Franklin Furnace’s Goings On
July 24, 2003
CONTENTS:
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1. John Malpede, FF Alumn, at Highways, Los Angeles, August 8-9, 2003.
2. Alice Eve Cohen, FF Alumn, solo show, Edinburgh, Scotland, August 2003
3. Elizabeth Zimmer presents North Wing at The American Living Room, Aug. 15, 8:30
4. Aaron Landsman, FF Alumn, at LOW, Brooklyn, July 25, 7:30 pm
5. Harley Spiller, FF Alumn, to be profiled in the New York Times, this Sunday, July 27
6. U.S. Dept. of Art and Technology at Corcoran Gallery, opens Aug. 14, thru Oct. 6
7. Saul Ostrow, FF Alumn, appointed Chair of Painting at Cleveland Institute of Arts
8. Simone Forti, FF Alumn, new book, Oh, Tongue, now available.
9. Dor Green, FF Alumn, in National Black Theater Festival, Aug 7-9, Winston-Salem
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1. John Malpede, FF Alumn, at Highways, Los Angeles, August 8-9, 2003.
Performance Artist, John Malpede to Stage 20-Year Retrospective of the Los Angeles Poverty Department (“L.A.P.D.”), a Los Angeles Based Homeless Theater Group
“Malpede L.A.P.D.” chronicles the adventures of John Malpede on the mean streets and in the small theaters of Los Angeles with his acting troupe, the L.A.P.D….the Los Angeles Poverty Department. Formed in 1984 as a reaction to Mayor Tom Bradley’s effort to clear the streets of the homeless to “beautify” for the Olympics, Malpede and the L.A.P.D. have garnered rave reviews for their shows in over 15 cities and 4 countries. One important note…the L.A.P.D. is made up of the homeless.
A respected member of the Performance Art community in Manhattan, Malpede did not expect to begin a two decade career as the artistic director of a homeless theater group when he moved to Los Angeles. But the stories he encountered as a volunteer at the Inner City Law Center compelled him to form the L.A.P.D. and to pursue a dual goal of creating community on skid row and staging street level performances to open a window into the lives of the homeless. The L.A.P.D. has been a startling success on both fronts.
“John Malpede takes performance to levels of intensity and power that very few artists can match. His depth of commitment to the bigger picture and his direct engagement with on the ground and on the street realities give his performances all the shock, wonder, contradiction, fierceness and amazement of current events.” — Peter Sellars
Now Malpede will draw on 20 years of difficult, poignant, gut wrenching, sometimes hysterical, almost always frightening experiences to stage a one-man show telling the incredible story of the L.A.P.D. For this performance, Malpede returns to Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, the venue for the L.A.P.D.’s very first performance two decades ago.
This will not be a traditional piece of theater. John will be joined on stage by the images and voices of his L.A.P.D. colleagues, “ghosted” onto billowing screens by projectors. The Halo Group has been shooting broadcast quality video of the L.A.P.D. for over a decade and will combine that with material from other sources to give the show a striking added dimension. Moreover, Halo Group will be shooting the stage program for inclusion in a documentary feature.
As a director and performer, John Malpede has been the recipient of numerous awards, including Dance Theater Workshop’s (NYC) Bessie Creation Award, San Francisco Art Institute’s Adeline Kent Award, Durfee Sabbatical Grant and the LA Theater Alliance Ovation Award.
Highways Performance Space is Southern California’s boldest center for new performance. Under the guidance of Artistic Director Danielle Brazell, Highways has been an important alternative cultural center in Los Angeles that encourages fierce new artists to come forward from the diverse communities to have their voices heard and visions expressed. Highways is located at 1651 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404.
“Malpede, L.A.P.D.” will take place at Highways on August 8 and 9, 2003 at 8:30 p.m. Tickets will be available at the door for $15; discounted students’ and children’s rates available. Call 310-315-1459 for more information regarding tickets.
Contacts: H. Thomas Jones, Executive Director, The Halo Group, 310-390-9001 tjones@halogroup.net
Jaclyn Hoekstra, Associate Producer, The Halo Group, 310-393-9001 jhoekstra@halogroup.net
Danielle Brazell, Artistic Director, Highways Performance Space and Gallery,
310-453-4337 highwaysone@mindspring.com
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2. Alice Eve Cohen, FF Alumn, solo show, Edinburgh, Scotland, August 2003
Alice Eve Cohen will be performing her solo show, Thin Walls, at the Edinburgh Festival Assembly Rooms for the month of August.
Thin Walls
Written and performed by Alice Eve Cohen
Directed by Elizabeth Margid
Music and sound design by Daniel Levy
“Gripping… observant” The New York Times
“Brilliant… fascinating… magical” Culturevulture.net
“The most exciting, touching and beautifully developed one-person show I have seen in a long time.” Gay City News, NYC
THIN WALLS: Set in a century-old apartment building, once elegant and now run-down, the darkly humorous play interweaves the stories of the building’s long-time residents, its recent arrivals and its ghosts, as the end of the 20th Century approaches. As seen through the eyes of a new tenant, the play covers a ten-year period, zeroing in on twelve eclectic neighbors as their lives collide in comic, tragic and sometimes violent ways. Thin Walls is a play about a community – a microcosm of the urban landscape at a turbulent time in New York City’s history.
Practical Cats’ production of Thin Walls will be presented at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival from August 1-26, at the Assembly Rooms’ Wildman Theatre.
This production is made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.A Practical Cats Theatre production, in association with 78th Street Theatre Lab
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3. Elizabeth Zimmer presents North Wing at The American Living Room, Aug. 15, 8:30
North Wing:
A Cautionary Tale with Poems by Dead White Men
Written and performed by Elizabeth Zimmer
Soundscape by Peter Kirn
A monologue about a post-college political crisis and a very literary
nervous breakdown, circa 1967.
TALR (The American Living Room) 2003
August 15 @8:30; $15. $3 OFF with code TALR12 at www.here.org or by phone
at 212/868-4444.
For tickets and info: www.here.org
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4. Aaron Landsman, FF Alumn, at LOW, Brooklyn, July 25, 7:30 pm
Stories and Songs, with Aaron Landsman and Todd Griffin:
Stories: by Aaron Landsman; about a Toyota on its last legs, and maybe how Hoosiers tell the difference between “trrists,” and “trrists.”
Songs: by T. Griffin; about Ford Tauruses (Tauri?), ladders from the bottom of the sea and, if we’re lucky, a summer dress or two.
Friday July 25, 2003
7:30 PM
Free
LOW
81 Washington St
between Front St. & York St.
DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY 11201
718-222-1LOW
http://www.riceny.com/low
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5. Harley Spiller, FF Alumn, to be profiled in the New York Times, this Sunday, July 27
On Sunday, July 27th, The New York Times “City” section will run a profile on Harley Spiller, FF Alumn. The City section is only in the local edition, but everyone should be able to view the story and photo online at http://www.nytimes.com
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6. U.S. Dept. of Art and Technology at Corcoran Gallery, opens Aug. 14, thru Oct. 6
Visitor Center Opens in Washington, DC
“Enter a Citizen, Exit a Revolutionary”
On August 15th, 2003, the US Department of Art & Technology opens its Visitor Center at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. A special VIP pre-opening event will take place on August 14th, 6:30 – 8:30 pm. The Secretary and his staff, along with military aides and secret service, will be on hand to greet visitors. Curator Paul Brewer will host. Two years ago, following 9/11, the President made a dramatic move to embrace the arts through the creation of the US Department of Art & Technology. The US DAT Visitor Center tells the story of how the Department was formed by artists seeking to reclaim America’s Government. The appointment of Randall M. Packer as the Department’s first Secretary was one of the most radical decisions made in the history of the White House. Packer’s vision for the nation is “to promote cultural growth, improved aesthetic standards for all Americans, and to insure that the artist as visionary, as social revolutionary, has voice in the national dialogue.”
Only a block from the White House and just a short walk from the nation’s historic Mall, the Corcoran Gallery of Art stands as a major center dedicated to the avant-garde. It is a place where culture reflects everyday life and breaks through the illusion established by the spectacle.In choosing the Corcoran as the site of the US DAT Visitor Center, Secretary Packer states, “The Corcoran is a remarkable institution that believes art must be active within the culture, not owned by it. With the museum’s close proximity to the White House, we now realize our ideals to reconstruct the environment in order to bring about new behaviors through experimentation and propaganda.” The exhibit, with its theme, “Enter a Citizen, Exit a Revolutionary,” features a unique collection of tactical media, information panels, and a historical timeline detailing the chronology of the Department and its extraordinary development. Also included is a video promoting the Department’s “Experimental Party,” featuring speeches and announcements by Secretary Packer, National Chairwoman Roberta Breitmore, avatar-candidate for President Abe Golam, WeTheBlog.org founder Jeff Gates, and the Exquisite Corpse. “We are proud to be able to bring our story to the public’s attention,” said Tanya Spam, the Department’s Assistant Secretary of the Bureau for the Conservation and Preservation of the Suspension of Disbelief, and an independent writer and editor in Washington, DC. The Visitor Center, which will be on exhibit through October 6, 2003, was organized by the US Department of Art & Technology, the Corcoran College of Art & Design, and the White House Office of Appropriations, in cooperation with the National Park Service. In conjunction with the show will be a 24/7 live web broadcast over Tel-SPAN (usdat.us/tel-span), the telematic channel of the US Department of Art & Technology, featuring up-to-the-minute proclamations, rants, remixes, manifestos, and other forms of anarchist entertainment by sound artists DJ Spooky, Rick Silva, Trace Reddell among others, as well as a first glimpse of the Media Deconstruction Kit. The US Department of Art & Technology Visitor Center, located at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, 500 17th St., N.W, Washington, D.C. from August 15 – October 6, will be open from 10 am to 5 pm daily. Closed every Tuesday. Extended hours Thursday evenings until 9 pm and for special Situational Events sponsored by the Department.
Contact: Press Secretary of the US Department of Art & Technology press@usdat.us The US Department of Art & Technology http://www.usdat.us The US Department of Art and Technology is the United States principal conduit for facilitating the artist’s need to extend aesthetic inquiry into the broader culture where ideas become real action. It also serves the psychological and spiritual well-being of all Americans by supporting cultural efforts that provide immunity from the extension of new media technologies into the social sphere. The Experimental Party http://www.experimentalparty.org The Experimental Party – the “party of experimentation” – is an artist-based political party that has been formed to activate citizens across the country in an effort to bring the artists’ message to center stage of the political process. This is a political awakening, ‘representation through virtualization’ is the major political thrust of the Experimental Party, it is the driving force. The Principal Artists are Roberta Breitmore (created by Lynn Hershman), Jonah Brucker-Cohen, Jeff Gates, Abe Golam (from Mark Amerika’s Grammatron), Jon Henry (Exquisite Corpse), Randall Packer, and Wesley Smith. Tel-SPAN http://www.usdat.us/tel-span Tel-SPAN is a public service of the US Department of Art & Technology. Its mission is to provide global access to the artistic process in an increasingly cybernated society. Tel-SPAN provides its audience access to live, real-time distribution of broad forms of cultural content, and to other forums where critical artistic issues are discussed, debated and decided – all without editing, commentary or analysis and with a balanced presentation of all radical points of view. Tel-SPAN is sponsored by the Johns Hopkins University Digital Media Center and the Open Source Streaming Alliance. The Principal Engineer is Joe Reinsel. # 01-123
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7. Saul Ostrow, FF Alumn, appointed Chair of Painting at Cleveland Institute of Arts
Saul Ostrow has been Appointed Chair of Painting and Dean of Fine Arts at The Cleveland Institute of Art. The Cleveland Institute of Art announces the appointment of Saul Ostrow as Chair of painting and Dean of Fine Arts effective August 1.
David L. Deming, president and CEO of the Institute announced that “We are delighted that Saul has agreed to join the faculty of the Institute. He is a major force in the contemporary art world and brings unique strengths as an educator, author, critic, curator and a 20-year career as a studio artist. We welcome his dedication to educating future artists and his vision in contemporary art.”
Ostrow served most recently as associate professor of art, director of the Center for Visual Art as well as coordinator of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Master Artists and Scholars Institute of the School of Fine Arts at the University of Connecticut at Storrs and Stamford.
An avid writer, Ostrow is art editor of BOMB Magazine and editor of the book series, Critical Voices in Art, Theory and Culture published by Routledge Publishing of London. In addition he as written more numerous exhibition catalogues and his articles have appeared in Arts Magazine, Flash Art, Tema Celeste, New Arts Examiner, NY Arts and the L.A. Times Book Review.
He has curated more than 40 exhibitions throughout the U.S. and in Europe. He is currently organizing the exhibition “Painting before the Feild” for the Paine Weber Galleries in New York City (Fall, 2005). Other examples of his curatorial work include “Supports/Surfaces: Prescient, Now and Then, David Dorsky Project”, LIC, New York (2003); “More or Less Painting: Center for Visual Art and Culture”, University of Connecticut (2002); “Painting Function”, Spaces , Cleveland(2000). He also curated (in 1989) two exhibitions for the Jamie Wolff Gallery, New York City and Feigen Contemporary, Chicago, “A Strategy for the Next Painting, which featured the work of Brice Marden, Gerhard Richter and Jonathan Lasker and “A Strategy for the Last Painting” featuring the work of Sherrie Levine, Joseph Kosuth and Yves Klein.
Ostrow’s life as a professional artist includes 20 years career in which he showed internationally, having shown his work in solo and groups exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Germany, Italy and Australia. Several New York galleries have represented him since 1974, including Bykert Gallery, Friedus Ordover Gallery and Elizabeth McDonald Gallery.
“Saul is a distinguished member of the art community who is dedicated to educating the next generation of artists in contemporary art theory and studio practice. He will provide valuable insights for our students,” said Harvey Hix, vice president for academic affairs, who will oversee Ostrow’s role as chair of painting.
Previously he held academic positions at New York University, Parson School, Syracuse University, the School of Visual Arts, Pratt Institute and served as visiting artist and critic for the graduate programs at Cranbrook Academy, U. of Pennsylvania, Penn State University and at the Maryland Institute College of Art. He has lectured extensively and has presented papers at numerous professional conferences, his recent presentation was on “What do Critics, Curators, Dealers Want from The Artist” at the College Art Association, spring 2003.
Ostrow is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York City and earned his MFA at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
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8. Simone Forti, FF Alumn, new book, Oh, Tongue, now available.
Simone Forti’s new book, Oh, Tongue, has just been published by Beyond Baroque Books in Los Angeles. It can be ordered by emailing beyondbaroque@aol.com
And Taken By Surprise, a collection of writings by dance improvisers including Ms. Forti, will be published through Wesleyan University Press this fall.
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9. Dor Green, FF Alumn, in National Black Theater Festival, Aug 7-9, Winston-Salem
Dor Green, FF Alumn, in Euripides “Medea” at the National Black Theater Festival, August 7,8,9 2003 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 3 and 8 pm. Medea is presented by Ghetto Ghost Girl Productions.
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Goings On is compiled weekly by Harley Spiller
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Goings On are compiled weekly by Harley Spiller
Click http://www.franklinfurnace.org/goings_on.html
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