Performance Art: New York's New Wave

[Brooklyn, NYC + Newark, NJ]

"This Friday, we are presenting new works by Jen Zak, Amery Kessler and Kelly Pinho"


Friday, February 26
9:00 - 11:00 pm
Free & by Donation

+ live music/performance by Verdun

Grace Exhibition Space is excited about a New Wave of Performance Art coming out of New York and the surrounding areas, joining a wave that is stretching along the east coast, from Boston to Baltimore.

Of course WE are thrilled,

Now you should get thrilled, too and join us in the fun of becoming familiar with art, presented through actions, happening right in front of you, live.

In March, Grace Space will begin an Introduction to Performance Art weekly class + monthly Intensive Workshops with our visiting artists. Visit:
www.Grace-Exhibition-Space.com

Jen Zak

Performance is active everywhere: "in stomachs, or freeways, in compost heaps, through fax machines, or at the work place." It has no definite beginning or end – "the line between art and life should be kept as fluid, and perhaps indistinct, as possible." Alan Kaprow

There is no boundary between performer and audience. There is no such thing as a solo performance. The "fourth wall" does not exist.
Performance is happening everywhere all the time, whether one acknowledges it or not.
My performance is the audience's performance - they are the stars.

Jen Zak: www.jenzak.com

Amery Kessler:

I present a scenario of person to person interaction, one that showcases a living process.
The central objects, from which these scenarios emanate, are instruments, sculptures, architectures or props designed for collaborative action. They are accompanied by an implied or stated guidance/use. The scenarios are unconventional yet slightly familiar forums for people to call and respond or converse.

I look to primal, basic and child like notions of expressing oneself, accomplishing a task, or cooperating. A few examples are a reinvented carnival game, a fusion of funeral and drum circle, and tasks such as hammering or sewing- each designed to change its usual purpose. Typically, the devices and subject matter of peoples interactions create a message. But as these facets of interaction are transformed, made simple or surreal, and their purpose equivocal- what is the consistency? What then is the message?

Amery Kessler: www.amerykessler.com/

Kelly Pinho:

Kelly Pinho lives and works in Newark, NJ.
She is new to performance art, but has been making performances for video for years.
We trust in Kelly, and have, slowly, been coaxing her to make more live works.

She first performed at Grace Space in July, 2009, and we strongly welcome her back


VERDUN

“Two Archipelagos looks at how different kinds of music-making machines interact, with human intervention often limited to making sure that various forms of noise interfere with each other. Verdun is generally preoccupied with oscillatory sounds, whether generated through analogue feedback loops or repeated digital synthetics. These are the vaguely pulmonary rhythms that come from the warp core aboard the USS Enterprise, or else from your CD player when something goes terribly wrong. Verdun also love to torture electric guitars. Beyond that, the sounds variety and singularity make it near impossible to describe. The opening track, “Days of Being Wild,” records the interaction between several textures of feedback and repetition, interrupting itself now and then with the static clipping of an over-distorted guitar, or else with the long drone of dissonant chords. The icing on this cake of noise, near the end of the song, is a crystal-clear series of descending synthetic notes, as might come out of a ray-gun. Similar interplay happens in “(Oo)”. We hear the worlds worst garage band—a mutilated electric guitar, a cheap drum kit unskillfully played—but this is so muffled that the garage door might be shut. Then the robotic parents come to complain in their modem-language, and the rest of the song performs the two groups dispute: Verdun is about exploring just such contrasts between acoustical and digital noises. In Two Archipelagos, Verdun offers an insightful unfolding of the textural possibilities that our weird technological vector makes possible; this is a record that asks oblique questions and makes strange observations about what music today can and should do. Its a challenging and rewarding listen.” – Seth Perlow. Hand-screened limited edition of 100 copies.

Verdun: www.eyland.org/verdun/

NEW AT GRACE SPACE

Grace Exhibition Space is run & curated by Jill McDermid, Erik Hokanson and Viki Wang Hua.

This year, we welcome guest curator: Peter Dobill www.peterdobillactionist.com

We also run the ALICE CHILTON GALLERY for Performance Art Documentation
- Featuring performance art documentation: limited-edition prints, videos and artifacts
plus live performances during regular gallery hours

ALICE CHILTON GALLERY
147 Roebling Street
Williamsburg, Brooklyn 11211

Alice Chilton Gallery: www.alicechiltongallery.blogspot.com