"The Maybe" by Tilda Swinton at MoMA

The Gothamist reports:

As if starring in David Bowie music videos wasn't already the coolest, Tilda Swinton has currently taken up residency sleeping at MoMA. It's part of an unannounced, surprise performance piece called "The Maybe" that will be taking place on random days all year. A MoMA source told us, "Museum staff doesn't know she's coming until the day of, but she's here today. She'll be there the whole day. All that's in the box is cushions and a water jug."

"Tilda Swinton will be doing unannounced, random performance art pieces sleeping in a glass box in the museum," the source added. "Today [March 23, 2013] is the first performance. Each performance lasts the whole day the museum is open." Swinton and her box are located near the ticket collectors today, but the box may be in different locations at other performances.

"The Maybe" was first performed in London in 1995 at the Serpentine Gallery; Swinton conceived the performance piece, and asked artist Cornelia Parker to collaborate on the installation. Swinton later re-performed the piece in the Museo Barracco in Rome. Here's what the museum has to say about the piece: "An integral part of The Maybe's incarnation at MoMA in 2013 is that there is no published schedule for its appearance, no artist's statement released, no museum statement beyond this brief context, no public profile or image issued. Those who find it chance upon it for themselves, live and in real—shared—time: now we see it, now we don't."

via The Gotahmist
http://gothamist.com/2013/03/23/photos_tilda_swinton_is_sleeping_in.php

http://www.moma.org/
http://tildaswinton.net/

Fast Track

For this year's Archstoyanie Festival (an arts festival) in Nikola-Lenivets, Russia, Salto Architects designed an inviting 170 foot long trampoline! It just begs to be run and bounced on.

From the Archstoyanie website:
“Fast Track” is an integral part of park infrastructure, it is a road and an installation at the same time. It challenges the concept of infrastructure that only focuses on technical and functional aspects and tends to be ignorant to its surroundings. "Fast Track" is an attempt to create intelligent infrastructure that is emotional and corresponds to the local context. It gives the user a different experience of moving and perceiving the environment.

It looks like there were some performance art pieces that incorporated the trampoline!

http://arch.stoyanie.ru/en/news
http://www.salto.ee/

"Dirtday!"

I had the supreme pleasure of seeing Laurie Anderson's newest piece, "Dirtday!" in concert last night.

Laurie Anderson is one of the 20th and 21st centuries most outstanding talents. Avant garde musician, performance artist, monologuist extraordinaire, raconteur, illustrator, filmmaker, painter, video and film artist, and composer, Anderson has been at the forefront of art performance, creating technologies (along with several instruments like the tape bow violin, the talking stick, and voice filters which she uses extensively in her work) and stunning special effects to help realize her fantastic vision on stage and off.

"Dirtday!" is the third piece in a talking trilogy that started in 2002 with "Happiness" and continued with 2004's "The End Of The Moon." Some themes that arc across all three pieces include observations about the state of the country both literally and figuratively. Although Anderson's work has always included the "personal-IS-political" ethos, it seems to be manifesting itself more clearly and directly in her more recent works. And I believe that is because the country has never been this splintered and shaky in our living memories. In "Dirtday!" she returned again and again to an image of the country torn asunder:

"I dreamed the country was a a battleground...
At least I think it was a dream."

And then:

"I dreamed the United States was designated a battleground.
Memories and dreams being what they are, the country is looking a lot like a battleground."

I have seen Laurie Anderson many, many times over the years (I even saw her legendary "United States I - IV" in the early 80s), and "Dirtday!" feels at once familiar and new. At play is her very subtle sense of humor and her ability to temper dark subjects with a wryness that comes from her objective observational style, all underscored by a shifting, haunting soundscape that ebbs and flows. But it seems that the piece is light on stories (I recall past shows being crammed full of fascinating anecdotes), and more colored by a mournful music. Her violin pieces all seem to be crying and in despair. This seems to be in contrast to the celebratory reason for adding an exclamation point to the title of this show. These are dark times for us not only as a country, but as a planet. Anderson obviously feels this and she expressed it in simple ways, like a section she called "Words that start with 'the'..."

"THE dark
THE war
THE future
THE light
THE end"

The middle of the show was punctuated by a lovely spoken interlude, sans music, delivered from an easy chair, that was about the passing of her beloved dog Lolabelle, musings about Tibetan Buddhism, and the nature of love and loss. It was the most personal moment I have ever seen from Anderson. It puts the rest of her material in perspective, letting us know that she is genuine and earnest about all that she says.

http://www.laurieanderson.com/home.shtml