Milan Kohout - installation & action May 23-25 2009

composite photo:

photos: Milan Kohout (MAG)

Milan Kohout (Mobius Artists Group)
"THE POLITICS OF SHOES"
photographs, collage & political commentary
& audience participatory action/performance art

Videos of Milan Kohout's Participatory Action:

Video #1 - May 24 2009:

Milan Kohout : Action for The Politics of Shoes @mobius 05-24-09 from MobiusArtistsGroup on Vimeo.

Video #2 - May 25 2009:

Milan Kohout : Action for The Politics of Shoes @mobius 5-25-09 from MobiusArtistsGroup on Vimeo.

"Shoe is the dirtiest think in Iraq as you know .. therefore I put it on the hands of that tortured person american cowboys boost.. -also taken immediately when the abu graib prison scandal was exposed... even my mobius comrades were pissed about me... well while it was so so so so so obvious what this empire was doing.. but in some ways the native americans were so brainwashed and blind and did not admit that... and are still unfortunately...there is so deep propaganda bullshit embedded in the heads of the people here that I can believe that... well fascist Germany was a similar story..

Something about our export of "democracy" ; what is also intensely interesting is that after each big bombing in IRAQ the reports said that there was a lot of shoes all around and some of them were falling from heaven seconds after the explosion...

Something relating to Bush & Shoe performance in Bagdad. This picture I took in the rebel camp in Bangkok where I performed two weeks ago -just the illustration how strong is a symbol of a shoe in those cultures.

To call somebody a dog is the worst offense in Iraq- therefore I used a dog as a symbol for our soldiers (picture taken at the beginning do the iraqi war - of-course some people here wanted to kill me for that at that time)..

Let us express the solidarity with our real performance artist from Baghdad!!!!! Those shoes on the american flag were the homage to the painting of a surrealistic artist Magritte called This is not a pipe. Did you notice? On the side of the flag there is Made in China and it is a scarf."

Milan Kohout (now a US citizen) is originally from The Czech Republic.. Here he got his M.S. in Electrical Engineering. He was an independent artist in so-called “Second Culture”. Later he becomes a signatory member and art activist of the dissident human rights organization CHARTER 77 (group of mostly artists from “Second Culture” was nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1985 and initiated non violent Velvet Revolution which toppled totalitarian regime in 1989). Following many interrogations he was forced by CZ security police to leave his country in 1986 due to his political art activism. After several years in a refugee camp he was granted asylum in the United States.

In 1993 Milan received his Diploma from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Since 1994 Milan has been a member of the Mobius Artists Group (www.Mobius.org). Here he has created many full-scale Performance Art pieces (both collaborative and solo) His work concentrates mostly on the subject of human rights (recently rights of Roma/ Gypsies) and politics (critique of totalitarian capitalism and fundamentalist religions) As Mobius Artists Group member he has participated on numerous international art exchange programs and festivals around the world (China, Thailand, Croatia, Taiwan, Czech Rep, Poland, Cuba, USA etc). and has been the recipient of number of awards, grants, residencies (Grant from The Fund for US Artists at International Festivals, Tanne Foundation Annual Award, First Prize at International Theater Festival in Pula, Best National Czech Independent Film Award, Arizona State University residency, PSi conference in London 2006 etc.)

http://www.mobius.org/mobius_artists.php?id=milan


Note from the Curator:

Perhaps this was really meant to be published on July 4th - Independence Day.

Sara June & Joleen Westerdale - butoh May 24, 25 2009

May 24, 2009:













May 25, 2009:












photos: Bob Raymond (MAG)

Sara June and Joleen Westerdale
Untitled
May 24-25, 2009 - butoh dance performance

Videos:

Sara June / Joleen Westerdale Untitled #1 @mobius 5-24-09 from MobiusArtistsGroup on Vimeo.

Sara June / Joleen Westerdale Untitled #2 @mobius 05-25-09 from MobiusArtistsGroup on Vimeo.

Butoh performance with human installation (Joleen Westerdale), power drill and taped music by Richard Lainhart.

Sara June is an independent choreographer and artistic director of the Umi no Bodi dance troupe. Her movement work is known for its odd, humorous, and other-worldly qualities; she finds her dances through stripping away the foundations of movements we create in our daily lives to uncover states of stillness, birth, and the primitive qualities of animals and machines.

Sara founded Umi no Bodi (a Japanese phrase meaning ‘Ocean’s Body’) in 2008 with the goal of creating large-scale, site-specific installations that transform outdoor spaces not traditionally used for performance. Umi no Bodi dancers create isolated movement studies that explore a range of states and conditions in nature; troupe members train through an image-based choreographic process that results in spontaneous improvised work based on each mover’s internal process developed during rehearsals. Essential elements of the site environments feed this process; dancers train using methods that will help them to experience and transform these spaces on several sensory levels, (e.g., through blindfolds and partner work). The installations are shaped by thematic structures and each performance includes innovative costuming, original sound compositions performed live, and the use of machines as non-human dancers.

In addition to Juddertone, Sara co-curates the Zeroplan performance series with musician Max Lord. This series was created in order to offer seasoned experimental musicians and dancers an opportunity to improvise together in informal performance settings. Other projects include the Anywhere Performance Project, an online collaboration with California-based artist Deborah Butler that utilizes remote video technology as a basis for dialogue between the two dancers. Sara’s training and background is based in a decade of study in butoh, a Japanese avant-garde form, and other indigenous dance forms. Since 2000, she has shown solo and group work at venues in Boston, Providence, Philadelphia and New York City. Sara is a former member of the Boston-based Kitsune Butoh (2003-06) and the NYC post-modern butoh troupe, the Vangeline Theater (2006-08). She has performed with Master butoh artist Katsura Kan (Curious Fish, 2002, 2008), and trained with international artists Hiroko Tamano, Su-En, and Diego Pinon. She received her formal education at the Rhode Island School of Design (BFA, 1997), and Harvard University (Ed.M., 2005).

http://www.oceanbody.com

http://anywherepeformanceproject.ning.com

http://juddertone.ning.com

John Murphree - installation & action May 23-25 2009

video stills

photo: Bob Raymond (MAG)

photo: Bob Raymond (MAG)

John Murphree
"Cultural Juxtaposition"
steel gongs and rack installation

John Murphree - Action for The Politics of Shoes @mobius from MobiusArtistsGroup on Vimeo.

This clip was taken at the Monday May 25, 2009 (Memorial Day Observed in the US in 2009) evening of performances.

Viewers are encouraged to take off their shoes and throw them at the gongs! The act of throwing a (probably) Chinese made American icon (the tennis shoe) at an American made chinese icon is the impetus of this piece.

John Murphree makes his home in Medford with his wife Jeanna Allegrone. He studied composition at the Berklee College of Music, B.M. and recently completed his master's in composition at the Boston Conservatory. Through collaborations with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, John has begun making bowed sculptures whose purpose is to explore the transfiguration of artistic energy into musical output.

Notes from the Curator:

1. I had heard about John Murphree through Juddertone, as he is one of the artists selected for the 2009 Juddertone ning forum and concerts. He had posted the video below on the Juddertone ning site as an example of one of his previous works so I immediately contacted him about creating an installation for The Politics of Shoes. He said that he wouldn't be able to create a new piece in time for the exhibit (since it was less than 3 weeks away at that point) so I asked him about what completed pieces he had which might fit the theme whereupon he described a rack of gongs that his housemates threw their shoes at when they had a rough day or just for the hell of it. Of course I said perfect! At the last minute, John called me and said he was having second thoughts about bringing his piece because he thought thematically perhaps his piece didn't fit into the show to which I responded with horror - no PLEASE! I have to have your piece in the show. Fortunately John brought his installation to be part of the exhibit and series of performances. It turned out to be one of the performance audience and exhibition favorites.


Find more videos like this on juddertone


2. From the book of comments at the exhibit:

"Love the gongs - very therapeutic!"
"Felt so good to throw shoes at the gong (sounded great too)!"
"Also, the metal panels were fun!"

3. Most of the visitors to the exhibit had to be encouraged to throw their own or Karen Klein's (who had offered up her beautiful sequined high heeled shoes up for sacrifice) at the gongs; once they felt free to do so, without exception, everyone really got into the action and often laughed or looked supremely happy once they had experienced the gongs. Other than visitors who had written their comments in the book, these two visitors' experiences were particularly memorable:

- An elegantly dressed artist with an Australian accent came dashing into the exhibit right before the show was due to come down. She told me that she had driven down from Newburyport (an hour or so north of Boston) to see the exhibit. When I offered her Karen Klein's shoes to throw at the gongs, she really went at the gongs with such relish and ferocity that I wish I had taken a video of her. It was simultaneously wonderful and alarming.

- Maggie Nowinski came to deinstall Burns Maxey's and her video installation (which the same elegant artist above had also enjoyed immensely and was the only person who I had heard laugh out loud while watching the video). Maggie took some time to walk around and view each installation carefully. She looked at the gongs and read the artist's statement and I told her she was welcome to throw her shoes at the gongs. She said that she couldn't throw her sneakers at the gongs because they weren't Made in China and perhaps it would go against the artist's intent. I then had to confess that I had begged John for his rack of gongs and he had kindly come up with his statement as a way of "justifying" the gong's presence in the exhibit and that I knew that John was fine with people hurling shoes of any country of origin at his gongs.

4. The curator takes a moment to play the gongs:

Improvisation using john Murphree's Gongs @mobius from Jane Wang on Vimeo.

5. I had decided that the safest place for the gongs was in front of the handicap ramp leading up to the second level of the gallery space since there were no windows or fragile installation in "firing" range of the gongs. During the performances, one 9 year old girl threw her shoes so wildly that she almost hit one of the windows and another artist managed to throw her shoe directly between two gongs which is much more difficult than hitting one of the gongs. Much deserved kudos to both participants.

6. Please note that although John Murphree is principally known as a composer, he also makes instruments - he welded the gongs which he sells individually or in sets if you are interested (the Curator bought two of the artist's gongs). You may contact him directly via his website:

www.johnmurphree.com

Matt Samolis - Composer/Musician May 24,25 2009

video still
photo: Bob Raymond (MAG)
photo: Bob Raymond (MAG)

photo: Bob Raymond (MAG)


video still

Matt Samolis - Composer/Musician
May 24, 25 2009

Matt Samolis - The Politics of Shoes @mobius from MobiusArtistsGroup on Vimeo.

Matt Samolis has been working in sonic and visual mediums since 1987. He began studying flute, and later composition and tenor banjo. He has worked with ensembles at New England Conservatory, Brandeis University, Berklee, and Tufts, as well as Open Hand Theatre, Pilgrim Research Collaborative, Mobius, Roy Hart Theatre, and numerous other projects. Currently, his primary work is with his collective, The Metal & Glass Ensemble, freelance photography, flutist, and as old time songster, Uncle Shoe.

www.myspace.com/uncleshoe
www.myspace.com/metalandglass

DeAnna Pellecchia & Matt Samolis - "PLATFORM.." May 24 2009

photos: Bob Raymond

DeAnna Pellecchia and Matt Samolis
"PLATFORM - A Live Performance Installation"
May 24, 2009 - dance performance with live music

Videos:

Part 1:


Part 2:


Originally designed for the stage, PLATFORM can be adapted to any performance space and includes a series of movement structures both set and improvisational which take place in , on and around dozens of platform shoes. The solo addresses the socio-political "platforms" of our time. Adorned in red, white and blue DeAnna incorporates strong visual imagery with sharp, disjointed choreography to comment on the personal choices we as Americans make on a daily basis. Matt Samolis accompanies on tenor banjo with a mash up of americana from different genres and styles, adding a layer of association and depth to the imagery set in motion by the visual movement.

DeAnna Pellecchia is a dancer, athlete, aerialist, actress, and choreographer committed to collaborating with artists of different mediums including musicians, filmmakers, and visual artists. She creates performance pieces that seamlessly blur lines of integration between disciplines, ultimately producing multi-sensory works of live art. Her mission as an artist is to expand the perception of ‘dance’ as an accessible form of art by engaging audiences of all kinds. In the process of achieving this goal she has not only danced, but soared, climbed, hurdled, hydroplaned, hovered and flown through countless unconventional landscapes across the United States; she has been featured in rodeos, operas, plays, fashion shows, magazines, movies and music videos; and she has taught and been taught by movers of all kinds. The Boston Herald has described her as “stunning…one of the area’s finest artists”. Bay Windows has defined her as “…muscular, mesmerizing, unforgettable…” As co-choreographer of Kairos Dance Theater, she crafts original performance pieces with Ingrid Schatz. She also creates site-specific performance installations incorporating all-live music with musician Ed Broms under the name Savage Amusements. DeAnna is a principal dancer with internationally acclaimed New York-based Paula Josa-Jones/Performance Works (featured soloist and original cast member of RIDE, PJJ/PW's Equestrian Dance Theater Performance, in which DeAnna dances with live horses). She also dances with Boston-based Kinodance Company (named one of Dance Magazine's "Top 25 to Watch" in 2008). DeAnna resides on dance faculty at Boston University; she is also a mentor-artist-in-residence at The Cloud Foundation.

Links:
www.deannapellecchia.com
PLATFORM photos on FLICKR

Note from the Curator:
Matt Samolis will be profiled in a later post.

Kira Seamon/ Matt Samolis - dance/live music May 24 2009

video still: Jane Wang (MAG)







fd1024 - referred to in email below

photos: Bob Raymond (MAG)

Kira Seamon and Matt Samolis
Untitled
May 24, 2009 - choreographed dance performance with live music

Videos of Kira Seamon's Untitled piece:

Part 1:


Part 2:



A dance/spoken word and sonic exploration of foot-binding as a function of the politics of China, from the Dynasty era to the Communist era, when the practice of the foot-binding was finally prohibited. The dance piece will use highly specialized movements to highlight the nature of the cramped foot position and then grow into a "healthy dancer.”

Excerpts from Wikipedia:

Bound feet became an important differentiating marker between Manchu and Han. The practice continued into the 20th century, when a combination of Chinese and Western missionaries called for reform and a true anti-footbinding movement emerged. Educated Chinese began to realise that this aspect of their culture did not reflect well upon them in the eyes of foreigners, social Darwinists argued that it weakened the nation, for enfeebled women inevitably produced weak sons and feminists attacked it because it caused women to suffer.^[2] At the turn of the 20th century, gentry women, such as Kwan Siew-Wah, a pioneer feminist, advocated for the end of female foot-binding. Kwan herself refused the foot-binding imposed on her since her youth so that she could grow normal feet. Through the centuries there were unsuccessful attempts to stop the practice of footinding. Various emperors issued edicts to this effect but they were never successful. The Empress Dowager Cixi issued such an edict following the Boxer Rebellion to appease the foreigners, but it was rescinded a short time later. In 1911, after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the new Republic of China government banned foot binding. Women were told to unwrap their feet lest they be killed. Some women's feet grew a half inch to an inch after the unwrapping, though some found the new growth process extremely painful and emotionally and culturally devastating. Societies developed to support the abolition of footbinding, with contractual agreements between families promising their infant son in marriage to an infant daughter that would not have her feet bound. When the Communists took power in 1949, they had the power to maintain the strict prohibition on footbinding, which is still in effect today.

Kira Seamon is an award-winning dancer/choreographer who has produced concerts in the Cambridge area, specializing in unique, original choreography and live music. She was named to Capezio's list of Rising Stars and am also on Dance Magazine's List of Active Female Choreographers. She recently auditioned for a Reality TV show and was sent an email from the producer after the audition, which stated in part: "We are creating a list of all the acts we loved in Boston and you are on that list!" Kira trained across the US and in Europe and has an extensive music background as well. She was a State winner in piano performance and have received gold, silver and bronze awards for my playing. Kira was thrilled to have played the keyboard at the Harvard Theatre Collection as part of a long-term research project by the composer Lugwig Minkus. Kira was born in Hawaii, and is familiar with Asian History and customs.

Email from Kira Seamon about the creation her piece (mentor: Danny Swain):
"I love all the pix, but think my favorite for the blog might be this one, fd1024...I like that it shows me sitting by the pathway created by the shoes, which illustrates walking towards the future....I know Danny Swain liked my idea but kept yelling in rehearsal "Make sure all the shoes are going in the same direction!!"

...The ending was a combination of Danny, Matt and my own ideas.. At first, I just sort of quickly shoved the shoes in 2 lines, thinking I've got to get it done and get up to do the walking through part...Both Matt and Danny realized the moment would be more meaningful and powerful if I slowed that down and looked at the shoes as I placed them, like I was really remembering those women who wore them..Matt even sent me the link to Joanne Rice's awesome stone installation @ Trinity Church, to show what the pace could be like....I thought Joanne did a beautiful job, and I definitely thought of her as I placed my shoes...In fact, I was "so in the moment" of my piece, that at the end, when I walked away toward the windows, it took me a couple of seconds to "come to", as I actually got lost in thought and remembrance...Finally, my brain kicked in and I said, "oh yeah, turn around and take a bow"... "

"Chinese Hair" by Kira Seamon's hairstylist: Blake
photo: Eva Seamon


Notes from the Curator:

1. Matt Samolis will be profiled on a separate Performer of the Day post.

2. Joanne Rice (MAG) has been performing the durational piece "The Human Cost of War" every day at noon since October 2007 at Trinity Church in Boston. The performance will end on Oct 6th, 2009. If you get a chance to see this beautiful performance live, please do so. You may read about Joanne Rice and her performance at http://www.mobius.org

MAG = Mobius Artists Group member

Shana Robbins - "Tree Ghost" May 24 2009

photos: Bob Raymond (MAG)

Shana Robbins (Atlanta, Georgia):
“Tree Ghost”
May 24, 2009 - performance art with tree installation

Videos of Shana Robbins' "Tree Ghost":

Part 1A:


Part 1B:


Part 1C:


Part 2:


Part 3:

A performance installation representing a hybridization of American military camouflage, an Islamic Burqa, a tree, and a "stripper" or courtesan in a ritualistic and sexually charged interaction with a dying, decrepit tree. Some of the inspiration of this work comes from:
Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed--by Harold Koda: “..the platform sole's impairment of a woman's walk was seen as a way to control her morality, since mobility was directly associated in many cultures and times with the potential for unrestrained sexuality."

"..the Oiran of the Yoshiwara, the quarter of the "Floating World," wearing their dochu-geta, were known for their slow progress when walking through the streets. These shoe styles lifted women higher than the norm, endowing them with greater public stature. Their encumbered walking was also an asset; it imposed a slow ceremonial gait that allowed the crowds to study the courtesan's beauty and fashions more closely.”

Shana Robbins is a painter, performance, and multimedia artist based in Atlanta, Georgia. She has exhibited and performed internationally in a variety of galleries, alternative spaces, and natural locations. Many of Robbins’ performances occur in remote areas with no audience except for the natural environment. This year, her work was featured in STUDIO VISIT MAGAZINE, OFF THE STRIP at the Las Vegas Contemporary Arts Center, and the STATE OF THE NATION V: Tipping Point--Art and Performance Festival in New Orleans.

Creating drawings/paintings as visual maps or references for handmade costumes, performance objects, and ritualistic actions, Robbins is engaged in an ongoing exploration and dissemination of the ecofeminist character she calls Monstrous Feminine. Various iterations of Monstrous Feminine, such as Tree Ghost and Axis Mundi, “haunt” places in order to reclaim space and destabilize static notions of the female body and of the natural realm.

http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/shana_robbins_nature_versus_nurture/Content?oid=353256

Links:
http://www.shanarobbins.com/ (not fully updated)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n-aWKPP1Uk
http://www.losingyourself.com/?p=123
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhWtL1bDTI4

Notes from the Curator:

1. First of all, I want to thank Shana (pronounced Shahna not Shayna) for her wonderful performance and for driving her tree all the way from Atlanta, Georgia to be a part of the Politics of Shoes.

2. Because all the other performances on Sunday night were going to be dance/movement pieces and were all relatively short (15 minutes or less), I told Shana that she could make her piece as long as 40 minutes if she w anted to. As Shana told me after her piece without laying the blame at my feet (although she could have most definitely), she would have made her performance 20 minutes or less.

3. There was a nine year old girl in the audience who was enjoying herself tremendously (throwing shoes at gongs and in the air) throughout the entire evening. When the performances ended that evening, her mother approached me and after some innocuois chit-char suddenly said that she thought Mobius should "warn parents" ahead of time of "unsuitable material". Needless to say, I could feel the surge of anger rising when I almost choked out: "You mean you think we should CENSOR the artists and performers?" and had trouble keeping myself from going into a long and angry discourse on Civil Liberties and pointing out that her offspring could see a hell of a lot worse on television and the trouble with the world is due to _ like you! and what do you think this exhibit and set of performances is all about and what is wrong with you, do you call yourself an AMERICAN? Fortunately, when I told Joanne Rice, one of the other Mobius Artists, about what had happened, she was able to calm me down.