CONVERSATIONS WITH NEW YORK ARTISTS
I travelled to New York in May to meet with the following artists who work primarily with autobiography as content (and in some cases form) for their live performance.
Vernita N'Cognita
Sarah Kipp
Jana Leo
Gearoid Dolan aka 'screaMachine'
Kathy Rose
Toni Silver
Andrea Cote
Jeff McMahon
(click on thumbnails for The Conversations with the artists.)
In advance of the trip I sent out a call, via the Franklyn Furnace website (one of the most significant and influential artist's organisations for performance in the world). I received 14 replies from artists who work with biographical material and from this list; I selected 8 on the basis of the relevance of their work to my research project. I met the artists in Tompkins Square Park, East Village and in their studios (China Town and E Village). I recorded all the interviews with the intention of transcribing and editing (with each artists permission) for inclusion in my written study.
I asked all the interviewees the same questions –
Why did you begin to make autobiographical performance?
How do you control your self image and perceive of yourself in the performance of your life?
From the personal to the political & visa versa, how do you make your personal, autobiographical work meaningful and relevant to a universal & social context?
What are the issues and challenges around autobiographical performance for you now?
The outcome of these interviews –
It was instructive and exciting to meet with 8 artists dealing with the same issues I have been exploring, all of whom embody different approaches and solutions to their practice. I was struck by the similarities between our processes despite cultural and geographical differences alongside gender, age and widely varying life experience.
There are strong common threads connecting performance artists' approach to autobiography and the conversations (interviews) are rich exchanges exploring issues, conceptual frameworks, references and practical methods associated with autobiographical performance.
Vernita N'Cognita
Sarah Kipp
Jana Leo
Gearoid Dolan aka 'screaMachine'
Kathy Rose
Toni Silver
Andrea Cote
Jeff McMahon
(click on thumbnails for The Conversations with the artists.)
In advance of the trip I sent out a call, via the Franklyn Furnace website (one of the most significant and influential artist's organisations for performance in the world). I received 14 replies from artists who work with biographical material and from this list; I selected 8 on the basis of the relevance of their work to my research project. I met the artists in Tompkins Square Park, East Village and in their studios (China Town and E Village). I recorded all the interviews with the intention of transcribing and editing (with each artists permission) for inclusion in my written study.
I asked all the interviewees the same questions –
Why did you begin to make autobiographical performance?
How do you control your self image and perceive of yourself in the performance of your life?
From the personal to the political & visa versa, how do you make your personal, autobiographical work meaningful and relevant to a universal & social context?
What are the issues and challenges around autobiographical performance for you now?
The outcome of these interviews –
It was instructive and exciting to meet with 8 artists dealing with the same issues I have been exploring, all of whom embody different approaches and solutions to their practice. I was struck by the similarities between our processes despite cultural and geographical differences alongside gender, age and widely varying life experience.
There are strong common threads connecting performance artists' approach to autobiography and the conversations (interviews) are rich exchanges exploring issues, conceptual frameworks, references and practical methods associated with autobiographical performance.
