The Best of Performa 07

NEW YORK—The second edition of Performa, New York City’s biennial of new visual art performance, started on Saturday, October 27, and runs through November 20. With 10 new commissions, some 25 curators, 40 collaborating organizations, more than 60 venues, 100-plus artists, a full-scale academic conference, and altogether more events than we can actually count, it’s no surprise that even RoseLee Goldberg, Performa’s guiding light, admitted that she was going to have to plan carefully to be able to see everything that’s on offer. So, for this week’s Top 5, here are some suggestions of what you shouldn’t miss.

Note: Though it’s not much discussed here at ARTINFO, I have worked as a performance artist for more then 30 years (albeit largely unsuccessfully) and know the field, and some of the artists, rather well. As you might imagine, this has made it very difficult to pare my choices down to five. But with apologies to all the friends and acquaintances I’ve left out, here goes.

1. Marie Cool & Fabio Balducci, Untitled (1996–2007). The Clocktower Building, Friday, November 2, $14.

These Parisians are two of my favorite artists in any art form, anywhere in the world. Marie and Fabio create sequences of tiny, often almost invisible performances, sometimes using domestic or industrial objects. They demand total attention, but what great art doesn’t? Marie does the actual performing and, for all her understatement, is one of the most mesmeric performers I’ve ever encountered. I once saw her dance a duet with a green plastic shopping bag. If you see only one Performa event this year, make it this one.

2. Allan Kaprow, 18 Happenings in 6 Parts (Re-Doing). Deitch Studios, Long Island City, Monday, November 5 to Sunday, November 11, $18.

Kaprow, who died last year at age 69, was the inventor of the “Happening.” His 1959 piece 18 Happenings in 6 Parts, preserved for years only in photographs, notes, and recollections, is usually thought of as having inaugurated the genre. The event was hugely influential, and included among its original participants Lucas Samaras, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns. Of course we can’t go back to 1959, but at least we can get a sense of what actually happened in this fundamental piece of performance art. Since I actually had a crack at re-staging the work in England back in 1980, I shall be fascinated to see this (inevitably better informed) “re-doing” by André Lepecki and Stephanie Rosenthal.

3. Jerome Bel, Pichet Klunchen and Myself, Dance Theater Workshop, Wednesday, November 7 to Saturday, November 10, $25.

One strand of this year’s Performa is performance that has its origins in dance. Jerome Bel, another Parisian, is a choreographer who repeatedly stretches the limits of dance way beyond their breaking point. When I used to run a performance space in England, Jerome and his company came along and performed a piece naked. They pissed on the floor mid-performance and one of their number sang the entire score of Stravinsky’s "Rite of Spring"—all in all, it was one of the most amazing performances I’ve ever seen! Here Bel stages an encounter between two utterly different dance traditions. You won’t be disappointed by the fallout.

4. Carolee Schneemann, Artist Talk & Screening. Electronic Arts Intermix, Wednesday, November 7, free.

Another Performa thread this year is “a celebration of the indomitable Carolee Schneemann.” Indomitable or not, Carolee has been out there for something like half a century! One of the first major artists I ever met, she changed our entire attitude not only to art, but to life as well. Her evenings of new work, recollections, restagings, screenings, and whatever else occurs to her can be pretty anarchic, but they are utterly unmissable. A performance goddess in the flesh for free? The world’s gone insane.

5. Darren O’Donnell, Haircuts by Children. 2 in 1 Hair Salon, 12B Pell Street, Saturday November 3, and Hair 2 Stay, 121A Baxter Street, Saturday November 10, free. Call 212 219 0473 ext. 29 for appointments.

This is what the Performa folks describe as a “whimsical” piece. Whether or not it lives up to this billing will depend on what you look like after you’ve participated. The piece is exactly what it says: free haircuts by children aged 8 to 12 from M.S. 131 in Chinatown. I’ve never met the infamous Darren O’Donnell, but his piece immediately slashes the average age of the artists we’ve recommended and (although he has done this one before) encapsulates key elements that any performance festival must have: absurdity, community and audience participation, unpredictability, and the possibility of getting artist and organizers into serious trouble. I’ll be going along. Hope to see you there as well.

[Many Performa events are free. Prices, where listed, are for full-price tickets. Cheaper tickets are usually available for students, seniors, children, and Performa and collaborating organization members. Further details of prices, locations, and times are available here.]