FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Art Installation Opening: September 2, 5pm DIVA DIVAN
Fringe festivals are a vital cultural phenomenon in the cities where they exist. But does the “fringe” really still exist? Is there still a “fringe artist” in today’s world of ubiquitous 15 minutes of fame? The Philly Fringe has successfully marketed itself in a few years into the Live Arts Festival, with the fringe portion of the festival becoming a showcase for Live Arts. The same phenomenon holds true for the fringe festivals of New York and elsewhere: artists using the fringe festivals to market their work into more mainstream venues. FridgeFest was conceived both as tongue-in-cheek fun and as a reaction agianst
the many fringe festival artists and producers harboring aspirations to mainstream
acceptance. The mise-en-scene of FridgeFest is an art installation. Visual artists
install and display their work in refrigerators, that icon of capitalism and
clean white cube that artificially preserves human nourishment. Aspiring to
capture the zeitgeist of fringe festivals, FridgeFest is a fringe of the fringe.
In ticket price and open access, we want to present a counter-proposal to both
artist and audience alike. We choose to engage in multidisciplinary practices because cross-pollination between media is the most immediately engaging and best-suited means to pose urgent questions. These questions concern what belongs to the realm of art and what to the realm of popular culture, intersecting with issues of identity, class, gender, global economy, censorship and the environment. From “high” to “low,” we are interested in culture jamming. We choose to work pseudonymously because names serve as a jumping-off point conceptually, and further our exploration of identity, brand, name and biography, and how these elements frame the performance and/or art. But what is the work? Is it performance? Conceptual art? Installation? Spectacle? Critical commentary on capitalism and desire? Yes, all of these. FridgeFest
September 2 through 10, 2005 [contact: ben@] SHOWS & SCHEDULE: Friday, Sep. 2 Saturday, Sep. 3 Saturday, Sep. 10
Chosen Dance Company [contact: clive@chose] -- Chosen will present some new works in it's repertory that offer the high caliber dancing that Hip-Hop is known for as well as some older ones that highlight the focus and discipline of movement including the "Egyptian Ballet", which premiered at the Fringe Festival under the Bumpin' Big Top in 03' and received a standing ovation. Chosen Dance Company is a Christian based Hip-Hop dance company whose mission is to present concert works with Love in mind. Generally Hip-Hop is known for it's gangsta mentality, clever yet offensive lyrical content and thumpin' beats. Now imagine that you were a Hip-Hop artist performing for an audience that idolized and imitated what you did. Put simply, Chosen is Hip-Hop with a conscience. We focus on the dance that is Hip-Hop and use it in a way audiences of all ages, ethnicities, genders and culture can feel comfortable.
Interlude with Kurt Weill [contact: hazelkate67@] -- Favorites by Kurt Weill in English, French and German, interpreted by two lovely sopranos and a one-woman orchestra, starring Kate Quinn, Nancy Patton and Bea Howlett. MY SIN [contact: TTtutu@] -- Inspired by Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht’s exploration of the seven deadly sins, MY SIN probes alarming parallels between early 1930’s Germany and George Bush’s America, employing original and pirated texts, live music and cheap wigs. Provoked by the current obsession with “family values,” MY SIN delves into the ways that morality is defined for political as well as religious ends. The Lovely and Talented Miss Toni Silver is a performance artist, member of the multi-media collective Temporary/Industrial Arts. Her collaborations with T/IA include PATRIOT ACT and TIME-O-RAMA and solo works include BOOBY TRAPS EVERYWHERE, LEAVE HER TO BEAVER, and A CAB IS CHEAPER THAN A FUNERAL, which premiered at the 1999 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Toni’s work has been presented in such venues as the American Livingroom series at HERE, 45 Bleecker, St. Mark’s Theatre, and Chashama in New York, and the Brick Playhouse, Adrienne Theater and Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia. Fly By Night [contact: nick@] -- The 24-hour play-producing marathon: 6 writers, 6 directors, 18 actors, 24 hours and it’s showtime! Tumbling Tumbleweed [contact: remrem@ -- If a tumbleweed rolled into a cowboy’s shirt and pants, and the wind blew a hat on top of it and that assembled cowboy were to manage its way down the street, get into a fight, fall in love or maybe die… A dance piece by Irem Calikusu and John Schneider, music by Pete List. StorySLAM! [contact: wildmoth@or 215-525-1252] -- A competitive storytelling event, like a poetry slam only with stories, as conceived by New York’s Nyorican Poet’s Cafe. Theme: Refrigerator Moments. If we are what we eat then the refrigerator is the grand repository of our dreams of who we will become. Every fridge is the mini museum of natural history of those who use it. Refrigerators are a subject that goes straight to the heart (and stomach) of the human condition. Share with us your stories about your relationship with your refrigerator and the food that is or isn't inside. First prize: $25 gift certificate from Whole Foods. Automat [contact: ben@] w/ DJ Operant77. An evening of new and classic car crash music (post punk, new wave, electro, tech).
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