VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

As part of its ARC Exhibition Series, Spacetaker presents iPerform, a performance-based exhibition and series of participatory events created by Houston’s newest performance art collective, Continuum, at Spacetaker’s ARC Gallery. iPerform consists of an opening night, three free performance art workshops, and a closing event.

iPerform will open with a public reception on Friday, August 26 from 7 to 10 p.m. during which the members of Continuum will display documentation of their work through video and photos, and share live performances that are an extension of this work. In addition to viewing the live performances, the audience will be able to interact with several performative installations and partake in a variety of participatory performances, including:

• Guided visualization/meditation
• Cleansing through ritualistic sweeping
• Confessing sins in exchange for an alcoholic beverage
• Preparing a “shoeulogy” for a shoe graveyard
• Making photocopies of random body parts for a wall collage

The primary goal of iPerform is to create an encouraging and safe atmosphere for the community to explore themselves through the medium of performance. The exhibition will be on view at Spacetaker’s ARC Gallery through September 16, 2011 and is free and open to the public.

Performance Art Workshops:
During the run of the exhibition, the artists of Continuum will facilitate three performance art workshops that are free and open to the public. The workshops will provide opportunities for the community to learn how to create their own performances. Continuum will provide guided exercises, encouraging feedback, and their own performances created specifically for the audience and the space. The closing event will be devoted to performances that arise out of the workshops.

PERFORMANCES:
Julia Wallace leads “Group Meditation” with visualizations and affirmations created especially for the audience in attendance. This preparation for openness and acceptance is a Continuum ritual and tradition.

Koomah gathered fascinating stories about shoes donated to him for “Shoeulogies – Preparation for a Shoe Graveyard.” Shoes are laid to rest following eulogies written by the artist. The audience is then summoned to prepare a shoeulogy for the shoes they are currently wearing.

Christine Cook explores intimacy with a stranger in “Not There,” choosing an audience member to take stage with her and perform a typically autonomous and private task. Do the intimate actions we sometimes share with another always maintain that genuine closeness, or does it fade? Can it be found with a stranger?

Raindawg asks the audience to observe “Crucifun[k]tion,” uncovering the erotic body of Christ in female form and challenging the absurdity of a social order that is founded on denial, oppression, and violence. The piece points to the parallels between Christ crucified and BDSM.

In “Cornish Game,” Sway Youngston, wearing a costume assembled from industrial food packaging, moves through the audience offering processed food. She will then take stage and recite original poetry based on the American industrial food system.

A number of permanent performative installations will be ongoing throughout opening night.

Hilary Scullane welcomes the audience to scan their body parts in a copy machine booth in her piece “Copy Me.” The artist will then create a massive collage with wheat paste on a wall in the gallery as part of the performance.

Bryce Galbraith’s installation, “Fairy Tale Cave,” allows guests to adorn costumes and use props to tell their personal mythologies while being photographed.

Emily Sloan performs cleansings on guests in the gallery through ritualistic sweeping in “a Sweep.”

Jonatan Lopez’s installation, “Absolution Mini Bar” invites the audience to confess their sins in exchange for alcoholic beverages, quenching their thirst for spiritual redemption while examining our perceptions of social deviance and poking fun at the nature of religion in general.