another quote that will be useful

"The line between art and life should be kept as fluid, and perhaps indistinct, as possible."

Alan Kaprow

Performance Art Cont'd

"Performance art does not present the illusion of events, but rather presents actual events as art."

Joan Jonas

Performance Art

so, over the past weekend I participated in an endurance piece created by kate gilmore ( http://www.kategilmore.com/) which was transformative, amazing, focusing, meditative, and an experience of a lifetime. I walked for two sessions of 5 hours each over sets of stairs that surrounded a monument in Portland, ME.  The piece was created by but not defined by kate, and she asked audience to get what they wanted from viewing the experience. For myself, the stairs were in sets of seven up and seven down and I totally counted my way through the five hours and was in every moment of my time spent climbing. The stairs weren't aerobic, but there was an aftermath of a sore blistered toe and really tight calf muscles just now subsiding.

I wrote a note to kate to thank her for the experience, and here's what she wrote back:

michele,
thank you for being so fucking amazing!
you blew me away (and everyone else for that matter).
maybe we can fly you around the country to do this!
i loved working with you.  i hope we can do it again soon!
good luck with the rest of your summer... (and your mom video).
xxxx
kate

also, it turns out that I am the oldest woman to ever perform an endurance piece for kate, as well as one of only two women out of the group to perform all 10 hours. Pretty badass, right?

I can't help it, another horoscope!

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): "There are some things you learn best in
calm, and some in storm," wrote the novelist Willa Cather. According to
my reading of the astrological omens, Taurus, you're in a phase of your
cycle when storm-learning isn't your priority. The educational experiences
you need most will unfold when you're exploring the mysteries of peace
and serenity. In fact, I suspect that the deeper you relax, the more likely
it is that you will attract life-changing teachings -- lessons that can
transform your life for the better and fuel you for a long time.

The answer?

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): "How many years can some people exist
before they're allowed to be free?" asked Bob Dylan in one of his most
famous songs, written in 1962. "The answer is blowin' in the wind," he
concluded. Many people hailed the tune as a civil rights anthem. Thirteen
years later, a hippie cowboy named Jerry Jeff Walker released "Pissing in
the Wind," a rowdy song that included the line, "The answer is pissing in
the wind." It was decidedly less serious than the tune it paid homage to,
with Walker suggesting that certain events in his life resembled the act
described in the title. "Makin' the same mistakes, we swore we'd never
make again," he crooned. All of this is my way of letting you know,
Taurus, that you're at a fork. In one direction is a profound, even noble,
"blowin' in the wind" experience. In the other, it would be like "pissing in
the wind." Which do you prefer? It's up to you.


dammit I love this horoscope guy....

Be in the Questions

"I beg you, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."

Rainier Maria Rilke

There are a lot of questions in this art life. What am I talking about? How can I show but not reveal too much? What does it mean to be a contemporary artist? Is this important? How do you make that? What does it reference? What did you use to make that? Where is the work? 

I am going to dwell in the questions.

Ideas....

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In the course of your long life, I estimate you
will come up with approximately 60,000 really good ideas. Some of these
are small, like those that help you decide how to spend your weekend.
Some are big ones, like those that reveal the best place for you to live. As
your destiny unfolds, you go through phases when you have fewer good
ideas than average, and other phases when you're overflowing with them.
The period you're in right now is one of the latter. You are a fountain of
bright notions, intuitive insights, and fresh perspectives. Take advantage
of the abundance, Taurus. Solve as many riddles and dilemmas as you
can.
A good message for a morning after meeeeeeeetings where ideas are squished....another good message; steer the course keep the focus.

Smiles for now.