Although I could not make it to all the events - some of the highlights I saw from Performa were:
Arto Lindsay's "Somewhere I Read" - http://performa-arts.org/blog/parade/
A marching band of sorts that took over Times Square for about an hour and had tourists totally confused. Many thought is was an advertisement for a cell phone company. Others, especially one group of teenage boys got in on the action trying to mimic the moves of the group as they marched down Seventh Avenue. Another highlight was when the NYPD tried to stop them from continuing pass 44th Street. In the end, it reminded me why I live in New York - the access to this performance was open to anyone in Times Square on a brisk Sunday night in November. This was a great kick-off to the 2009 biennial as 2007 left a disappointing impression - when after standing in line for two hours waiting for Francesco Vezzoli at the Guggenheim, my friend and I had enough and left.
Alicia Framis "Lost Astronaut" - http://performa-arts.org/blog/alicia-framis/
Since my daytime job is not in the arts, the only performance of this series I could see was Brian Keith Jackson's at the New York Public Library. The astronaut had to sharpen 100 pencils by hand in front of the Lion Patience and then give the remaining erasers to Fortitude. This reminded me of the Irish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, where Kennedy Browne's video was also based on sharpening a pencil in a open-air environment. Both cause the viewer to focus on the slow, outdated process (hence the Lion Patience) as well as the sharpenings being released into their respected environments (Fifth Avenue for Performa and Dublin at the Biennale) http://www.irelandvenice.ie/
Finally, the last piece I was able to see was Ryan McNamara's "Ecks Ecks Ecks - AKA - Sacred Band of Thebes - AKA - In Memory of Robert Isabell - AKA - Any Fag Could Do That" at X Initiative
http://performa-arts.org/blog/ryan-mcnamara/
http://backstageat.com/blog/2009/11/performa-09-ryan-mcnamaras-any-fag-could-do-that/
Clearly I knew it was going to be gay-focused (and clearly I was excited about that) but I had no idea what I was in for and had convinced two friends to come with me. I was a little nervous getting there, but was totally blown away but the sheer energy and chaos of the performance. Back Stage @ captured amazing photographs of the show that (as my friend Amy pointed out) really highlight the dance versus battle aspects of the performance and reinforced the ideas of how similar sex and war are - what is more intimate then battling with someone to the death. All of this sounds very lofty and thought-provoking, which it was, but it was also a lot of fun to watch.
Now it's time for Miami, with some intermediate stops including:
MoMA for the Tim Burton opening last week, but since the line extended from the 3rd floor gallery down the escalator onto the 2nd floor, I decided to wait and try to get back at a less busy time.
http://moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/313
PS 1 for the Einat Amir Men performance today, which appeared to be over by time I got there. But the collection of performance pieces caught both in a myriad of televisions as well as photographs was overwhelming and requires a revisit.
http://ps1.org/calendar/view/100/
While I was at PS1, as a Bruce Nauman fanatic, I was estatic to see several of his video pieces as part of the 1969 exhibit including favorites "Pacing Upside Down" and "Pulling Mouth" .
http://ps1.org/exhibitions/view/302/
Also, Leandro Erlich's fun yet still sexy "Swimming Pool"
http://ps1.org/exhibitions/view/207/
I am very excited for Miami, especially since everyone is calling last year's a dud, even though I had a great time. I am still thinking about Daniel John Gadd's massive "Right After" at the SVA Gallery
Since this is a first post, I apologize for the delay on reporting of some events. Going forward the goal is to report on upcoming events. Also, be on the lookout for Basel updates as well as an overview of who we are and our mission.
