead Hare blog.

March 10, 2011: dubknowdub performance @ the Clocktower Gallery in NYC

 Looking down from the 12+1th Floor.

Last night I headed down to the Clocktower Gallery and the studios of AIR (Art International Radio,) formerly WPS1.  The purpose for this journey was to conduct a Dead Hare Radio interview AIR Managing Director Beatrice Johnson and Director of Programs David Weinstein to talk about the history.
 

 STO installing his works on paper.

Additionally, I chatted with STO, who along with ELI, make up the visual and noise making entity DubknowDub.  The duo will be culminating their month long Time Sync Laboratory Residency at the Clocktower with an exhibit and performance, tomorrow (March 10) @ 6-9pm.  STO was in the process of installing his ink on paper works.  He explained that along with the visual works he and ELI created during their time in the Clocktower, they've been sampling the creepy sounds made by the building late in the night.  Apparantly, a man committed suicide in the Clock Tower in 1913, and it's said the building is haunted....
A quote from a note on the deceased's body in the original NY Times story:
"Dear Art:  Everything you've done for me sticks me like a pin."  Yep. That sounds about right.

STO's battery powered grocery cart - instrument.

If you want to catch tomorrow night's performance at the Clocktower Gallery at 108 Leonard St, here are instructions on getting into the building.  The evening's events can also be heard on the ARTonAIR audio stream. 

AIR has an extensive archive of audio documentation on its website.  The audio stream features a mixture of art and culture related conversation and music and sound works.

 Mary Heilmann's Two Lane Blacktop, 2009 

is one many permanent works installed throughout the space.

We're still waiting for an inaugural airdate for Dead Hare Radio, but my interviews at AIR will be broadcast shortly thereafter.

Electronic Music: Powered by Girls Workshop at Ann Street Gallery in Newburgh, March 13

On March 13 the Ann St Gallery in Newburgh NY will be hosting a free workshop on creating electronic music for girls aged 13-18.  Suzanne Thorpe and Bonnie Jones, both electronic music artists will conduct the afternoon long workshop called Electronic Music: Powered by Girls (1-5pm) which will be followed by a public concert performed by Thorpe and Jones at 8pm.
You can read the full press release with details of the workshop and the artists here.

Electronic Music: Powered by Girls, contact Bonnie Jones at (443) 858-3494 or bonniejones[at]gmail.com, or Suzanne Thorpe at (212) 206-1505 or suzanne[at]emf.org. For more information regarding the Ann Street Gallery, contact Virginia Walsh, Director, at (845) 562-6940 x. 119, vwalsh[at]safe-harbors.org.

Free weekend admission to Dia:Beacon for Beacon residents All-Year-Long

Beginning Saturday, Oct 17, Dia:Beacon will begin offering year round free weekend museum admission to residents of Beacon NY.

This new initiative, made possible by Lyn and John Fishback in honor of Pete Seeger will kick off on the 17th with a celebration with refreshments, a performance by Pete Seeger and adult and family tours.  It all starts at 11:30, here's the schedule:

11:30 am   -  Refreshments

12:00 pm   -  Welcome Remarks & Performance by Pete Seeger

1:00   pm   -  Adult and family tours of Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries

2:00   pm   -  Line, Rythm, Chance, a guided family activity in the museum's Learning Lab.

                     open to children 6 and above accompanied by an adult. 

                     For reservations email familytours@diaart.org.

Beacon residents simply need to present a driver's license or other government-issued ID for free entry to the museum.

Additionally, the final Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts Workshop to be held at Dia:Beacon will take place on that same day at 2pm.  The topic for this last session is Considering the Fiscal Sponsorship Model to Structure and Support Art Projects. ( I'll be out of town that day and would love a report from someone on this....perhaps Mr. W.Walker?) For reservations call 845-440-0100 x19 or rsvpVLA@diaart.org. These workshops are sponsored in part by the Dutchess County Arts Council.

More Dia:Beacon news: 

Advance tickets for the first stage of Trisha Brown Dance Co. performances on Nov 14 & 15 are on sale for Dia members.  Tickets go on sale to the general public on Oct 15.  General admission to the performance is $35 and includes museum admission.  Dia member tickets are $20.

The St Luke's Chamber Ensemble is kicking off a new concert series at Dia:Beacon beginning on Oct 18.

The Antoni Tapies exhibit will be closing in the coming weeks.  I believe that an installation of Agnes Martin works will follow the Tapies show.

On Saturday, Oct 24, at 1pm, Allstar gallery talk giver Kenneth Goldsmith will be returning to give a talk on Sol LeWitt. Not to put too much pressure on Mr Goldsmith, but this better be good, because (based on his Warhol talk) I've been really building up this talk in my mind....That usually doesn't bode well for my own personal endeavors, so I hope he will fare better than I tend to in light of my own preassumed excellence.

Finally Finally, winter is coming and with it come shorter days and with those shorter days come shorter hours at Dia:Beacon.  On Oct 22, the museum will be open Thurs-Mon 11-4pm. On Nov 13 the museum will be open Fri-Mon 11-4pm.

Looking back: Opening Ceremony for Olafur Eliasson's Parliament of Reality, May 16, 2009 at Bard College

We arrived at Bard in time to catch the afternoon session of the opening program laid out for Olafur Eliasson's permanent installation at Bard College The Parliament of Reality on May 16, 2009.

The site of the installation had changed greatly since I was last there in March. Having the "after, after the before gave me quick thrill. Defying the expectations set by the extravagance of some costly public art, the island is rather bland. This blandness also defies the expectations raised by much of this artist's other work and I think it should work well for the project as a whole going forward. This is no grand experiment in the tweaking of sensory perception. The work was created as a point of intellectual exchange, to facilitate social  gatherings and provoke debate.  It's an open air lecture hall, an academy in an approximation of the original sense: a venue where intellectual dialogue might be paired with the enhanced sensory input of exposure to the elements of nature.  This work is not apparently ostentatious (aside from creating a body of a water where there once was none in the middle of a grassy meadow). But this is sort of feature has been de riguer for upwardly mobile backyards for years, and in fact if this was in someone's back yard, there'd be the added feature a gazebo perched atop the island.  The swirling stainless steel canopy spanning the bridge is the only apparent glitz adorning the work.  This is a table, set simply, for the discurssive banquets to be held there. The work is also not complete. The plantings are new and will take several years of growth to ground the work to its site. Young trees belt the piece on the outer side of the moat. Standing on the disc. I tried to envision the effect that the fully mature trees would have on the space, anchoring it in place among broader environs.  Surely the plantings maturity will strengthen the geometry of the site and lend a sense of sheltered glade or nearly natural amphitheater. I imagine that in years to come this growth will provide the sensation of passing through an aperture as one passes over the bridge to the stone paved plaza of the island.  The island is paved in an arrangement such that the grout lines trace concentric geometric forms originating from a central cirucular stone with culminating in alignment of the cardinal points. The disc is ringed by seating in the form of large, irregular boulders.

CCS Director Tom Eccles kicking off the afternoon.

The afternoon session kicked off with a performance orchestrated by Andrea Zittel. The performance entailed four individuals tracing a square in, meeting one another at points along this square then turning back, all set to a pulsing soundtrack of a crushing, electric drone. There was something ceremonial, in an ancient way, in work. The repeated movements and the posture of the performers brought to mind lines of Irish step dancing - without that pasttime's more insidious traits.  I was anxious to see what Zittel had come up with as I have not seen to performance.  It was spartan and exhilarating.

Above and below:  moments from the performance by Andrea Zittel.

Following Zittel's piece, Molly Nesbit, professor of Art History at Vassar did a reading that spoke of the parliament and actions as a form of voting. She linked Eliasson's piece with a history of democratic gatherings in the region that predate Woodstock. I don't doubt the substantial content of her talk, but much of what she said gained little traction on the wagon trail track of my mind. At the end of her talk in an experiment of promoting an impromptu parliament, levelling the field amongst presentor and audience, she passed the microphone around to garner thoughts and responses from the entire group.

Professor Molly Nesbit giving her talk.

The microphone continued traveling through the gathered group before and after the final speaker, German philosopher, Pieter Slojterdijk. For me the most stirring words of the afternoon came from Sloterdijk, German Philosopher who spoke on the nature of reality by enumerating three human engineered projects that could well have huge impact on the perception of reality in the future.

 Pieter Slojterdijk

He enumerated three "clients" that could irrevocably alter humanity's tie to that which is considered "reality".

The first of his "clients" as he called them is Cern, which having recoved from damage incurred from defects in the facility's inaugural test last year is now ready to continue its exploratory work of observing the most elemental building blocks of the univers. The results of which could be (although infinitesimally small) creating a black hole and possibly bringing about the end of Physics as a discipline of experimental research. As the crowd giggled as Sloterdijk described the possible nature and progression of a man made black hole, I felt a bit of the ironic portense that is built up in a disaster movie as if we tempting fate in some 19th Century way. "OOhooh, men, flying in the air? preposterous!" Wonderfully creepy.

Sloterdijk's second client, is ETA, the ongoing attempt to create nuclear fusion of a sun-like intensity in a facility in the South of France. Paraphrasing Sloterdijk's imagining of the earth's epitaph: Born as a planet, it longed to be a star.

The final example cited was the International Space Station, the emblematic container of humanity's hopes for cosmologicol colonialism and our species' post-earth survival. How will our view of reality be shifted when life as we have known it, fully entangled in the fiberof its terrestrial host, is cast out into the void, expelled from our hospitable eartlhy womb?

Eliasson floated among the gathering, passing the mic, seeking to engender debate with the possibility of laying down the conversational ethos that would mark the tone of the place's future activities. Much of the talk leaned toward conjuring the practical out of the theoretical, making relevant the workings of this space.  The earnestness for affecting the world is always highly palpable at such events and virtually never actionable.

Olafur Eliasson on the mic.

Artist and writer Carol Diehl on the mic.

At one point, while I was standing on the edge of the island, I experienced a sensation that the disc was teetering slightly.  That of vertigo passed, but later as Eliasson was speaking about democratice structures and the idea of discourse and exchange, I realized the previous sensation was grasping at unconcious memory that offered an uncanny analogy to the structure of the piece and the idea of an arena for intellectual sparring:

How exciting!

The poles of high culture discourse and life or death contest are not as distant as the struggle between Flash and the Baron might suggest.  Sometime before the official opening of Parliament of Reality, a group of drunken students were apparently inspired to physical feats mischief, attempting to jettison one of the large boulders into the water, resulting in one student losing several fingers.

Though still nascent, the frogs have already claimed the space as their own. The moat of a pond is inhabited by tons of fat tadpoles. The conversations on the island was periodically accented with the oddly mechanized call of frogs resing on the bridge's canopy. The frogs' barking complimented the soundtrack of Zittel's work in such an uncanny way I, at first, believed it to be an additional sound piece.

Toward the end of the afternoon a man was complimenting Eliasson on his work and waxing rhapsodic about about how the artist's creations, the present one included, are breaking down walls, creating an egalitarian, democratic experience for all. I for one think that walls get a bum rap, and, for the record, I stand in praise of the good that a good wall can do....Robert Frost not withstanding.

In fact I sense that when the trees surrounding the feature mature, they will form a wall of sorts, buffering the island from the broader surroundings, enhancing the form and function of the piece.

It struck me as exceedingly funny and ironic that this man's praise of the demolishing of barriers was given while sitting on the only formation that is more exclusionary and divisive than a wall:  an island. 

The Merry Month of May(kr)

May: a month so full of new and exciting possibilities that they just had to name it after this blog.

Storm King has awakened for the season and on May 9 will officially open Maya Lin's new Wavefield to the public. The third of a series of such earth works created by Lin, Wavefield is a four acre array of grass laden waves. Last fall the work seemed to be fully formed, but had only irregular patches of grass on the peaks and valleys and muddy tire tracks from the earth moving equipment still traced their way around the entire area. An accompanying exhibit of Lin's work is on view inside the park's gallery.
Here is Holland Cotter's NY Times write up of Wavefield (5/8/09)

The weekend of May 16 and 17 has several things going on.
That weekend essentially marks the sixth anniversary of the opening of Dia:Beacon (the museum opened on May 18, 2003). On the 16th, Dia:Beacon will be hosting the final Merce Cunningham Dance Company's event in the company's two year residency at the museum. As with all the other MCDC's events before it, this performance sold out quickly, so if you have no ticket by now, you still won't have one on the day of the event. I have not yet seen any last minute scalpers standing outside the museum hawking any extra tickets.
Also on that weekend, the museum will be opening a new exhibit of work by Antoni Tàpies "The Resources of Rhetoric" which is installed in the galleries that formerly housed multiple exhibits of Agnes Martin's work since the Riggio Galleries opened in 2003. The selection of Tàpies strikes me as a little odd, but I'm very interested in seeing it in relation to the museum's other work. The exhibit is the first in a series of institutional exchanges between Dia and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid. Tàpies' work will be on view through Oct 19, 2009.

May 15-17 marks the first of several weekends that Mike and Doug Starn's Big Bambú project will be open to the public. Between 11 am and 4 pm on each of those days, visitors are welcome to come by and see the work. If you're planning to visit, you are asked to send an email to the studio. The email address and driving directions are on the Starn's website. Big Bambú will be open to the public every 2nd and 4 weekend in June, July and August.

Also on the 16, Olafur Eliasson's Parliament of Reality officially opens on the campus of Bard College. Eliasson will be facilitating a series of presentations and symposia which are scheduled to happen on the island forum he's designed. I caught a glimpse of the permanent installation when it was under construction earlier this Spring.
As part of the opening activities, a conference is scheduled for the 15th on the use of music as instrument of torture will be led by the Human Rights Project at Bard.The opening events are free and open to the public.
I'll post schedule information when it comes available.

Syntax errors galore this weekend at the Montgomery Senior Center

An item gleaned from an email from the Newburgh Art Salon Yahoo Group about a choral performance built around the structure of E.E. Cumming's work caught my eye. The performance Cummings and Goings, composed by Ada Margoshes with additional songs and orchestrations by Steve Margoshes and directed by Nina Janik is a "lightly staged musical show, rather than a concert".
The performance will be staged on April 26 at 3pm at the Montgomery Senior Center, 36 Bridge St.

A blow-by-blow "review" of last week's performance of the piece at the Thrall Library in Middletown ran in the Times Herald Record earlier this week.
I have a soft spot for E.E. Cummings and I've been debating whether to go or not. It sounds like one of those things that can be utterly disasterous or pleasantly surprising. But even the utterly disasterous can be mighty entertaining (Cases in point: One particularly and brilliantly awful burlesque show I saw on a Valentines Day long passed at the Bluebird Theater in Denver and, of course, this memborable story from This American Life. So I'm leaning toward going. If you're interested in going, Tickets are $10 and reservations are suggested. Call 845.457.9867 for tickets/info.

"Dogface" performance at Spire Studios Saturday, Jan 31, 8pm

Spire Studios will be hosting a performance of "Dogface" by Kellie Powell and produced by These Aren't My Shoes Productions.

A coming-of-age drama about a girl known only as Dogface, written by Kellie Powell.
"Dogface" begins when its title character is attacked by a dog when she is seven. She is traumatized not only by the attack, but by the lengthy emergency surgery performed on her face. She is then ostracized and terrorized by her peers because of her unusual appearance.
The bullying she experiences further harms her already damaged self-image. Over the course of five scenes, Dogface ages from seven to 23, and ultimately has to learn how to live with her scars - both figurative and literal.
The play contains discussion of sexual and other mature topics may not be appropriate for children. The performers are local actors Amanda White, Lindsay Miller, Lauren Simone, Vicky Raabin, and Nicholas Roach. Although there is no charge for admission, donations will be accepted at the door. Patrons are encouraged to arrive early because seating is limited and admittance may not be allowed after the play begins.
The playwright and director, Kellie Powell, is an Illinois State University Theatre Directing graduate whose work has been produced by Studio Z, Stick & Co. Productions, ISU FreeStage Festival, Hinman Production Company, Asphalt Jungle, and the Penny Dreadful Players.

The performance begins at 8pm and admission is free.
Spire Studios is located at 45 Beekman St in Beacon, NY.

pearldaddy hosts one final fling: Yuko Kimura Sunday Brunch CD Release Party, Jan 4 1-5pm

Marlene Parillo's drama mugs.
Andrea at pearldaddy (183 Main St.) has announced that the boutique will be closing in March. The shop will host a final party/ Sunday Brunch CD Release Party for jazz vocalist Yuko Kimura's "A Beautiful Friendship" album. The event is scheduled tomorrow, Jan 4 from 1-5pm.

Join us from 1-5pm on Sunday January 4th to sip Mimosas and nibble on fruit and muffins while listening to Ms. Kimura sing at her Sunday Brunch CD Release party. Yuko will be performing songs from her new CD, accompanied by Cameron Brown on Bass, at 2pm and again at 3pm. Ms. Kimura will be signing CDs all day.

Recorded in Soho, "A Beautiful Friendship" features Yuko Kimura on Vocals, (and her NY band) Roberta Piket on Piano, Cameron Brown on Bass, and Gene Jackson on Drums.

Marlene Parillo's ceramic works and mixed media tapestries will be on view through March. For more info, call 845-765-0169 or info[at]pearldaddy[dot]net. All jewelry is marked down 40%

Second Saturday Dec 13: a few images

I know this is part of Flying Swine's performance of Savage in Limbo at Chill, but for a split second I thought I was about to witness a new candidate for my When Santa Attacks ! series.



pearldaddy is showing there ceramics and multimedia tapestries of Marlene Parillo.

Above and below: Limited Run 2 at Open Space.

Artist Joy Garnett posted a video of Ben Neill's performance on Newsgrist

Ben Neill working his mutantrumpet....If you were wondering what that thing was he was blowing in, there's an image of the instrument and a brief description on his website.

NY Times review of recent installment of Merce Cunningham Dance Company residency at Dia:Beacon

Tuesday's NYTimes includes a detailed play by play by Alistair Macauley of this weekend's Merce Cunningham performances at Dia:Beacon. To my count, this weekends events which were presented before Sol LeWitt's work "123 All Three Part Variations on Three Different Kinds of Cubes 1967/2003" are the fourth in the series to be produced in the two year Hudson Valley Project residency that the MCDC will be serving out at the museum through September 2009. A press release from 2007 states that a total of 8 events will take place in the museum.

Flying Swine performance of Savage in Limbo at Chill Wine Bar, Beacon NY, 12/12-12/21

Of all those who awaited the long delayed opening of the wine bar Chill, I'm sure few breathed the sigh of relief Donald Kimmel of Flying Swine was allowed to let loose once the joint finally opened its doors. Flying Swine had received a NYSCA grant, distributed by the Duthcess Arts Council, last year for a production of Savage in Limbo by Shanley in 2008. The play is set in a bar, and in a vision of seamless, site specific verisimilitude, Kimmel envisioned producing it in the wine bar - once it opened. Fortunately, Chill opened for business just a couple of months back and Savage in Limbo will have its run this month.
Below are all the details you should need:

FLYING SWINE presents the first show produced on an Actors Equity contract in
the city of Beacon in over 25 years!SAVAGE IN LIMBO, by John Patrick Shanley
Featuring Estelle Bajou, Michael Benjamin*, Phil Gardiner, Heidi James*
& Mary Sheridan*.
Directed by Donald Kimmel - Set Design by Dana Kenn - Costume Design by Erika Furey
Stage Managed by Polly Solomon*
*Member, Actors Equity Association
Site specific, fully realized professional theatre in a non-traditional setting, CHILL Wine Bar, 173 Main Street, Beacon, NY 12508.
Performances Fridays @ 7pm, Saturdays @ 4pm & 7pm, Sundays @7pm, December
12-December 21.For reservations, call the SWINELINE, or purchase advance tickets @ ARTISAN WINE SHOP, 180 Main Street, Beacon, NY 12508.Advance tickets $20. Day of show tickets $25 at the door Groups of 10 or more $17Students & Seniors $17

PS. Flying Swine is looking for a few fine folks willing to open their homes and host a few of the actors during the run of the rehearsal and performance schedule. If you're interested, more details are posted over at the Beacon Citizen Network.

Spire Studios presents "Snapper" by Christopher Laro, Nov 22 @ 7pm

On Saturday, Nov. 22, Spire Studios will be presenting a special performance. Here's the rundown from the Spire website:

SnapperBy Christopher Laro
SNAPPER is a cutting-edge drama which aims to bring attention to the atrocities of pedophilia. Featuring Todd Spire on guitar as the play's underscore and Christopher Laro's intense portrayal as a suspect being interrogated by two detectives, this two-man show with live music is the most 'controversial fiction on the issue of pedophilia ever done in theater, film or TV!' More than a One Act play about child abuse, Laro's writing is also a tribute to victims who fall into the hands of these monsters who prey on our children. And with the acoustic guitar playing of Spire and his anthem 'Alma's
Song,' 'SNAPPER' will make you get involved during the Q&A discussion following the piece.
A controversial drama stemming from our outrage at the lack of diligent public concern for the safety of children in order to encourage social discourse on the issue of child predators.
With: Christopher Laro
& musical accompaniment by Todd Spire
* * * NOTE: ADULT CONTENT * * *
Admission: $5 - Seating is limited. Come early.
25% of proceeds to
benefit Warriors for Innocencewww.warriorsforinnocence.org

Dar Williams Promised Land CD Release Party at Spire Studios in Beacon, NY, Sept 9 2008, 6-9pm

Spire Studios will be hosting a CD Release Party for Dar Williams' new album Promised Land on Tuesday, Sept 9 from 6 to 9pm. Here's a folkmusic.com interview with Dar about the album. The CD release party will double as a sort of closing event for the Habitat for Artists presence at Spire, which ends at the end of the month. Dar's got a habitat of her own down at at Spire, and artwork of some fellow Habitat for Artists is featured in the CD liner notes (the artwork will be on exhibit inside Spire).
Dar will be performing a sampling of music from the album which will be on hand for purchase that night.

Of the performance: Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea (with links)

The gathering crowd, pre-performance.

A good sized crowd made is down to Beacon Point for the Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea performance on Sunday Night.
I heard mixed, but generally good reviews of the hour long piece made up mostly of spoken narration with musical accompaniment. The highest praise I heard was lavished on the band Dark Dark Dark. The downside for me was that most narrators' monologues were difficult to hear over the waves, geese and the generator hidden in the bushes.

The floating stage
I really dig the idea of the itinerant troubadours drifting from town to town, drawing an entertainment starved community down to the waterfront for some diversion. (A more piratic version of this tale would incorporate such a diversion to give a second stealthy crew freedom to liberate the townfolk of the valuables in their homes whilst they linger on the river.)
In my mind, the performance node of this endeavor is just one part of the larger project that raises fundamental issues of community, ecology, and the pace of life at a point when mainstream and fringe rub against one another. Poetically, Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea is a floating (more intensive)analogue to the Habitat for Artists, and I enjoyed seeing the pitched tents nestled among the habitats, providing a sheltering space for a new set of artists on their journey. Both projects invoke the custom of artmaking to create temporary community, facilitating an exchange of ideas on a neutral ground.
The crew afloat on the Swimming Cities vessels is a loose conglomeration of groups, some tenously linked, not everyone knows everyone else it seems, acting as one that then leaves traces on the river folk with whom they share a moment along the way.

A cool photo by sucka pants of the fleet heading toward Bannerman Island. via fecalface

More Swimming Cities content:
Here's a review from Kingston with excerpts of the spoken text at thepiratebay.org
Brief Epigrams has some photos.
Flood is a film project that is being created along the way.
Reclaimed Home , a blog here in Beacon has some images.
The KSW blog has a running diary of the cruise.

Swimming Cities Beacon Performance info

On behalf of the Swimming Cities of Switchback Seas, Open Space is looking for a couple of volunteers to help guide people from the train station to Beacon Point where the performance is set to happen.
They're also hoping to borrow some of those solar garden lights to illuminate the path to the performance site.
If you're interested in helping out, contact openspacebeacon(at)thundercut.com

In an email from BACA, those who are planning on attending, are encouraged to bring blankets or chairs.

Swimming Cities of Switchback Seas lands in Beacon, August 23 24

Brooklyn-based artist SWOON is leading a flotilla of seven structures boats down the Hudson from Troy down around Manhattan and up to Queens. Known as the Swimming Cities of Switchback Seas, this flotilla is part of her upcoming exhibit at Deitch Studios in Queens, SWOON has amassed a collaborative team to pilot the vessels and hold performances at points along the journey.

On this project SWOON collaborates with playwright Lisa D'Amour whose
performance draws up the many possible narratives and myths that might
surround the vessels, the crew and the journey. SWOON also teams up with
circus composer Sxip Shirey, Kinetic Steam Works from San Francisco, the band
Dark Dark Dark (accordian, cello, upright bass, banjo) and Hudson river
advocacy groups as the boats float down the river.

UPDATE:

The performance at Beacon Point is now scheduled for 8pm on Sunday, August 24 (originally publicized as Aug 23). This particular performance in Beacon, NY is presented in partnership with Dia:Beacon and Scenic Hudson.

Other dates still on tap: Aug 20 - Saugerties, Aug 21 - Kingston, Aug 27 - Croton on Hudson, Aug 28 - Nyack. This whole passage will culminate on the evening of Sept. 7 with an opening reception at Deitch Studios at 4-40 44th Drive, Long Island City.

The flotilla consisting of vessels created using reclaimed and recycled materials, and powered with alternative sources of energy. This current project is preceded by a similar adventure in 2006 when SWOON and the Miss Rockaway Armada pushed off with the intent of floating down the length of the Mississippi River. On March 2, 2007, SWOON gave a talk at MoMA discussing her work and her experience with the Miss Rockaway Armada. Downloadable audio is available from MoMA's website.(scroll down about 3/4 of the way for SWOON's talk)

This weekend at Dia:Beacon

The Merce Cunningham Dance Company will be back at Dia:Beacon this weekend wrapping up the company's series of performances among the museum's galleries. This weekend's performance will engage the Torqued Ellipses by Serra. Avant Turntablist, Maria Chavez will be among the audio collaborators for the performance. She has posted on her blog a few images she snapped earlier this week as preparations were being made. It seems as if each of the sculptures will house at least some of the sound elements.
All three performances this weekend are most certainly sold out. Other related happenings at the museum include a nature walk and birding tour to George Trakas's Beacon Point on Saturday at 10:30 am. The museum will be hosting a Family Day at noon. Reservations are suggested for both events, so if you're lucky there might be some space left. 845.440.0100 x33