Contemporary Performance Almanac 2013 Contemporary Performance Almanac 2013 I Contemporary Performance Almanac 2013 ISBN-10: 0615960731 ISBN-13: 978-0615960739 © Contemporary Performance 2014 Contemporary Performance 105 West 10th St. #2 New York, NY 10011 contemporaryperformance.com Cover Photo: CHOKRA performs Bond on Blonde selected by Caden Manson & Mx. Justin V Bond at MoMA P.S.1, New York on March 25, 2012. Photo by Loren Wohl II III Note From The Editors: Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Contemporary Performance Almanac. We have been wishing to make this book since the inception of the Network, but it wasn’t until recently that the Contemporary Performance Network reached such a critical mass that we realized the necessity for the project matched the resources to produce it. So often presenters do not have access to artists and works that haven’t traveled outside their city or country of origin, and artists do not have access to survey the work of peers that might be working in sympathetic modalities. Contemporary Performance sees a need to give artists, presenters, and others in the field an opportunity to start new working relationships. We hope that this Almanac — as an extension of the Network — can meet that need, and to aid discovery, spark curiosity, and facilitate exchange. We’re excited to see the breadth of disciplines practiced by the participants and the sheer geographical scope of their nationalities spanning 47 countries. Inside the pages of the Almanac are the artworks described by the artists in their own words: eloquent, challenging, provocative and urgent. Enjoy. -Caden Manson and Jemma Nelson Participate in the next Contemporary Performance Almanac 2014 by submitting your work online at http://almanac14.contemporaryperformance.com IV V About Contemporary Performance Network: The Contemporary Performance Network is a social network and community organizing platform providing artists, presenters, scholars and festivals a space to meet, share work, and collaborate. The term contemporary performance is used to describe hybrid performance works and artists that travel between the fields of experimental theatre & dance, video art, visual art, music composition and performance art without adhering to one specific field’s practice. The Network was founded in 2010 and has grown to 5300 artists, presenters, curators, foundations, scholars and publishers from 85 countries world wide. As artists, we began to tour internationally with Big Art Group in 2001. Some of our most meaningful experiences have been the personal encounters that we’ve made with audiences and with other artists Download the Almanac13 inside the free Pform App through the years, and we wanted to take that experience of the festival for iPhone and Andriod at “artist’s tent”— a meeting place to have informal conversation, exchange http://pform.contemporaryperformance.com ideas, and compare notes — and recreate it for a global network, in order to bring more people under its canopy and ignite more discussion. We’ve been thrilled with the response. The Network continues to grow, evolve and adapt. As we are experimentalists ourselves, we are always looking for new ways to leverage technology, discover fresh communication strategies and play with form. In the process, we are continually learning and encountering surprises of our own as the Network changes. We couldn’t have done it without the support of family, friends and colleagues who provided encouragement and patience through the process, and to them we say thank you. And we thank above all the community of the Contemporary Performance Network for their participation and spirit, whose creativity daily inspires us and to whom this book is dedicated. Join the network at www.contemporaryperformance.org VI Contemporary Performance Almanac 2013 VII Artists and Companies Emmanuel Hernandez (Las Varillas - Córdoba, Argentina) Biography: The Fine Artist who is native of Las Varillas Town, Cordoba Province in Argentina, studied at ‘Escuela de Bellas Artes Dr. Jose Figueroa Alcorta in Cordoba, Capital. He started working in the performance, taking part in seasons of performances, and international festivals doing public presentations in different countries of Latin-American. He uses different languages through installations and interventions in the streets. His work is based on the action in its pure state, taking profit of the spaces as strategic places, creating questionable values about the countries. He also develops activities such as cultural advisor. Nowadays, he has opened his own art gallery called TEO in his city of origin. The artist makes his work aiming to transmit different emotions, trying to move the feelings of the observer using his body as a support. In the cultural management, he tries to break the myths and have a contemporary look at art through teaching, reaching different places, which are far away from the artistic and cultural field with a more social work. Disciplines: Performance IRRITABLE The objective of this action is to develop a process of production where the different periods and situations that people who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome go through, can be shown. Description: He starts sitting down on a wooden box in front of a mirror with a rope tied to his neck. The other extreme of the rope goes into a hole in the wooden box. Then he changes different kinds of masks. He gets around the room until the length of the rope allows him. Behind the mirror, there is an axe. When he picks it up, he starts breaking the top of the box, until it opens. When he reaches his objective, he ‘discovers’ that the rope is tied to an overall, which is alike the one he is wearing. He hugs it and leaves with it in his hands. When one is silent, the body speaks... when the soul cries, body explodes... when the mind is blocked, is he who is responsible for her to remember it. It is difficult or impossible trying to decipher the channel of communication between these two subjects. In this absurd analogy, one tries to symbolize the body as another subject that must deal with every day. Trying to overcome obstacles and defying limits that haunt the embarrassing for fear of ridicule. And here the great unknown that ends up making us more human and worldly... without guys or fellows. Looking at us ourselves and no one gives us a hand... Keywords: Bowel, Irritable Body, Mirror, Mind, Space. Production History: Aún Sin Título Performance Cycle Córdoba- Argentina Contact: [email protected] Website: http://www.emmanuelhernandezarts.com/ @emmanuelharts https://www.facebook.com/emmanuel.hernandez.39 2 Photo: Cande Vera Barrios Contemporary Performance Almanac 2013 3 AñA Wojak (Lismore, Australia) AñA Wojak is an award winning cross-discipinary artist working in performance, assemblage, installation, painting and theatre design. Australian born, she studied in Poland amid the turmoil of Solidarity and Martial Law, attaining a Master of Fine Arts in 1983. ‘My ongoing interest in site-specificity, ritual and altered states are often physically demanding and durational in nature, manifesting in visually poetic performance pieces that resonate with a visceral depth. I create rich tableaux incorporating found objects in the performance which remain as as a trace installation, incorporating smell; the sense most directly connected to cerebral memory. I am motivated by the belief that the site of the body is the most accessible and emotive medium available to an artist; using it in ways that may be percieved as extreme enables direct access to the heart and to create a lasting the experience in the mind of the audience. The powerful effect of art has a capacity to move people.’ Based in Northern Rivers NSW, her work has been shown extensively throughout Australia and internationally. She has appeared at festivals and collaborated with Tony Yap Co, Pacitti Co, senVoodoo (co-founder), La Pocha Nostra, and Felix Ruckert. In 2013 AñA performed in Lismore, Brisbane, Sydney, Java and Malaysia. stepping stones... the culmination of a 4 year project re-tracing her family’s migration to Australia will be shown at Lismore Regional Art Gallery in early 2014. Disciplines: Performance, Assemblage, Installation, Painting, Theatre Design. sincerely yours, Love Letter Project love letters, written or never sent received or perceived lost love found love true love tainted love pure love longing love their love your love words of love hand and ink tracing the heart across paper... sincerely yours, The Love Letter Project was initiated in August 2013 whilst the Very Terry Reid Award Artist in Residency at BigCi, Australia, with a callout on social media for hand written love letters to be sent to a small country post office, in the mountains west of Sydney. Each day for two weeks I rode my bicycle to collect the letters, documenting the project on a blog: lovelettersincerely. wordpress.com. sincerely yours is the performative outcome derived from the content of the letters, devised in collaboration with Textile Audio: composer soprano Eve Klein. The physical presence of the letters feature in both the performance and trace installation. I see my roles as custodian of secrets that cross the space between distant people: the resonance created by these communications forms the basis for this performance. To maintain trust all contributors names were kept anonymous. This anonymity allowed an unaccustomed freedom of expression and intimacy. The performance evolves at each new location, in Java there were mounds of aromatic spices. A writing desk is made available for audience members to become a part of the tableau as they sit and write love letters, depositing their missives in a lidded box. Love letters are a universal language. Keywords: Sincerely Yours, Love Letters, Performance, Festivals Production History: August 2013: BigCi Bilpin NSW Australia. August 2013:Undisclosed Territories#7 International Performance Art Meeting, Solo, Java. September 2013: Watusaman Gallery, Yogyakarta, Java.