Performance

What is Mindulful Awareness?  And how do you do it?

Right now my brain thinking of a way to describe this new-age, medical concept while sending signals to the muscles in my fingers in order to type out, letter by letter, the words and eventual sentences to communicate this notion to an imagined, future audience.  Oh, and I’m hungry.  That’s Mindful Awareness: the “moment-by-moment process of actively and openly observing one’s physical, mental and emotional experiences.”

To hear more specific information about the proven health benefits of such exercises, as well as how to do them, head to the Hammer Museum at 12:30 PM this Thursday for their free weekly “drop in” session.  Leading the discussion is the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center’s Director of Mindfulness Education, Diana Winston, alongside Dr. Marvin Belzer, an expert practitioner of Mindful Awareness.

What is Gesamtkunstwerk?  And how do you sing it?

Well, Gesamtkunstwerk, pronounced ‘guess-amt-kunst-verk,’ is a term made famous by German composer, conductor, director, anti-Semite, and writer Wilhelm Richard Wagner, and it’s usually translated to mean “total artwork.”  Wagner, in all his “Ride of the Valkyries” gusto, had a vision of a kind of ‘future art,’  in which the end-result would be a synthesis for every art-form known to man (i.e. music, performance, drama, architecture, poetry, etc.).  It’s debatable whether or not Wagner actually achieved a true Gesamtkunstwerk in his work, but his deep influence and brilliance as a composer/writer of opera is hard to match, let alone perform.

At 7:00 PM on Thursday night at the Hammer Museum, Wagnerian singers Linda Watson and John Treleavan of the on-going Ring Festival LA (an enormous cultural compilation of lectures, exhibitions, shows, and conferences revolving around the first-ever Los Angeles performance of Wagner’s four-opera masterpiece, The Ring of the Nibelung) will discuss the intricacies of belting out complex tonal and chromatic changes, while still remaining a simple piece of the overall Gesamtkunstwerk.

What is the connection?  And why would you attend both lectures?

Besides the obvious similarity in setting, there does seem to be a thematic crossover between these two programs.  Both attempt to explain the whole in terms of its parts, and those parts in terms of their smaller parts, and so on.  This mode of thinking assumes there’s a greater organism at work, spinning wheels inside wheels, and what better way to get lost inside these rotations than to spend a day at the Hammer?  Either that, or write an opera.

“Mindful Awareness” starts at 12:30 PM on Thursday, March 11.  “Ring Festival: The Challenges of Singing Wagner” begins at 7:00 PM.  Both programs are free of admission, and take place at The Hammer Museum, located at 10899 Wilshire Blvd.  For more information, please call (310) 433-7000, or visit hammer.ucla.edu.

The last time the Dirty Projectors played in Los Angeles was on Halloween at the Jensen Recreation Center in Echo Park, where frontman David Longstreth wore a ten-gallon foam cowboy hat and his upside-down guitar with the confidence of a newly minted visionary. Fans of the Projectors’ odd, brilliant, shimmering music had been waiting for the band to play at Disney Hall since November, anticipating their breakout hit, 2009’s Bitte Orca, amplified by a lush string section.

But on Saturday night, Longstreth looked small and befuddled on the Disney Hall stage, fiddling with the tuning of his guitars for a half an hour during intermission. Longstreth is 28, with the refractory brain of a brilliant twelve-year-old with attention deficit disorder and the composing abilities of Mozart on mushrooms in Africa. After Saturday night, the audience learned his musical influences include Ligeti, Wagner, Ravel, and Don Henley.

Don Henley might seem like an odd choice. The program notes include an earnest letter Longstreth sent Henley in 2005, accompanying a free copy of The Getty Address, Longstreth’s 2005 opera about materialism, the homogenization of FM radio, and Sacagewea, or something like that. “I have included a copy of it here for you,” Longstreth wrote to Henley. “The album examines the question of what is wilderness in a world completely circumscribed by highways, once Manifest Destiny has no place to go- but in the end it is a love story.” Clearly, this makes sense to only one person: Longstreth himself.

The program was divided into three parts: the Philharmonic playing alone, the Projectors playing The Getty Address along with the ensemble Alarm Will Sound, and the Projectors playing alone. The program began with selections Longstreth hand-picked for the Philharmonic. Highlights included Ligeti’s Etude No. 13, played by gray-haired John Orge, who lingered on the piano keys after the last high notes for a long, indulgent silence, and Ravel’s beautifully orchestrated Mother Goose Suite. After a long intermission, the Projectors emerged, wearing color-coordinated hooded jackets, to play The Getty Address in its entirety. And here is where the problems began.

Truthfully, the opera is an indulgent college project from a very, very talented student, with glimpses of the Projectors’ current, much more successful musical incarnation nestled in like raisins studded into a very wobbly gray oatmeal. In the first song (er, movement), “I Sit on the Ridge at Dusk,” the beat kicked in, and the Projectorettes (Amber Coffman, Haley Dekle, and Angel Deradoorian) wailed “got a world of trouble on my mind,” in an indistinct language, moving very slightly from side to side, like shy sirens. But momentum was lost on the second song, and the album is so complex, the time signatures so twisted, it seemed that no amount of practice could have nailed it down. It didn’t help that Alarm Will Sound had some spotty synchronicity and tuning moments. The long, drifting passages on “But in the Headlights” and “Gilt Gold Scabs” sounded misguided and naked, as though a player were missing. Some members played on wine bottles, and a base flute was involved, as well as lots of gratuitous hand-clapping, which sounded messy at times, perhaps on purpose. Many in the audience began to get restless, but the ensemble soldiered on to no avail.

After the opera finally ended, the Projectors (minus their drummer) took the stage for three songs: a very slow cover of Dylan’s “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine,” as well as their own “Temecula Sunrise” and “Cannibal Resource” from Bitte Orca. They sounded good, and Longstreth’s singing sounded much more comfortable, but the band would have sounded much better with a whole orchestra backing them up. None of the women got to sing lead on any song, though Angel Deradoorian singing “Two Doves” would have sounded lovely in this acoustic setting.

All in all, the event demonstrated what the Projectors are capable of musically. It also showed that some misguided musical experiments are better laid to rest, no matter how brilliant their 23-year-old composer may be. As the Eagles said, “And I don’t want to hear any more/ No, no, baby/ I don’t want to hear any more.” Here’s hoping the Projectors stick to Bitte Orca from now on.

By Cassandra McGrath of CWG Magazine

The Walt Disney Concert Hall is located at 111 South Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles.  For more information on upcoming shows, please call (213) 972-7211, or visit www.laphil.com.

What do you get when you showcase the brightest and boldest of Angeleno performance artists?  GUTTED.  Gutted is the only word to describe Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions’ encompassing performance art-based program, which includes live performance, texts, and objects speaking of, from, and to the body.

GUTTED is Saturday, February 20 at 7:00pm, LACE.  Click here for more info.

The exhibition Actions, Conversations, and Intersections at the Los Angeles Municipal Gallery in Barnsdall Art Park continues to add new participatory projects to its roster.  This weekend, roll up your sleeves and join artists Edward Pine Stevens and Joseph Stuckleman with their installation Make Objects Make Marks or BikeHaus as they bike through Los Angeles as part of Cloud Lines and Chemospheres.

Check out the rest of this weekend’s programming here.

Newly purchased by Quentin Tarantino, the New Beverly Cinema is continuing its program of repertory cinema.  Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Election will play back-to-back not only once, but twice this Saturday because it is oh so nice.  Save Ferris!  Pick Flick!

The Matthew Broderick double feature starts at 3:20 and 7:30 at the New Beverly Cinema.  Click here for more info.

Finding the lobby of the brand new Pacific Stages theatre in El Segundo to see the debut production of their debut season, Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero, is difficult.  The freshly-painted, modern alcove is tucked away in the ground floor of a corporate office complex, squished in between a giant Pacific Theatres multiplex, a P.F. Changs, and a golf accessories warehouse.  It would seem like the last place to see an intimate, contemporary drama in the Los Angeles area, let alone from the likes of Lonergan, one of the best living, American playwrights.  But then again, that’s what Lobby Hero, probably one of his best works, is all about: exceeding expectations.

Lights go up on Jeff—played by the young, pitch-perfect Edward Tournier—lounging with a newspaper during his shift as a lobby security guard at a middle-income apartment building in New York.  Jeff seems like the type to end up in such an overlooked position; he’s lazy, has a thicket of permanent, unshaven stubble around  his face, and is prone to making unnecessary wise-cracks about absolutely anything and everything that crosses his path.  He’s hardly unlikeable, but lacks the ambition to make him worthwhile.  Jeff’s supervisor, William, or ‘Captain’ as he likes to be called, doesn’t seem like the type.  William (Kareem Ferguson), walks with his head held high, his posture upright, always with a direct and just purpose.  He admonishes Jeff for not writing down the exact time when a policeman entered the building.  William’s harsh reality is that if it weren’t for his skin-color and his societal upbringing, he would most likely be a C.E.O. or a doctor, a high-priced lawyer or politician.  But instead he’s the captain of a security guard outfit, the same outfit he’s worked at since he was sixteen.

The two co-workers have a competitive, familial bond with one another that gets heightened when William looks to Jeff for advice about his troublesome brother who got arrested for murder and wants William to provide the alibi.   Enter the arrogant, womanizing Officer Bill (Nick Mennell, an uncanny Vince Vaughn doppelgänger), and his attractive, rookie partner, Dawn (Dana Lynn Bennett). Bill has not only involved himself in the sexual lives of both Dawn and a female tenant of the building, but also in the family troubles of William.  He wants to help out his brother, maybe corroborate William’s side of the story—if he does indeed have one.  But Dawn’s not so happy with her two-timing “partner” Bill, and she would gladly tell her superiors about his nightly, on-the-clock visits to the apartment building, if only she had actual proof of some wrong-doing.  After all, she’s simply a newbie female in the force, sexy though she may be.

This whole situation puts Jeff, the simple lobby security guard, in a suddenly powerful position.  In his hands he holds the fates of William, William’s brother, Dawn, and Bill.  The question is whether he should sacrifice morality in the name of loyalty and equality?  And this is the central question of the play, one each character must deal with on their own terms.  Essentially, Lonergan is asking if an equal morality can even exist in our unequal society.

It’s pretty deep subject matter for a first-year theatre company who’s own lobby could be mistaken for a boutique ad agency.  But just as Jeff is much more than his security uniform suggests, Pacific Stages‘ Lobby Hero goes above and beyond any set expectations.  Under the direction of Robert Bailey, the relatively young cast members each manage to glide past their respective stereotypes, and what appears at first a passive, jokey performance from Tournier or a Vince Vaughn impersonation from Mennell, for instance, becomes realistic and nuanced.  Even the simplistic set-design—a desk, a door, and a background painting—lit on each side by free-standing lights, in the end allows the actors and the drama to take precedence.   I walked away from Lobby Hero impressed and hopeful for the future of this new company.  Then I went and ate at P.F. Changs.

Lobby Hero runs until March 21nd at Pacific Stages located at Beach Cities Plaza/Continetal Park, 2401 Rosencrans Avenue in El Segundo.  For more information, visit pacificstages.org, or call (310) 868-2631.

Pablo Uribe, Atardecer, 2008 (Dusk) - video still

This year, the Los Angeles Art Show made its home at Los Angeles Convention Center.  This venue change provided more space for gallery booths that ranged from contemporary works such as the Wall Project’s Shepard Fairey and Thierry Noir painted walls to landscapes galore — and even more space for project-based installations. The Vox Humana on-site art performance presented street artists Mear One, Kofie, Retna, and El Mac who showed off their talents over the length of the fair on large-scale canvases.  And speaking of more room, I wondered how Sidestreet Projects got one of their woodworking workshop buses into the fair.  These school buses are outfitted with project stations for elementary school children so they can make a nuts and bolts washer sandwich and one FUNdred dollar bills, which I am sure we all could use more of these days.

One of my favorite pieces of the art fair was Pablo Uribe’s video, Atardecer (2008), which screened in a makeshift dark room in the Guest Country program booth’s rear.  While looking at the other works from the 34° 53’ 0” S – 56° 10’ 0” W show, I heard animals sounds curiously mix with the ambient art fair noise.  Upon stepping into the screening area, there was a video of an older man standing before a black background looking as if he were about to perform a gorgeous aria.  Instead of sweet notes pouring out of his mouth, the sound of a dog’s bark came out.  And then the cooing of a bird!  The actor was imitating the sounds of native rain forest animals.

Willy Rojas, Egg

Willy Rojas’ photographs at Barcelona’s Villa del Arte booth depicted miniature figurines interacting with their food-based environment.  Tiny people ski down slopes of salt or a wedge of hard cheese.  A man broke the shell of an egg with his sledgehammer while a couple ice skates on an orange hued soup.

Speaking of food, the Timothy Yarger Gallery presented Jean Wells’ The Giant Kiss quite literally.  The huge chocolate-scented foil wrapped sculpture demanded a tongue-in-cheek presence while paying homage to Claes Oldenburg’s shop.

The Rebecca Hossack Gallery held quite a few treats, including a gorgeous papel picado-esque paper cutting in the shape of a peacock (Ian Penney), a piece of toast with an image of Shakespeare burnt onto it à la the Virgen de Guadalupe (Maria Morrow), and also Phil Shaw’s photographs of brightly colored bookshelves, which was a voyeur’s delight to snoop the book titles.

And on my way out, I spotted three Jeff Koon’s puppy vases filled with fresh flowers guarding Jean Dubuffet’s Tapis at the Jane Kahan Gallery.  In my mind, they were the guardians of the LA Art Show — a much friendlier and kitsch version of Cerberus.

Yesterday, I journeyed to the center of the Earth.  And by the center of the Earth, I mean Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth, an exhibition at the Fowler Museum.  The whole experience wasn’t too strenuous and it provided a welcomed break and plenty of inspiration into my day.

Upon entrance, there is a huge bear made out of striped sweaters standing on its hind legs.  Welcome to the show, ladies and gentlemen.  Your journey has just begun.  In the same room, a three-panel screen showing different videos sets the tone of the show because they depict Nick Cave’s Soundsuits in resonating action.  Soundsuits are elaborate, labor-intensive costumes, or “suits,” made out of household materials.  The name of each suit is the sound each costume makes when worn.

Marching straight out of a hallucination, the 35 Soundsuits on display boggle the mind because they are part ritualistic garb and part Alice in Wonderland with a touch of Liberace.  They range from knitted bodysuits patched together from afghans to intricate headdresses turned body-based sculpture covered with sequins and video tape.  Considering the sculptures are to be worn, one can start to think about the notions of performance whether in terms of art, ritual, or art and ritual’s intersection.  Furthermore, just imagine wearing one of these suits.  Not only would you need a team to help you put it on, but also you would need to relearn how to move and learn how to be this character.  There is only room for one personality when wearing a Soundsuit.  And I think the Soundsuit would win.

A close inspection of the suits’ materials dazzle the mind.  Materials include remnants of cozy sweaters, sequin jackets, kitsch bird sculptures, vintage toy tops, and buttons galore all stacked on top of each other or sewn right next to each other.  You start to wonder about the life of each material before it was placed onto this sculpture.  Each button was once sewn onto a shirt.  Each afghan warmed families on their couch.  The sheer amount of found materials is astounding.

Furthermore, the show’s installation was a treat.  Instead of following the works-on-white-wall model, brilliantly colored walls and screens lead the viewer throughout the exhibition Wild Toad-style to examine the Soundsuits in the round.

As you walk out of the exhibition, you might be wondering where you could see one of these Soundsuits in action.  If you keep your eyes and ears open, you will.  Nick Cave is partnering up with UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures to create a series of impromptu performance-interventions around the city called Soundsuit Invasions.  Just keep tabs on the Fowler’s Twitter and Facebook feeds for the details.

Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth closes May 30, 2010.  Please click here for more information.

So I’ve been writing for Fine Arts LA for almost a year now, and I realized that this affords me one of the greatest of art-reviewers’ honors: the end-of-the-year top-ten list.  As a devout follower of numerous art, theatre, and film writers, I find that it’s often popular to downplay the top-ten tradition, dismiss it as a sad reality of the quick-fix world we live in.  But even in this downplaying, there’s a hint of relish in the writer’s voice, as if he/she felt obligated to somehow contain their own excitement at the prospect of shedding off those hundreds upon hundreds of shows, films, galleries, albums, installations, and happenings they consumed throughout the year, finally to narrow it down to the even, clean number of ten.

I myself haven’t been to hundreds of shows this year.  But as a weekly contributor to Fine Arts LA, I have been privy to some of the best art this crazy city has to offer, and I wasn’t limited to one medium.  I saw plays, movies, photography exhibits, I even flirted with the perils of a natural disaster, and thus… my top ten:

10. “Sam Cherry: Photographs of Charles Bukowski, the Black Cat, and Skid Row”

Representing one half of the double exhibit entitled “Bukowski and Burroughs” that went up in early April at the Track 16 Gallery, this series of simple photographs succeeded in portraying what none of these phantasmagoric, apocalyptic fantasy movies can pull off: it showed an old, self-destructive man, reflecting back on the good times he’s had, proud yet regretful, strong yet weak.

9. Ken Tanaka’s “Maximum Pleasant”

Ken Tanaka is one artist/performer/youtube-phenomenon I was lucky enough to interview.  His show at the Billy Shire Fine Arts Gallery back in May included videos, paintings, drawings, music, and even a fully functional garage sale.  But it neither the media mash-up that impressed me about Ken nor even his possible double identity.  It was his sense of pure pleasure in creation, his contagious childlike sense of comedy that emanates off his pieces, and made for one of the smiley-est art openings I’ve seen in LA.

8. Landscaping the Den of Saints

It’s easy to skip over small, live theatre in Los Angeles, especially when it’s a three-hour meditation on the ideas of success and ambition like Jacob Smith’s recent, original production at the Avery Schreiber Theatre.  But sometimes you miss out on gems, and this play took on the issue of being young and hungry in Los Angeles, and ended up representing the struggle with a sense of playful accuracy.  And actor Sean Fitzgerald deserves some sort of award for his transformative performance.

7. Visioneers

This film, which is now up on Netflix instant-play, began its distribution independently.  And I mean independently.  I saw Visioneers at the Echo Park Film Center, when it was traveling around to any screen that would take it, and I have to say that it stuck with me.  Starring the still-underrated Zack Galifianakis, the movie is about spontaneous combustion in a futuristic, corporate-run society, where giving someone the middle finger is a sign of respect.  Every time I enter an office building, I think of the bearded Galifianakis flicking me off with a smile.

6. Gavin Bunner’s “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”

Another interviewee, the friendly Mr. Bunner isn’t afraid to dress in a cardboard Moby Dick costume and compete in a public boxing match against a Berenstein Bear.  Sure it seems silly, but it’s emblematic of what this young, promising painter is attempting to capture and celebrate in his work: the absurd convergence of pop and pomp in our Google-ingrained brains.

5. Lie of the Mind

I only saw this play last week, so it might just be a fresh lie of my own mind, but Studio Five Productions’ latest show, which you can still catch until the 19th at the Studio/Stage Theatre, is a brave and forceful retelling of Sam Shepard’s original, 1985 story.  The actors are physical and fierce, the music is haunting, the makeup is extraordinary, and the set is like something Jason Schwartzman’s character would dream up in Rushmore.

(more…)

After days of exclusive parties and bad food, the art fair circuit in Miami is winding down.  Everyone has two cents about this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach, especially with Michael Jackson’s surprise appearance.  Yet somehow the world goes on outside of Miami…

• Galleries from across the globe have congregated in one spot for one weekend.  Word is they are doing more with more in Miami.  Linda Yablonsky gives her first impression of the fair.  [New York Times]
• And ArtForum gives it a whirl as well.  [ArtForum: Scene and Heard]
• Art Basel Miami Beach has bigger works and smaller prices… “When markets contract, art fairs shrink — but only to a point.”  [The LA Times]
• There are stronger art sales at Basel than last year.  “As well as taking longer to complete, sales are happening at a different level. ‘The numbers have all changed, 500,000 is the new million,’ says 303 director Lisa Spellman.” [The Art Newspaper]
• This is an art fair favorite.  At PULSE, “Corner Store envelopes the visitor within the environment of a gas station or convenience store typical to Texas and the Southern United States.”  It is a Kwik-E-Mart for the art world.  [Daily Serving]
• Michael Jackson strikes back.  Artist Kehinde Wiley reveals a portrait of Jackson a la Rubens commissioned before Jackson’s death. It is showing at Deitch Projects. [The Art Newspaper]
• David Hockney zips between Los Angeles and Yorkshire, England and tells what it is like being an “English Los Angeleno.”  [The LA Times]
• James Franco loves performance art.  And thus, we love him even more! [Another Righteous Transfer]
• MOMA presents a retrospective of Tim Burton.  Will it include Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter as well? [New York Times]
• The strike of Paris museum workers, which began recently at the Centre Pompidou, has spread to the Musee d’Orsay, the Arc de Triomphe, the Sainte-Chapelle, the Carcassonne in the south of France, Versailles Palace, and the Louvre.  The Louvre was able to open a number of its rooms for a very limited amount of time this week, but that is not necessarily a harbinger of good news – the protesters say they will “keep going until they give in.” [Bloomberg]
• Eli Broad makes very clear why he loves LA in this top ten list… Listen up, New York. [Huffington Post]

This week, we’ve been glued to Culture Monster, discovered Lady Gaga’s philanthropic side, and have seen many Angelenos brave the opposite coast for Art Basel: Miami.  All in the name of art.

• Not only did Lady Gaga perform with the Bolshoi Ballet for MOCA’s 30th anniversary gala this month, but now the museum is auctioning off items used during the performance.  The gala, according to The Daily Beast, raised $4 million for MOCA (phew!) and Gaga’s costumes are the gift that keeps on giving – some of the items to be auctioned off include Prada dress, a Frank Gehry designed hat, and masks by Baz Lurhmann and Catherine Martin.  {The Daily Beast}

• We knew baritone Nathan Gunn had a notable effect on the ladies, but were blithely unaware that his influence on his fans is such that they’ve coined the term “barihunks,” for hunky, baritone leading men in opera, a group in which Gunn is a favored and founding member.   The buff, tall glass of water will perform in LA Opera’s upcoming Barber of Seville, but according to Culture Monster, there are a number of blogs devoted to these barihunks. Now, even tenors are getting in on the action.  {LA Times’ Culture Monster}

• A staff strike at Paris’ Centre Pompidou was extended this week and some fear that the strike could spread to other museums nearby including the Louvre and Versailles Palace.  The staff are upset over planned job cuts and after a meeting with France’s Culture Minister Frederic Mitterand went sour this week, it doesn’t look like Parisians will be getting their contemporary art fix too soon.  {ArtInfo}

• Once Thanksgiving passes, it’s only a blink of an eye before the art world descends on Miami.  December 3 – 6, the tanned retirees of Miami will be joined by artists, collectors, gallerists, and curators for Art Basel: Miami.  LA galleries represented this year include Blum & Poe, Michael Kohn Gallery, Regen Projects, and Roberts and Tilton Gallery.  {Art Basel: Miami}

• Also on LA Times’ Culture Monster this week, a list proving that LA’s theatre scene is worth it’s salt.  Charles McNulty notes Geffen Playhouse’s Equivocation, LA Jolla Playhouse’s production of Bonnie and Clyde, Love’s Labour’s Lost at The Broad Stage, and Mary Poppins, which recently opened at the Ahmanson, among the manifold ways in which this city continues to support live theatre.  Take that New York (and Seattle)! {LA Times’ Culture Monster}

Similar to last month when a good portion of the Los Angeles art world headed to London for the Frieze Art Fair, another group of artists, directors, curators, and art aficionados are packing their bags for more art-related travel, which is Fine Art LA’s favorite kind of jet-setting by the way.  No need to bring your passport – the destination is New York and Performa is the word.  This is a biennial with a specific focus and promise: performance art.  And this stuff is the cream of the crop.

In New York City, Performa 09, the third biennale of new visual art performance, continues its run until November 22^nd.  Headed by director RoseLee Goldberg, Performa combines visual art, music, dance, poetry, fashion, architecture, and film (as well as television, radio, graphic design, and the culinary arts — Performa is much more inclusive than exclusive) to form over 110 events throughout the city of New York in institutions as well as smaller artist-run spaces.

Highlights include Performa commissioned work by artists Guy Ben-Ner, Candice Breitz, Omer Fast, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Mike Kelley, Arto Lindsay, Wangechi Mutu, Christian Tomaszewski, and Yeondoo Jung as well as premieres by artists Keren Cytter, Tacita Dean, Alica Framis, Loris Greaud, William Kentridge, and Joan Jonas.

We’re keeping our eyes and ears open for Los Angeles-based Mike Kelley’s three dance/performance pieces entitled Day is Done Judson Church Dance, which will be occurring Tuesday, November 17 to Thursday, November 19 at the Judson Memorial Church.  Kelley’s work will feature characters from Day is Done, who were inspired by the photographs found in the extracurricular activities section of American high school yearbooks.

Founded by Goldberg in 2004, both Performa 05 and Performa 07 flourished in terms of program and attendance, with this year’s incarnation including even more artists, performances, exhibitions, educational forums, public art projects, publications, film screenings, and radio, Internet, and television broadcasts.

The first of its kind, Performa is a leading example of a multi-disciplinary examination of performance art.  As Los Angeles experienced its own version of Performa with PERFORM! NOW! this past summer (July 25) up and down Chinatown’s Chung King Road, we are only excited to see any further developments Los Angeles has to aid this growing want and need of performance art at home.