In case you missed the latest Not For Sale panel on Performance Art and the Museum, there is another great one happening next week at Cuny regarding intersections between performance art and the performing arts.
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Gavin Kroeber (Creative Time) leads a panel featuring artists Sharon Hayes and Alix Pearlstein, the Radiohole ensemble, and curator Nancy Spector, exploring the porous lines of affinity and bias that connect and separate performance art and the performing arts. To what degree are the burgeoning opportunities enjoyed by performance in the visual arts sphere the result of intentional disciplinary distinction, and to what degree is the institutionalization of performance art moving the form towards the mechanisms of the performing arts (casting, rehearsal, repetition, and dramaturgy)? Must cutting-edge theatre and dance artists cross over into visual performance art to find adequate spaces and sympathetic audiences, or can the American performing arts adapt to accommodate performance more broadly construed? Eschewing naïve scenarios of disciplinary rapprochement and nostalgic discussions of 20th century performance movements, this panel will bring artists and curators that are employing techniques across shifting disciplinary lines into lively dialogue, discussing how flexible practices benefit artistic inquiry, challenge institutional approaches and develop spaces for social rapport between often segregated art worlds.
On the ride to the screening, Jacques told Mike and I about his frustration with the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. The character in the movie played by Truffaut was based on Jacques, and he feels that the movie was too specific about extra terrestrial life.
While wondering around Skywalker ranch later in the evening, I was sure I was in the presence of something other worldly. It felt like at any moment the Deathstar was going to appear from behind the soft hills.
I went home and ordered his book “Messengers of Deception“. Reading this was not easy. The more conspiracy theories I read, the more challenging it was to sleep at night. But, I highly recommend his writing. You can download some of his essays on his website.
1. Plan when to test your state
Pick five to ten different occasions during the day to test your state. These should be circumstances that are similar in some ways to your dreams. Any time you come in contact with something that resembles a dreamsign, test your state. Whenever anything surprising or unlikely occurs or anytime you experience unusually powerful emotions, or anything dream like, test your state. If you have recurrent dreams, any situations related to the recurrent content are ideal. For example, if you have recurrent dreams featuring your fear of heights, you should do a state test when you cross a bridge or visit a room near the top of a tall building.
2. Test you state
Ask yourself the critical question as often as possible (at least the five to ten specific times you selected in step one): “Am I dreaming or awake?” Don’t just automatically ask the question and mindlessly reply, “Obviously, I’m awake,” or you will do the same thing when you actually are dreaming. Look around for any oddities or inconsistencies that might indicate you are dreaming. Think back to the events of the last several minutes. Do you have any trouble remembering what just happened? If so, you may be dreaming.
One stormy morning fellow star child Morighan and I woke early to confront what was to be the end of an era and the beginning of a new car lot. The media reported our king as a “Tiki”. She is nothing of the sort. Our king who was beheaded comes from Easter Island and is one of many great Moai.
