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At 02:06 PM 3/17/2006, Keith wrote:<br><br>
<a href="http://www.nypost.com/gossip/pagesix/pagesix.htm" eudora="autourl">
http://www.nypost.com/gossip/pagesix/pagesix.htm<br><br>
</a>I went to a Karen Finley performance at UCLA's Arts program in 1989,
I think it was. She was absolutely amazing - a brilliant actress
and performer. It was more than Performance Art, it was more like a
Sir Ian McKellen performance with a tinge of Shakespeare and down and
dirty tales about being a woman as she smeared mud onto her body. I
can't remember the name of the performance, but I do remember laughing
and crying as she took the audience through her stories, each one
connected to the next, laced smoothly through transitions.<br><br>
There have been three performances by women that have been markers in my
life. The first was Laurie Anderson in San Francisco in the early
1980s. When she put a light bulb in her mouth and sang "Oh
Superman" I knew that my future was putting the light bulb above my
head and thinking "Oh Transhuman". <br><br>
The second performance was by Karen Finley. Through her remarkably
moving piece, I understood that the artist as performer outweighs the
actor as performer. This was a bit contrary to what Performance Art
had been experiencing since Actionism and Happenings. Performance
Artists were trying not to be actors, but requesting that the work be
accepted as performance. Karen Finley achieved great heights by
actually being an actor in the most professional and quality-driven
sense, while maintaining the dignity of artistic commitment.
<br><br>
The third performance I saw that shifted my perceptions was Lilly
Tomlin. She performed a piece in Los Angeles which took Karen
Finley out back and rinsed her off. She, through her comic flare, told
stories about life and consequences with depth but she added a pinch of
spice that sprinkled her performance with delight - amusement and sheer
joy. I'll never forget the image of her playing a 5 year old
sitting in a chair that exaggerated exaggeration! The chair was 10x
the size of a normal chair and her long legs seemed very petite by
comparison. No light bulb in her mouth, no angry stories that
make you laugh or cry, but both develop with a sense of wit and
charm.<br><br><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<dl>
<dd><font size=2><a href="http://www.natasha.cc/">Natasha
</a><a href="http://www.natasha.cc/">Vita-More</a>
<dd>Cultural Strategist - Designer
<dd>PhD Candidate, Planetary Collegium
<dd>President, <a href="http://www.extropy.org/">Extropy Institute</a>
<dd>Member, <a href="http://www.profuturists.com/">Association of
Professional Futurists</a>
<dd>Founder, <a href="http://www.transhumanist.biz/">Transhumanist Arts
& Culture</a> <br><br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Times New Roman, Times"><i>If you draw a circle in the
sand and study only what's inside the circle, then that is a
closed-system perspective. If you study what is inside the circle and
everything outside the circle, then that is an open system perspective. -
</i>Buckminster Fuller<br>
<br><br></font>
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