DOCSLIB.ORG

Charles Atlas

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Charles Atlas The term renaissance man is used rather too short film Ms. Peanut Visits New Atlas also created the 90-minute documentary freely these days, but it certainly applies to York (1999), before directing the Merce Cunningham: a Lifetime of Dance. And Charles Atlas, whose output includes film documentary feature The Legend in 2008, a year before Cunningham died, Atlas directing, lighting design, video art, set design, of Leigh Bowery (2002). The two filmed a production of the choreographer’s ballet live video improvisation, costume design and have remained close collaborators Ocean (inspired by Cunningham’s partner and documentary directing. – Atlas designed the lighting for collaborator John Cage) at the base of the For the past 30 years, Atlas has been best Clark’s production at the Barbican Rainbow Granite Quarry in Minnesota, the known for his collaborations with dancer and – but it was with another legendary performance unfurling against 160ft walls of rock. choreographer Michael Clark, who he began choreographer, who was himself Alongside his better-known works, Atlas has working with as a lighting designer in 1984. His a great influence on Clark, that directed more than 70 other films, fromAs Seen first film with Clark, Hail the New Puritan, was a Atlas came to prominence when on TV, a profile of performance artist Bill Irwin, mock documentary that followed dance’s punk he first mixed video and dance in to Put Blood in the Music, his homage to the renegade as his company, aided by performance the mid-1970s. diversity of New York’s downtown music scene artist Leigh Bowery and friends, prepared for Merce Cunningham was already of the late 1980s. In the early 1990s he made a new ballet. a leader of the avant-garde when What I Did Last Summer, a short film trilogy that First broadcast on Channel 4 in 1986, Hail Atlas joined his company as an celebrated New York’s gay subculture at a time the New Puritan mixed faux-cinéma vérité assistant stage manager, in 1970. when Atlas lost many friends to Aids. In 1999 style documentary with surreal interludes and He began filming him soon after, he released the film It’s a Jackie Thing, about extraordinary, dada-inspired dance pieces, set in experimental movement studies the excesses of Johnny Dynell and Chi Chi to the music of the Fall. Shot among the decay of shot between rehearsals. He became Valenti’s Jackie 60 parties, thrown in New York’s Thatcher’s Britain, the film now serves as a vital filmmaker in residence in 1974, Meatpacking District (Atlas’s home for many document of 1980s London, when fashion, music, a role he held until 1983, during years) before its regeneration. art, dance and club culture collided. which time he became a pioneer Over the past decade, Atlas has become The pair continued their exploration of London’s of media and dance. “We really absorbed in live improvisation. His work with post-punk subculture with their next collaboration, were committed to human experimental artists such as Mika Tajima and Because We Must. Recently screened to coincide movement and body, and what a William Basinski, electronic producers Christian with To a Simple, Rock’n’roll... Song, Michael Clark body could do,” Atlas explained Fennesz and Julianna Barwick, and his MC9 Company’s new ballet at the Barbican in London, during his installation-based work installation/performance in 2012, has seen him Because We Must was based on an original Charles Atlas and Collaborators, at compose and edit in real time. He’s also forged stage production from 1987. The piece mixed Tate Modern in 2013. “The way that new collaborative partnerships, such as Turning footage of that Sadler’s Wells performance with I learned from Merce is about really with New York band Antony and the Johnsons, hallucinogenic dream sequences and the surreal exploring all the possibilities of any a project that began in 2004. invention of club kid Leigh Bowery, who, as well given situation. We always started In January, Atlas has his first performance as appearing in the film in his own idiosyncratic with the questions and whether we in New York of his “stereoscopic 3D dance film”, outfits, co-designed all of the costumes with found the answer or not was not Tesseract, with choreographers Rashaun Stevie Stewart of 1980s fashion brand, and that important.” Mitchell and Silas Riener. Shortly after the longtime Clark collaborator, BodyMap. As well as collaborating with Michael Clark Company programme at the Atlas teamed up with Bowery and Clark again Cunningham on works that forever Barbican, we caught up with Atlas at his on the video installation Teach (1998) and the changed the way dance is filmed, studio in New York. Words Andy Thomas Portrait Janette Beckman Images © Charles Atlas, courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York CHARLES ATLAS Famed for his filmic collaborations with choreographers Merce Cunningham and Michael Clark, over the past five decades Atlas has been pushing the boundaries of performance on screen. Charles Atlas shot through the window. choreographed five solo dance about phrasing and Godfather where there were a lot of things going And then I made a short pieces and performed each one Atlas and Merce performance, all sorts on at the same time and they used cross-cutting Super 8 film of one of the in a different costume. The Cunningham, Westbeth of technical things between them. So we divided the studio into dancers from the company, last segment was particularly Studio, New York, 1970s about dance. He also separate spaces and had dancers doing different Valda Setterfield, doing one challenging as he choreographed developed my eye, so things and running from one space to another. This of Yvonne Rainer’s pieces it so he could appear on-screen I saw things like he was also the first time I used animated travelling during a residence in with all five costumes at once. The did so I didn’t need to mattes as transitions between shots. Before this Berkeley, California. That main thing we had to learn was the consult him as much I had only used cuts and never used dissolves, but became Valda Dances Yvonne relationship between the body and when editing. It was all I used them to connect to the movement so they from 1971 and was the first the camera and how to think in about rhythm and he would tear or crack into the next scene. time I had ever filmed dance. terms of multiple camera angles. was a master of that. But then I also picked up his Is the concept of space and the use of it one of When you started using How did the creative process work bad habits of being a your main interests? video was that your decision between the two of you? workaholic. I used to go I was interested in everything you could do with or Merce’s? He treated me like an equal, even to the studio every day. film, video and dance, so of course space was part I’d made a 16mm film of though there was a great difference of that. We never used special effects and always one of his dances called in our age and experience. I would tell What do you think respected what a body could do. Our work was Walkaround Time. That was him what kind of video ideas might Merce thought video based on the possibilities of the human body rather an existing stage piece from work for an upcoming piece and then brought to his work? than something you can only do on film. That was the repertoire of the company we would try and get those central to I couldn’t say from his never something that interested me. and so he didn’t choreograph the choreography. Before we started point of view, but I think it for the camera. I filmed the with moving the video camera we did it was an interesting first part at Zellerbach Hall stuff with a still camera, panning and challenge for him and he in Berkeley, using a single zooming, and then when we got it always liked challenges. handheld camera, then the right we started moving the camera. He was interested in section in Paris, where I That took about four pieces for us doing things he hadn’t rented three cameras and to get it right, because it gets really done before, in the same shot the final performance complicated when you move the way I was. So that’s why by Merce’s longtime dance camera and the dancers. I think we worked so well partner, Carolyn Brown, together. I thought he before she retired. Soon after What were the biggest challenges was the most interesting Merce said he wanted to start of filming dancers? I’m thinking in I had used one. We also used a dolly with a crane choreographer at the time and also working with video, so turned particular of pieces like Coast Zone arm to move around the dancers. We really were since. But I was part of that family to me. That was when we from 1983 – that must have been experimenting with depth of field with this piece. so maybe I’m a little prejudiced. Performance artist Bill Irwin in As Seen on TV, directed by Atlas, 1987 Atlas during a live collaboration with composer William Basinski, really started collaborating technically very difficult. Then we had cameras positioned around the room Strange Pilgrims, the Contemporary Austin, Texas, 2016 properly. I had never worked Everything is moving so it takes a and Merce threw a coin to determine where the You became known for your in video so bought a book lot of rehearsal.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Michael Clark: Cosmic Dancer
    Michael Clark: Cosmic Dancer Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK 7 October 2020 – 3 January 2021 Media View: 6 October 2020 #MichaelClark @barbicancentre The exhibition has been recognised with a commendation from the Sotheby’s Prize 2019. Michael Clark, Because We Must, 1987 © Photography by Richard Haughton This Autumn, Barbican Art Gallery stages the first ever major exhibition on the groundbreaking dancer and choreographer Michael Clark. Exploring his unique combination of classical and contemporary culture, Michael Clark: Cosmic Dancer unfolds as a constellation of striking portraits of Clark through the eyes of legendary collaborators and world-renowned artists including Charles Atlas, BodyMap, Leigh Bowery, Duncan Campbell, Peter Doig, Cerith Wyn Evans, Sarah Lucas, Silke Otto-Knapp, Elizabeth Peyton, The Fall and Wolfgang Tillmans. 2020 marks the 15th year of Michael Clark Company’s collaboration with the Barbican as an Artistic Associate. This exhibition, one of the largest surveys ever dedicated to a living choreographer, presents a comprehensive story of Clark’s career to date and development as a pioneer of contemporary dance who challenged the furthest intersections of dance, life and art through a union of ballet technique and punk culture. Films, sculptures, paintings and photographs by his collaborators across visual art, music and fashion are exhibited alongside rare archival material, placing Clark within the wider cultural context of his time. Contributions by cult icons of London’s art scene establish his radical presence in Britain’s cultural history. Jane Alison, Head of Visual Arts, Barbican said: “We’re thrilled to be sharing this rare opportunity for audiences to get to know the inspirational work of one of the UK’s most influential choreographers and performers, Michael Clark.
    [Show full text]
  • Janette Beckman Reveals What Hip Hop Artists Used to Look Like
    Janette Beckman Reveals What Hip Hop Artists Used to Look Like Written by Robert ID4305 Monday, 14 April 2008 08:00 - In the fall of 1982, celebrated photographer of the British music scene Janette Beckman moved to New York City, where she found hip hop on the edge of explosion. After a decade underground, the hip hop DJs, MCs, b-boys, fly girls, and graff writers were finally getting their due from the downtown crowd. While trains were covered in graffiti and boomboxes were blasting on the corners, DJs were up in the clubs while the dancers rocked the floor. Artists were getting signed and local hip hop legends were born. And while others called hip hop a fad, Beckman knew better. Her photographs, collected in The Breaks: Stylin'' and Profilin'' 1982-1990, transport us back to a time before music videos, marketing departments, and uber-stylists took control. The queen of the 80s album cover, Beckman shot the hip hop icons of the era: Africa Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Fearless Four, the World Famous Supreme Team, Lovebug Starsky, Salt''n''Pepa, Run-DMC, Stetsasonic, UTFO, Roxanne Shante, Sweet T, Jazzy Joyce, Slick Rick, Boogie Down Productions, Eric B. and Rakim, EPMD, NWA, Ice-T, 2 Live Crew, Tone Loc, Gang Starr, Ultramagnetic MCs, Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock, Special Ed, Leaders of the New School, Jungle Brothers, Beastie Boys, Rick Rubin, and countless others. The era was as original as it was innocent, and Beckman's images remind us of a culture that brought forth The Message before it got Paid in Full.
    [Show full text]
  • Queer Icon Penny Arcade NYC USA
    Queer icON Penny ARCADE NYC USA WE PAY TRIBUTE TO THE LEGENDARY WISDOM AND LIGHTNING WIT OF THE SElf-PROCLAIMED ‘OLD QUEEn’ oF THE UNDERGROUND Words BEN WALTERS | Photographs DAVID EdwARDS | Art Direction MARTIN PERRY Styling DAVID HAWKINS & POP KAMPOL | Hair CHRISTIAN LANDON | Make-up JOEY CHOY USING M.A.C IT’S A HOT JULY AFTERNOON IN 2009 AND I’M IN PENNy ARCADE’S FOURTH-FLOOR APARTMENT ON THE LOWER EASt SIde of MANHATTan. The pink and blue walls are covered in portraits, from Raeburn’s ‘Skating Minister’ to Martin Luther King to a STOP sign over which Penny’s own image is painted (good luck stopping this one). A framed heart sits over the fridge, Day of the Dead skulls spill along a sideboard. Arcade sits at a wrought-iron table, before her a pile of fabric, a bowl of fruit, two laptops, a red purse, and a pack of American Spirits. She wears a striped top, cargo pants, and scuffed pink Crocs, hair pulled back from her face, no make-up. ‘I had asked if I could audition to play myself,’ she says, ‘And the word came back that only a movie star or a television star could play Penny Arcade!’ She’s talking about the television film, An Englishman in New York, the follow-up to The Naked Civil Servant, in which John Hurt reprises his role as Quentin Crisp. Arcade, a regular collaborator and close friend of Crisp’s throughout his last decade, is played by Cynthia Nixon, star of Sex PENNY ARCADE and the City – one of the shows Arcade has blamed for the suburbanisation of her beloved New York City.
    [Show full text]
  • Lucian Freud Pdf, Epub, Ebook
    LUCIAN FREUD PDF, EPUB, EBOOK William Feaver | 488 pages | 06 Nov 2007 | Rizzoli International Publications | 9780847829521 | English | New York, United States Lucian Freud PDF Book Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, pp. They are generally sombre and thickly impastoed, often set in unsettling interiors and urban landscapes. Hotel Bedroom Settling in Paris in , Freud painted many portraits, including Hotel Bedroom , which features a woman lying in a bed with white sheets pulled up to her shoulders. Freud moved to Britain in with his parents after Hitler came to power in Germany. Lucian Freud, renowned for his unflinching observations of anatomy and psychology, made even the beautiful people including Kate Moss look ugly. Michael Andrews — Freud belonged to the School of London , a group of artists dedicated to figurative painting. Retrieved 9 February The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 29 January Freud was one of a number of figurative artists who were later characterised by artist R. The works are noted for their psychological penetration and often discomforting examination of the relationship between artist and model. Wikipedia article. His series of paintings and drawings of his mother, begun in and continuing until the day after her death in , are particularly frank and dramatic studies of intimate life passages. Freud worked from life studies, and was known for asking for extended and punishing sittings from his models. The work's generic title, giving no hint of the specifics of the sitter or the setting, reflects the consistent, clinical detachment with which Freud approached all subjects, no matter what their relationship to him. Ria, Naked Portrait , a nude completed in , required sixteen months of work, with the model, Ria Kirby, posing all but four evenings during that time.
    [Show full text]
  • New York Based Janette Beckman, Launches Her UK ‘Punk Rock Hip Hop Mash-Up’ Exhibition in London
    New York based Janette Beckman, launches her UK ‘Punk Rock Hip Hop Mash-Up’ exhibition in London 19 – 31 January 2016 Punctum Gallery, Chelsea College of Arts, Milbank Janette Beckman’s photography spans Punk in London and Hip Hop in New York. In 2014, she launched her US Mash-Up series conceived with artist and designer Cey Adams, combining her iconic Hip Hop images with many of New York’s best-known graffiti artists. Cey selected the participating artists, and Janette let each artist choose one of her images to reinterpret in their own distinct style, creating new works of art. Her US Mash-Up images have been exhibited at the Museum of the City of New York, Le Salon - Paris, Fold Gallery - Iceland and Yale. For the launch of her UK Mash-Up series, Janette has decided to expand the collection to include artists, designers and musicians who will be reinterpreting portraits from her legendary British Punk era archive. British artists taking part in the Mash-Up include Horace Panter, Pam Hogg, Dan Holliday, Christos Tolera, Hattie Stewart, Ian Wright, Ian “Swifty” Swift, Chris Sullivan, Kosmo Vinyl and Marco Aurele Vecchione. The exhibition will also include Janette’s iconic images of the Punk Rock and Hip Hop scenes. Signed limited edition prints will be on for sale from £150. Horace Panter's Mash-Up artwork from Janette Beckman’s photo of him and the rest of the Specials at Southend Notes: JANETTE BECKMAN Janette Beckman has always brought a 'realness' to her work. Typically her photographs are not concert shots or stylised studio images, but are captured on the street where popular culture comes from.
    [Show full text]
  • ALGA Newsletter Dec 2018/Jan2019
    ALGA Newsletter December 2018/Jan 2019 WHAT A YEAR! What a fantastic and busy year we’ve had here at ALGA as we celebrated our 40th Anniversary - as we take a few weeks off we just wanted to share with you a few bits of news and our plans and suggestions for Midsumma 2019. What a fine looking bunch - at the closing drinks of the Queer Legacies, New Solidarities conference in November, delegates and ALGA members lit up the candles and toasted the 40th Anniversary of ALGA. ALGA AGM At our special 40th Anniversary AGM we gathered at Hares and Hyenas to celebrate and do business. Hosted by Mama Alto, we also announced our plan in 2019 to enter into a period of consulation regarding a potential new name for the organisation. This process will consider input from our members, supporters and wider community and has been informed by discussions about the broad diversity of all our LGBTIQ+ communities. Come along to the our stall at Midsumma Carnival to learn more about how you can have your say. You can find the Annual Report on our 1. website. www.alga.org.au ALGA stall at Midsumma Carnival 2019 Drop in to see us at Carnival on Sunday 20th January any time from 11am-5pm. New copies of Secret Histories of Queer Melbourne publication available for sale on the day! Find out more: https://midsumma.org. au/what-s-on/carnival If you are interested in volunteering on our stall, please let us know. [email protected] Here’s our recommendations for events and exhibitions and other activities celebrating queer histories at Midsumma 2019 GLAM pride Victoria at Midsumma Pride March - Sunday February 3, 11am Join fellow GLAMorous LGBTIQ+ folks and allies in queerying the catalogue and curating the revolution at Pride March in Melbourne.
    [Show full text]
  • Title Spin/3 Magazine: Action Time Vision Type Article URL Https
    Title Spin/3 Magazine: Action Time Vision Type Article URL https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/3868/ Dat e 2 0 0 8 Citation Bestley, Russ (2008) Spin/3 Magazine: Action Time Vision. Spin/3 Magazine: Action Time Vision. ISSN 1752-6442 Cr e a to rs Bestley, Russ Usage Guidelines Please refer to usage guidelines at http://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/policies.html or alternatively contact [email protected] . License: Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives Unless otherwise stated, copyright owned by the author Spin/3 ACTION TIME VISION Spin/3 Spin/3 ACTION ACTION T IME VI IME S ION Action Time Vision Contrary to the red-top myopia of the time, Punk wasn’t a singular spiky, dyed, Tony Brook white or black-haired leather-jacket-wearing gobbing entity – it was a broad (anti) church encompassing a range of innovative musical and visual styles. Genres and sub-genres developed with appropriate monikers – New Wave being the most obvious, but as far as I remember it, pretty much everything that was ‘new’ and less than three minutes long was, in the beginning at least, lumped together under Punk. I realise that this is contentious, but for simplicity’s sake let’s say that in Spin/3 we take a look at what is for us, a rich and vibrant form of inspiration, and let’s agree to call it The Punk Single. It is also important to note that back in the day these covers weren’t just seen as exciting, they were potentially explosive.
    [Show full text]
  • TOUR NOTES JANUARY 2019 Styles of Resistance
    TOUR NOTES JANUARY 2019 Styles of Resistance Styles of Resistance: From the Corner to the Catwalk On View: January 18-February 24, 2019 ​ Curated by: Amy Andrieux, Richard Bryan and Mariama Jalloh ​ FEATURED DESIGNERS coup d’etat BROOKLYN, Frank William Miller, Jr., FUBU, Johnny Nelson!, Karl Kani, Melody Ehsani, Maurice Malone, Moshood, Philadelphia Print Works, PNB Nation, Sean John, Spike’s Joint, Studio 189, Shirt King Phade, The Peralta Project, Walker Wear, Willi Wear LTD, Xuly Bet, and more. FEATURED ARTISTS Alex Blaise, Anthony Akinbola, Aurelia Durand, Barry Johnson, Benji Reid, Dr. Fahamu Pecou, Hassan Hajjaj, Jamel Shabazz, Janette Beckman, Kendall Carter, Lakela Brown, Marc Baptiste, Michael Miller, Righteous Jones (Run P.), Ronnie Rob, TTK, and Victoria Ford. Themes: ● 70s and 80s ○ Police Brutality in the United States and the Black Panther Party ■ How did “self-actualization”and police brutality inspire groups like the Black Panther Party to build the foundation for the birth of hip-hop and streetwear fashion? ○ Graffiti and Social Movements ■ How did black and brown communities respond to continued police brutality and poverty globally? What art was produced as a response to these grievances while also building community? ■ How did graffiti play a role in advancing the hip-hop movement? ● 90s ○ Michael Jordan and Sneakers ■ Jordans quickly became incorporated into streetwear, so they were always in high demand. Because Jordans were vastly consumed by Black people, Jordans quickly became associated with crime and violence. ● Spike Lee commercial ○ Streetwear, Urbanwear and Luxury Brands ■ Luxury Designers, and NY Fashion week had a disdain for urban fashion. Not only was the word “urban” synonymous to “ghetto”, but this label was used to exclude black designers, and people from big media platforms, fashion shows and stores.
    [Show full text]
  • Leesfragment
    Inhoud 08 _ Het Cambridgesyndroom 22 _ Joe Boyd, schepper van de UFO Club 24 32 40 122 128 160 230 260 284 450 454 488 4 INHOUD 76 82 116 182 196 224 328 352 374 584 _ Verklarende woordenlijst 586 _ Bibliografie 588 _ Register 520 552 PINK FLOYD, COMPLEET 5 Roger Waters en Nick Mason met Andrew King (links), manager en medeoprichter van Blackhill Enterprises. Voor echte F loyd Fanaten In het kantoor van Blackhill Enterprises op 32 Alexander Street, Bayswater, Londen, vestigde zich later het indielabel Stiff Records, opgericht in 1976, dat artiesten tekende als Elvis Costello, Ian Dury en Madness. in de undergroundscene. Andrew was wat relaxter, en je kon Floyd, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Roy Harper en Jethro Tull; en het een hoop lol met hem hebben, maar dat maakte hem soms ook concert van The Rolling Stones op 5 juli 1969 (waar de Family, onbetrouwbaar.’5 Het eerste wat Jenner en King deden, was de Battered Ornaments, King Crimson, Roy Harper, de Third Blackhill Enterprises (genoemd naar Kings cottage in Wales) Ear Band, New Church van Alexis Korner en Screw ook optra- oprichten en een kleine erfenis die King had gekregen gebrui- den), opgedragen aan Brian Jones, die twee dagen daarvoor ken om nieuwe apparatuur en heel veel lampen voor de licht- overleden was. show kopen. De samenwerking tussen Jenner, King en Pink Floyd eindigde toen Barrett wegging. De komst van David Gilmour luidde het Blackhill en de gratis concerten begin van een nieuw hoofdstuk in voor Roger Waters, Rick Op 31 oktober werden Barrett, Waters, Wright en Mason part- Wright en Nick Mason, terwijl de twee producers voor Syd ners van Jenner en King in Blackhill Enterprises, dat een kan- Barrett bleven werken.
    [Show full text]
  • CHARLES ATLAS Born 1949, St. Louis, MO Lives and Works in New York, NY 2018 Cage Cunningham Fellow, Baryshnikov Arts Center
    CHARLES ATLAS Born 1949, St. Louis, MO Lives and works in New York, NY SELECTED AWARDS AND HONORS 2018 Cage Cunningham Fellow, Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York, NY 2017 Special Mention Award, Viva Arte Viva, 57th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy 2016 United States Artists Fellowship, Chicago, IL 2014 Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, residency, Troy, NY Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, residency, Captiva Island, FL 2010 Peabody Award for Art: 21 (“William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible”), PBS TV documentary, Co-Director 2008 Peabody Award for Art:21 (“Power”), PBS TV documentary, Director (Consulting) 2006 Foundation for Contemporary Art, Biennial John Cage Award 2003 Melbourne Queer Film Festival, Best Documentary for The Legend of Leigh Bowery 2000 Dance Screen 2000, Best Documentary for Merce Cunningham: A Lifetime of Dance 1998 New York Dance and Performance Award [“Bessie”], for The “Martha” Tapes John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship 1987 New York Dance and Performance Award [“Bessie”], for sustained achievement in video New York Dance and Performance Award [“Bessie”], for costume design 1985 France, Ministry of Culture, 1st prize for VideoDance * a catalogue was published for the exhibition SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2020 Charles Atlas: Here she is ... v1, University Art Museum, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY Charles Atlas: Ominous, Glamorous, Momentous, Ridiculous, Fondazione ICA Milano, Milan, Italy Charles Atlas:
    [Show full text]
  • Andrew Howitt
    LEIGH BOWERY – Sunshine Boy Dance/Theatre/Fashion/Performance Art This Production will be a multi-layered Club Night event, celebrating the life of Leigh Bowery. He was very provocative and inspirational Major Artist. it will start in Sunshine and follow the him to London: Fashion – Art- Sex- Music inspired by Leigh Bowery: Life and Times of an ICON by Sue Tiley Leigh Bowery (26 March 1961 – 31 December 1994) was a London based performance artist, club promoter, and designer. He was also a significant model for the English painter,Lucien Freud. Bowery was born 26 March 1961 in Sunshine, Australia . He studied music, played piano, and in Melbourne he studied fashion and design. In Australia, he began to feel that he didn’t fit well with his conservative surroundings and became interested in London and the New Romantic club scene while reading British fashion magazines. Bowery then moved to London, where he worked in a clothing shop, did some commercials for Pepe jeans, and created promos for musical artists, including a promo for David Bowie’s Ashes To Ashes video. He soon became an influential and lively figure in the underground clubs of London and New York, as well as in art and fashion circles. He attracted attention by wearing wildly outlandish and creative outfits of his own making. He was known as a club promoter, and created the club called “Taboo”, which began as an underground party, and then opened as a club in 1985. Taboo soon became “the place to be” with long queues for those waiting to get in.
    [Show full text]
  • Underground Club Spaces and Interactive Performance
    Underground Club Spaces and Interactive Performance: How might underground club spaces be read and developed as new environments for democratic/participatory/interactive performance and how are these performative spaces of play created, navigated and utilised by those who inhabit them? Kathleen Alice O‟Grady Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Performance and Cultural Industries December 2009 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. Acknowledgements This thesis is dedicated to my parents who have always believed in me and to my daughter, Maisie, who is my source of inspiration and joy. Gratitude goes to my PhD supervisors Professor Mick Wallis and Dr Martin Crick, both of whom have given me continued support and guidance throughout this research. Thanks also to my colleagues and my students at the School of Performance and Cultural Industries who have encouraged me and kept me going with their sense of humour, wise words and loyalty. Thank you to all the club and festival organizers that have allowed me access to their events, particularly those involved with Planet Angel, Synergy, Duckie, Riff Raff, Planet Zogg, Speedqueen, Manumission, Shamania, Beatherder, Nozstock and Solfest. Special gratitude to Fatmoon Psychedelic Playgrounds for allowing me the room to move creatively and to develop this practice in a supportive environment.
    [Show full text]