12. See a Modern Dance and/or Avant Garde performance

I seem to have gotten stuck writing this entry. We actually went to see this performance a few weeks ago, and yet it remained in my unpublished posts, with only pictures and a simple sentence saying "TBD."

What kind of weak stuff is this? Do I not like writing? I mean, I'm aware that I work better with graphics, and talking (I think better when I say it aloud), but seriously, the modern art performance entry deserves better than this.

So, to summarize: Nate and I went to see a Performace Art piece as part of the Performa 2009 Biennale that took place in New York City for about three weeks in October/November. Specifically, Lizy (my cousin) took a little vacation from art school in Germany to see the Performa festivities, and since she was crashing on our couch, we were privy to lots of inside information.

Which is how we found ourselves on opening performance of Mother Earth, Sister Moon. The link takes you to a description of the work, so I wont try to describe or summarize it. More talented people have already done that. Lizy was one of the many guest performers the artists used in their piece, and it was quite effective in transporting us to a mod futuristic fantasy place. Maybe it's just what I personally like, but I loved the combination of architecture, music, visuals, time, memory and fashion.

Architecture - we were inside a Niki de Saint Phalle inspired astronaut. Music - the mood music as different performers entered the space was both a unifying element and deeply unsettling. Visuals - loved the minimalist space and black/white/grey motifs, it created a truly futuristic setting. Time - because every time a performer left the space we were left with the question of what would happen next, the idea that this taking place, right now, live, was palpable. Memory - maybe that's just me, but the costumes felt so authentically dated and mod, that they triggered an entire internal association of what futurism meant in its original time and place. Fashion - at heart, this was a fashion show; I know they were homages of movie characters, but the craft and production values were still amazing.