the urgent artist

Okay, fine.  We can’t hold it in any more!

We got to give a sneak preview to our core family of support this weekend, but we’re so excited to share it with the world! We’ve been working on barrish for a little over a year now.  After premiering it at La Ma Ma Etc. for the La MaMa Moves festival in May, we launched the MENU project as a way to open it up and develop the work while engineering a new model of sustainability.  As I mentioned in my last post, we couldn’t be more trilled with how the project is catching on! We’re so proud of the work, and grateful to all these adventurous curators who are playing MAJOR roles in its development!  Without further ado, it’s our great pleasure to present the AOMC’s 2011/2012 Season:

barrish, curation #1: Amy Schiller & Helen Frank

The bad news is it already happened, the good news is you can read all about it and see the trailer here!

barrish, curation #2: the AOMC goes to Philly
November 19th, 2011
FREE! Doors open at 8pm
email theAOMC@gmail.com for secret location

On Saturday, November 19th we’re excited to have our first Philly-based performance as part of Eleanor Goudie-Averil’s SkyDive Series!  Joined by two poets and a live music act (along with snacks and cocktails!), the AOMC will be showing a 30 minute version of barrish for an intimate crowd at Ellie’s loft.  This curation is unique in that it didn’t come to us directly through the MENU project – Ellie approached us about performing (and we wanted to jump on it since it sounds amazing and we’ve never been to Philly!) but we are still wanting to figure out a way to make it sustainable.  To do so, we’re opening it up as our first crowd-sourced curation.

Would you like to try your hand at being one of our curators in microcosm? The total cost of this showing is $300, and includes our travel cost, dedicated rehearsal time to craft this curation, and an administrative stipend for our company manager.  To fund it, we’re looking for  micro-curators who will fund a part of the showing, and in so doing get the chance to make a proportional amount of decisions about what we’ll be showing.  Want us to show an entirely SVU version? Done.  Want to mandate that there’s no music except the last thirty seconds? Got it.  Want to tell us that whatever material we show we have to show it twice? Oh dear.  What do you want to see worked on?  How do you want to evolve the work?  Curators will get to make decisions in the order that they express interest, so if you want to become part of the project claim your spot now!

Want to follow us to Philly and see the show?  If you tell us you’re coming we’ll give you a special shout out – we’d LOVE to have you there with us! Email theAOMC@gmail.com and we’ll put you on the list and send you the secret location.Have Philly friends?  Tell them they can’t miss it.

barrish, curation #3: Belladonna*
December 13th, 2011
Advance tickets only $12 – buy here!

On December 13th, we’ll be crating a 15-minute version of the work to perform as one of the acts at the Benefit for feminist literary collective Belladonna*.  Emily Skillings, the AOMC’s new fifth performer in barrish, is Belladonna*’s intern and event coordinator and was interested in becoming a curator before she became part of the work.

For the Benefit we’ll be crafting something that’s fun and entertaining with a signature feisty bite.  They want the work to function as a breath of beauty that makes people excited about art and ready to bid like crazy at the auction; we’re thrilled to meet the challenge.  The exciting thing is that benefit tickets start at $12 if you buy online, so we hope you’ll consider coming! And we’re just one part of the evening – there will also be a performance by Anne Waldman and Ambrose Bye, and a live and silent auction by renowned auctioneer Erin Ward of Star Benefit Auctions with special assistant Amy King!

The Auction and the Benefit will support Belladonna*s 2012 season of publications and events, which share a theme of caring for the material realities of poets, viewing a publishing project holistically – a great parallel to the AOMC’s economy work with the MENU project!  Belladonna* is referring to 2012 as The Year of Material Lives, and planing on hosting combination readings/dinners with ample time set aside to discuss the economic and social concerns of writers, artists, publishers, and other creators. We’re honored to be included in their gala, and hope you’ll come support them and see us! Stay tuned for the venue, and get the full details here!

barrish, curation #4: Sarah Dahnke
February 3rd-4th, 2012
Ticketing details coming soon

February 3rd and 4th we’ll be at the Center for Performance Research in Brooklyn! NYC choreographer Sarah Dahnke is curating a group show, Object as Performer, and approached us about our String Duet section of barrish.  We’ll be creating a re-envisioned sewing section that functions as a durational gallery exhibit, potentially coming alive as a performance for a brief moment before returning to its gallery setup.  We’re excited to be bringing barrish into a group show with other artists, including Abigail Levine, Rebecca Davis, Nina Schwanse, Felisia Tandiono and more.  Details on how our showing is evolving, as well as how to get your tickets, soon soon soon!

barrish, curation #5: Laurie Duker & Jeremy Rosner
Mid-May (date TBD), 2012
Ticketing details coming soon

Laurie and Jeremy have been long-time supporters of the AOMC’s work, in no small part because they’re Sarah A.O.’s parents. However, over the last few years they’ve gone from supportive parents to performance aficionados in their own right, so we’re thrilled to get to partner with them for a showing of barrish at their home in DC this May!  We’re also thrilled to get back to our DC roots – while we’ve shown excerpts of work with CrossCurrents Dance Company and Mason Rhynes Productions through the years, this will be our first full-length self-produced show in DC!   We have such an amazing metro-area support base that it only seems right to do a major show there to say thank you.  We’re still working with Laurie and Jeremy to pin down a date and all the details, but we’ll keep you up to date and let you know all the details ASAP!

barrish, PREMIERE:
Summer 2012

In summer 2012, we’ll be premiering our “final” version of barrish.  Less the definitive version of barrish and more a definitive version, this premiere will be an evening-length work that encompasses barrish‘s various interweaving and overlapping sections. Featuring the five main women and an additional cast of twenty performers (!!!), this premiere will be the culmination of the MENU project, and the showing of our curation, one possible product that’s come out of the piece’s multi-generative process.

We’re currently investigating our options, and are hoping to partner with a venue interested in curating the culmination of this work.  We’re also not averse to self-producing, but are hoping that the launch of the MENU project’s innovative system will help draw interest from presenters who are interested in trying something new, and perhaps wanting to question and evolve the working relationship between artists and venues. Either way, we’re confident in finding a home that’s a great fit, and building a final version of this work that encompasses all the knowledge we’ve amassed from curations along the way! We’ll of course keep you up to date, and hope you’ll join us for the show!

Phew – So many exciting performances! We’re also in discussion about THREE MORE curations that we’re hoping to announce in the near near future!  In the meantime, if you’d like to become one of our fearless curators, we’d suggest that you express your interest ASAP!  We’re hoping to have at least one curation a month, and we’ll keep adding until we’re full, but they’re filling up fast.  Open months at the moment are March, April, June, and July.  Check out the MENU project for more details and to express your interest.

We hope you’ll mark your calendars and plan to join us – we can’t wait to share the work with you!

Tags: barrish, LAUNCH, the A.O. Movement Collective, the MENU project