Filed under:New Works
Here’s documentation of Absolution 1 & 2 performed at TINA B. – Prague Festival of Contemporary Art in Prague, Czech Republic on October 9, 2009.
For this performance, which I developed for TINA B. 2009, I wanted to address the Festival’s theme of ‘NEW ERA’ by looking at themes of servitude, gender, political power, the subversion of cycles of geopolitical conflict and the sacred/ profane dyad. Absolution 1, performed with Czech artist Tomas Ruller, began as an exploration of pollution taboos of the lower half of the body (traditionally associated with sex and abjection) with the ‘clean’, ‘pure’ upper half of the body (associated with the mind). The performance combined the archetypal action of Christ’s (spiritual) washing of the 12 disciples’ feet with that of the Magdalene’s sensual action of wiping of Christ’s feet with her hair. As the performance developed, it became a way to to test the emergence of intimacy from an act of servitude, the limits of giving & receiving, and the interpenetration of sacred anointing and sensual pleasure. After this performance, I then performed Absolution 2 (an homage to Janine Antoni), in which I mopped the expansive marble floor with my hair of the Parkhotel Prague lobby. Using a white maid’s cleaning bucket I dipped my head upside down in hot, soapy water and scrubbed away until physically exhausted (about 45 minutes). In the process, this action created a great deal of speculation from 100 or so tourists as they were eventually ‘mopped away’ from the hotel lobby. As the floor became cleaner the dress became progressively gray. Absolution 2, takes the subject of exhausting manual labor as a starting point for re-imaging women’s political role in the new era as leading the way in providing a deeper political cleansing for a world desperate for a change from violent political methodologies of revenge.
October 20, 2009
This Saturday, September 12th, I will be teaching a yoga and meditation class as a performative exploration of the concepts of inner spatial inhabitance and departure from physical space. This holistic exploration will encompass Vinyasa Flow posture sequences (asana), breathing exercises (pranayama) and meditation (dhyana) and is designed to maximize happiness, vitality and inner spatial awareness. Yogis and yoginis of levels, including beginners, are welcome to attend this free event. Please bring your own yoga mat and wear comfortable, loose fitting clothing. This performance is contribution to the Deparcitecture program at Departure Art Centre in Limehouse, London.
Deparcitecture Press Release
Deparcitecture is an invented word derived from Depart and Architecture. It is a complex system of structures inspired from the action of leaving both physical and non physical spaces.
We are constantly leaving; the old self, the room, the building. The quirky unappreciated architecture of the Art Centre’s building helps us to explore the sheer impossibilities of capturing and framing the action of leaving.
On arrival, you will step into the boarding gate lounge, contemplating the panoramic view of the aeroplane’s runway. On leaving the boarding gate you will enter a performance space, once a Danish Seamen’s mission hall, transformed into a diagonal stage by artist Roy Kerr- who presents a show “you need me because without me…”- an argument between the horizontal, vertical and diagonal plane.
We invite you to come along and encounter live art shows, talks, workshops around what Deparcitecture could mean. There are also discussions and debates. A selection of artists from diverse backgrounds are invited to present their take on Deparcitecture; architect, performer, lecturer and scientist. ,
Two days of events will be divided into three parts, PERCEPTION, PHYSICAL and NON PHYSICAL. Curated by Steph Newell.
FRIDAY 11TH SEPTEMBER
2PM-5PM EXPERIENCE DEPARCITECTURE: PERCEPTION
Tour into the installation of 45 degrees installation. Roy Kerr will be performing on a diagonal stage.
2-4PM DISCUSSION FACILITIES BY ARTISTS.
TBC
4PM ‘THE CONQUEST OF THE FOURTH DIMENSION, MAYBE FIFTH IF WE’RE SO LUCKY’ WORKSHOP. Roy Kerr. 30 Minutes.
FRIDAY 11TH SEPTEMBER
6PM-9PM EXPERIENCE DEPARCITECTURE: PHYSICAL
Tour into the installation of a 45 degree installation (see SNEAK PREVIEW). ARTISTS TO BE ANNOUNCED.
There will be stimulation of different shows in the space of three hours!! Be blown away.
DEPARC-HUH-WHAT-TECTURE?
A brief dialogue of what is exactly is Deparcitecture.
“YOU NEED ME BECAUSE WITHOUT ME…” By Roy Kerr. He will be a horizontal plane, a vertical plane and a diagonal place all arguing with each other, trying to be independent from each other.
LE-LE-LE-LE-LE-LEAVING – Roy Kerr.
An absurd humorous commentary on everything from little atoms in our bodies to the very galaxy we’re in.
THE STUDY OF DEPARCITECTURE.
Tasks will be announced unexpectedly twelve times in the name of studying Deparcitecture.
SATURDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER
6PM-9PM EXPERIENCE DEPARCITECTURE: NON-PHYSICAL
Tour into the installation of a 45 degree installation.
11.30AM YOGA CLASS. By Performance Artist Lia Chavez 1 hour.
2PM BALANCE by Carl Stevenson with performer Ana Garcia
2.30PM FILM AND DISCUSSION with Majed Aslam and John Wild.
3.30PM ‘THE CONQUEST OF THE FOURTH DIMENSION, MAYBE FIFTH IF WE’RE SO LUCKY’ WORKSHOP. Roy Kerr. 30 Minutes.
4PM TOUR INTO THE MIND OF THE ARTISTS.
Question the artists and find out about the thinking behind the show.
This is something London has not seen before.
HOW TO GET TO DEPARTURE ARTS CENTRE
1 minute walk from DLR Limehouse.
Bus 15 from Oxford Circus, Trafalgar Square, St Paul’s Cathedral (Millenium Bridge), Momunment Aldgate (tube station)
Bus 135 from Old Street (tube station), Shoreditch High Street, Liverpool Street ((tube station), Aldgate.(tube station).
D5 from Bethnal Green (tube station) and Whitechapel (tube station).
September 7, 2009
The 8th International Video Festival in Kansk presents the Video Art Festival VIDEOHOLICA
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The International Video Art Festival VIDEOHOLICA (Varna) will be presented at the International Video Festival in Kansk (Siberia, Russia) to be held from 21st to 31st August 2009.
The Videholica Festival will take part in the Kansk Video Festival showing a selection of video art in the section Special Program of European Short Films, Cartoon Films and Video Art along with the presentation of a selection of experimental films from the Festival Vallecas Puerta Del Cine (Madrid, Spain), the International One-Minute Film Festival Videominuto (Italy) as well as short and cartoon films from the Festival InterFilm (Berlin, Germany).
The Videholica Festival shall be presented by Pavlina Mladenova (co-director of Videholica) on 28th August 2009, at 3:00 p.m. at the Kansk Town House of Culture.
The International Video Festival in Kansk has been held since 2002. This year’s Festival Program covers six sections: an international competition, Japanese cartoon films, other-type of movies, European independent movies, children’s program and authors’ (presentation) films.
The organizer of the Video Festival in Kansk is Studio Videodom (Moscow, Russia).
Short films and video art from 24 countries shall be competing in the program of competition of the Video Festival in Kansk, which shall be estimated by an international jury with the popular actor and stage director Mikhail Efremov being the chief of jury, and members of the jury Pavlina Mladenova (curator, co-director of the Video Art Festival Videoholica, Bulgaria), Nicolay Khrustalev (film critic, Estonia), Federico Schmucler (film director, Mexico), Walera Kanischtscheff (InterFilmWostok Festival curator), Andrey Smirnov, (film director, Izhevsk Cinema Club Director, Russia), Oleg Ponomarev (artist, curator, Russia), Gerard Ribera (video artist, Spain) and Fabrice Maruca (film director, France).
August 19, 2009
Press Release
Visual Deflections featuring Pipilotti Rist
Curated by Eleanor Lawler and Katherine Nolan
Corbet Place: Sat 29th August 2009, 6.30pm till late
Corbet Place in the Old Truman Brewery off Brick Lane in London
Pipilotti Rist’s pioneering video work has been aspirational for a generation of emerging artists. This event will screen a selection of these artists alongside Rist’s (Absolutions) Pipilotti’s Mistakes. Her influence is reflected in the concept of Visual Deflections, a homage to her use of disjuncture and distortion
The idea of Visual Deflections infers the interruption of the image through distortions of time, movement, light and space. It may also suggest a manipulation of assumptions and identifications that reverberate between the spectator and screen
The works will be shown as a screening from 6.30 Sat night and video installation will continue until Sun 11pm. The venue, Corbet Place, is part of the Old Truman Brewery at the heart of Shoreditch’s vibrant creative scene. The brickwork of the club provides a stripped back aesthetic for the screening, which will be followed by music curated by Back to the Wood.
Artists: Pipilotti Rist, Clint Enns, Ted Sonnenschein, Tessa Garland, Katherine Nolan , Eleanor Lawler, Jonathan Gilhooly, Jan Hakon Erichsen, Ciara Scanlan, Victoria Melody, Anders Weberg, Theo Tagholm, Lisa Flynn, Hillary Williams, Mathew Guillford, Alan Magee, Jeremy Newman, Saskia Vermeulen, Angelo Picozzi, Sarah Breen, Ella Bertilsson, Lia Chavez
August 19, 2009
Dear Friends, I will be showing new photographic work at the upcoming photography exhibition “Personally Political – Contemporary Sensation” at Kunsthaus Tacheles in Berlin. If any of you happen to be in Berlin at the end of May, the opening will be taking place at 7pm on May 29th. xx, L
May 7, 2009
My work will be part of the upcoming Armory Show’s VIP program
William T. Hillman + Lia Chavez collaborative work on exhibit.
This exhibit features large-scale unique Ilfochrome prints which explore the fine line between the gorgeous and the grotesque, alongside themes of the abstract figure, mythologies of origin, and Brechtian image production.
The exhibition will be open to the public from Thursday March 5 and Friday March 6, 10am – 6pm, and Saturday March 7, 11am – 5pm.
At Affirmation Arts, 523 West 37th Avenue, New York, NY
February 8, 2009
A few sketches from a recent animation inspired by a beauty contest talent competition… Such a fascinating hybrid of ‘high culture’, titillation and exhibitionism.
February 3, 2009
An exquisite coffee table book has been published for the Hillman+Chavez show by Affirmation Arts. For information regarding purchasing this publication, please contact Affirmation Arts in New York.
October 22, 2008
ITCH Magazine, a publication on creative writing and visual art out of South Africa, features recent light paintings as cover art in its current issue, entitled rather intriguingly, the * Issue. Read on.
October 1, 2008
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