Workshop with Martha Wilson

Performatorium # 007 – How to DISBAND – a performative transcription

SA/SO 09 -10 06 2018
und SA/SO 16 -17 06 2018
11am -6.00am

Within the Performatorium #007, we not only focused on the Franklin Furnace Archive, but also dived into Martha Wilson’s artistic practice: Immediately, foolhardy and loud, we started the first day of the workshop series with Martha Wilson herself, where she gave us an introduction into her DISBAND, a 1980s feminist „anti“ music group in Manhattan (Martha Wilson, Barbara Ess, Ilona Granet, Donna Henes, Daile Kaplan, Barbara Kruger, Ingrid Sishy, and Diane Torr).

Martha Wilson, performance pioneer, does not ask, but puts straight into action: she takes part in writing contemporary art history outside the mainstream as part of her feminist practice. That’s how her project, the Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc. in New York City in the 1970s, was born: an alternative archive for marginalized art production. Women’s art was less perceived and the structural possibilities and places for positions outside the heteronormative art field were limited. Feminist practice and performance art were closely intertwined with this development right from the start. From today’s perspective, the question arises as to whether and how we can continue and update these performative strategies via repetition, interpretation and appropriation.

The Performatorium #007 has taken place on two weekends: SA/SO 09 -10 06 2018 and SA/SO 16 -17 06 2018. After the introduction of Martha Wilson on the first day, we continued rehearsing, experimenting and improvising on the three following workshop days. In daily band rehearsals we played with different techniques of improvisation (voice, movement) to develop a common repertoire. This performative activity was interwoven through close readings and discussions on (queer) feminist (performance) archives as well as 

The Performatorium is a laboratory for performative practice. All artists working within the performative field are welcome, as well as individuals who are interested in an intensive engagement with artistic performative practice. The program for the regularly scheduled gatherings is planned collectively for the upcoming meeting. Performative methods are shared and developed through personal inputs within the group. Thus, performative knowledge is generated through exchange and action.

Further dates of the Performatorium 2018: SAT, 20 10 2018

www.franklinfurnace.org
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Photo: ©DISBAND