Very full day of awesome performance art.
Performance Notes:
Keyon Gaskin “It’s Not A Thing” The description in the guide book is blacked out. I arrive through a large garage door into the Bodyvox space, where people are lining up to get refreshments. Keyon Gaskin is actually serving them, wearing all black- shabby hoodie, combat boots, backpack, with a black bandana tucked under his hat so it falls like a veil across his face. He serves red wine, black Buffalo Trace, and large squares of chocolate. No money is exchanged in this transaction- he asks you what you would like, serves it, and then asks “Where can i kiss you?” He lifts the veil enough to kiss you on the cheek, leaving a chocolate-colored lipstick stain behind. 150ish people go through the line. Im at the way back, but get a quick kiss at the end, and shove the chocolate in my mouth as i head into the theater. Keyon waits until everyone is seated and turns off the lights. He stumbles up the aisle in the risers, climbs a ladder to a balcony and escapes the theater. We are left in the dark for 4 or 5 minutes. He returns and mumbles about being asked to do this performance and not wanting to do it. He tells us all the things he does not want to talk about: contemporary performance forms, gender, race, identity. He leaves again, comes back and turns a single bright light onto the audience. He opens the curtains to reveal the wall of rehearsal mirrors, and tells us to leave our seats. We are instructed to join him on stage; in fact we are no longer allowed in the audience. We mill around. He asks someone to bring up a Lil’ Wayne song on their phone. He dances around with a cast iron frying pan. He climbs into a loft, dangles over the edge and asks people to help break his fall. He takes off his pants and puts on tap shoes. He takes off his underwear and dances around the space making eye contact with audience members. At this point several audience have drifted up into the risers, trying to get a birds eye view on the action. He’s pissed. They are told to leave the risers. He climbs over the seats, chairs tipping and falling and jumbling into piles as he rolls and climbs. At the top he nests into chair and tells us: “I want you to leave, don’t clap, please just leave the theater.” The end. Fucking awesome.
MPA “Nothing to You” In a large white gallery space, tow-hitch straps are arranged into geometrical, alien crop-circle-ish style shapes on the wall. Holes of various shapes are cut in the drywall, and actors limbs stick out between the studs. All the shapes and holes are connected by straps. Its like we are inside of a haphazardly designed circuit board. In the center of the space, big pieces of drywall are puzzled together to create a sort of designated seating area. We are asked to sit on the drywall. MPA sits on the edge of the drywall, crosslegged with her entourage, like a guru, with her laptop playing Dancehall beats. Turns out MPA is my friend from college! Did not know she was working under this name! Was just looking at photos of her the other day, its pretty trippy and awesome to see her in this context. At the start of the performance we are taken on a guided visualization of the inner workings of AC and DC power. The performers in the walls are slowly activated and with the soundscape’s assistance, MPA and her band of electrons start whipping up into a frenzy. Red staffs are windmilled through the audience like a rototiller. A directional speaker descends and MPA carves a path through the audience giving people brief peeks into another tiny radio soundscape. At the end of the show, all of the performers fall to the ground, and the electricity for the entire gallery is cut. The audience sits and waits.. 5mins, 10mins? No clapping, people just awkwardly wait for something to happen, and then leave one by one. I use my cell phone flashlight to go to the bathroom. Its only after I leave that the power is restored.
Pepper Pepper “Critical Mascara: A Post-Realness Drag Extravaganza” This was my first real Vogue Ball, and it was AWESOME. The show was hosted by Portland local Pepper Pepper, and many of the proceeds went to benefit Portland’s Black PFLAG chapter. From the guide book, which does the best job of summing it up: “Inspired by the legacy of vogue balls, house culture, and irreverent activism, Critical Mascara is an expression of the new wave of queer liberation aesthetics”