Durational performances
Microscope is pleased to open the performance component of the exhibition “Scrapbook (or, Why Can’t We Live Together)” with an evening of simultaneous durational performances by Diane Dwyer, Marni Kotak, and Julian Louis Phillips.
The three physical performances – which include Julian Louis Phillips hitting baseballs in a restrictive batting cage, Marni Kotak sewing a revised, personal American flag, and Diane Dwyer assuming the role of a frantic town crier in scuba gear – offer astute critiques on cultural, historical, and political signifiers in this country from the flag, to sports, and the President.
More information about each of the performances follows below.
Diane Dwyer
“Official Climate Change Response Team / Equipo Oficial de Respuesta al Cambio Climatico”
Durational performance, 2019
“Diane the American Swimmer”, inefficiently covered in “protective” gear, leads the US government’s Official Climate Change Response Team, while a recording of Trump’s voice intermittently echoes this directive: “Don’t worry about it… Just don’t worry about it.”
While this performance is framed by the ridiculous and absurd in appearance, it strives to create space for conversations about our responsibilities, including our civic responsibility to demand that we, and our government leaders, truly address this crisis.
“For this performance — as in my recent performances at a fracking site in Pennsylvania, the waterfront of Miami, and an island in Boston Harbor — I am considering the local context, New York City. Like most waterfront cities, NYC faces dire threats from Climate Change, not just from storms, but also rising sea levels, and temperature increases.” – DD
Marni Kotak
“Sewing My Herstory American Dream Flag”
Durational performance, 2019
The performance features the artist sitting in rocking chair and hand-sewing elements from her home and personal life onto the U.S. flag to create a personal “Herstory American Dream Flag”. “My Herstory American Dream Flag has nothing to do with referencing war or political or economic power, but instead the valuing of human life”. Kotak states “The colors of the traditional American flag are said to symbolize: red, toughness and bravery, and often the blood that was shed by soldiers to win America, white, innocence and purity, and is often religious; and blue, justice, which is often noted to come at a hard price. My red symbolizes love and passion; gold, the value of human life above all else; and blue, the oceans, mother earth and peace”.
Julian Louis Phillips
“1518”
Durational performance, 2019
1518 is a durational performance that investigates the labor that goes into being the “first” of a demographic. Inspired by Jackie Robinson and what he endured as the first to integrate the game of baseball. During the performance, the audience is invited to count my hits and they can decide what counts as a hit, continue or restart the count at any time. When I reach 1,518 hits the performance is finished. 1518 is a reference to Robinson’s career hits in major league baseball. The audio in the video documentation was not included in the live performance. It is Robinson and Dick Cavett discussing the changes to baseball since his retirement.
Sculpture used in the performance:
“Batting Cage #1”, 2019
wooden bat, baseball, galvanized steel, chain link fabric performance
72 x 72 x 72 inches
Batting Cage #1 is the sculpture and setting for the performance “1518”. Its size is meant to constrict my swing, to where I can hit the ball but not fully extend my swing and reach my full potential. As I perform with this sculpture it changes. The chainlink walls become imprinted with my many hits and my desire to escape its confines can be seen when I am not present inside.
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Diane Dwyer grew up in New England. She now live in Brooklyn where she hosts Diane’s Circus and cloying PARLOR, two projects in her home addressing, in part, the negotiation of public and private space, as well as the labels amateur and professional. Through private performances, public interventions, and developed personas she investigates a range of subjects, from the experience of alienation, to the seduction of power. New York presentations of her work include Panoply Performance Lab, The Itinerant Performance Festival at the Queens Museum, Bullet Space, MINY Media Center by IFP, Parallel Performance Space, Wild Projects, and Performanx hosted at the Bronx Museum of Art. Her work has screened in Bulgaria, Cuba, England, Ireland, Montenegro, Russia, and Venezuela, and has been included in new genres festivals and exhibitions in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, DC, Las Vegas, and Miami. She received her BFA from The Museum School/Tufts and an MFA through a teaching fellowship at the University of Connecticut. She teaches at Parsons School of Design.
Marni Kotak is a multimedia and performance artist presenting everyday life being lived. She has received international attention for her durational performance installation / exhibitions including “The Birth of Baby X” (2011) in which she gave birth to her son as a live performance and “Mad Meds” (2014) during which the artist slowly withdrew from psychiatric medications prescribed for postpartum depression. Kotak’s works have also appeared at the Santiago Museum of Contemporary Art, Santiago, Chile, Artists Space, Exit Art, Momenta Art, English Kills Gallery, Grace Exhibition Space, among others. She has performed extensively in the US and abroad. Kotak has been featured in ArtFCity, Artforum, Blouin Artinfo, Art Pulse, The Huffington Post, Hyperallergic, Los Angeles Times, Studio International, The Brooklyn Rail, The New York Times, The Village Voice, Washington Post, among many others. She has also appeared on Good Morning America (ABC), CBC Radio, NPR, and other broadcasts. Grants include Franklin Furnace Fund Award (2012-13) and the Brooklyn Arts Council among others. She received a BA from Bard College and an MFA from Brooklyn College.
Julian Louis Phillips is a Brooklyn born artist. After attending Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Phillips earned his MFA at Social Practice Queens at Queens College. He has exhibited at performed throughout the Northeast and has received fellowships and residencies from More Art, Jamaica Center of Arts and Learning, and NARS Foundation. Phillips work uses sculpture, performance, video, and text to explore relationships between social structures and personal narratives. Julian Louis Phillips is based in New York.