Performa is a non-profit arts organization well-known for the Performa Biennial, a festival of performance art that happens every two year in various venues and institutions in New York City.[1] Performa was founded in 2004 by art historian and curator RoseLee Goldberg. Since 2005, Performa curators have included Charles Aubin, Defne Ayas, Tairone Bastien, Mark Beasley, Adrienne Edwards, Laura McLean-Ferris, Kathy Noble, Job Piston, and Lana Wilson. The organization commissions new works and tours performances premiered at the biennial. It also manages the work of choreographer and filmmaker Yvonne Rainer.
Performa Biennial
Performa 05 commissions
In 2005, Performa hosted the first Performa Biennial, a series of performance events at venues and institutions across New York City. Founding curator and director, RoseLee Goldberg is quoted as saying her objective in creating the festival was "to produce new work that I'd never seen before and have the miracle of working with artists who would make things of wonder. The second was to deal with this history."[2] Performa 05 presented new works by artists working in performance as well as first performance works by artists working in other mediums. The biennial also re-staged seminal performance works from history.[3]
Artists Jesper Just and Francis Alÿs presented new live performances specifically commissioned for Performa 05 and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presented Marina Abramović's Seven Easy Pieces, in which Abramović re-performed several works from the canon of early performance works, including two of her own. Performances included works by Gina Pane, Vito Acconci, Valie Export, Bruce Nauman, and Joseph Beuys.[4] Other featured artists in Performa 05 included Shirin Neshat, Clifford Owens, Tamy Ben-Tor, Laurie Simmons, Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz, Coco Fusco, and Christian Marclay.[5]
- Jesper Just: True Love Is Yet To Come?, 2005 at Stephan Weiss Studio, 711 Greenwich Street, New York
- Francis Alÿs: Rehearsal II at The Slipper Room, 2005 at 167 Orchard Street at Stanton Street
- Performa Radio, 2005, on WFMU (91.1FM-NY) and WKCR (89.9FM-NY)
Performa 07 commissions
- Japanther, Japanther in (3-D), 2007 at Performance Space 122
- Nathalie Djurberg, Untitled (Working Title Kids & Dogs), 2007 at the Zipper Theater
- Carlos Amorales, Spider Galaxy, 2007 at 590 Madison Avenue (The Atrium)
- Sanford Biggers, The Somethin' Suite, 2007 at The Box
- Isaac Julien & Russell Maliphant, Cast No Shadow, 2007 at Brooklyn Academy of Music Harvey Theater
- Daria Martin, Harpstrings & Lava, 2007 at Tribeca Grand Hotel Screening Room
- Kelly Nipper, Floyd on the Floor, 2007 at Judson Memorial Church
- Adam Pendleton, The Revival, 2007 at Stephan Weiss Studio
- Yvonne Rainer, RoS Indexical, 2007 at The Hudson Theatre at Millennium Broadway Hotel
- Francesco Vezzoli, Cosi’ e (se vi pare) Right You Are (If You Think You Are), 2007 at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Performa 09 commissions
- Arto Lindsay, SOMEWHERE I READ
- Jennifer Rubell, Creation[8]
- Guy Ben-Ner, Drop the Monkey
- Christian Tomaszewski and Joanna Malinowska, Mother Earth Sister Moon
- Omer Fast, Talk Show
- Candice Breitz, New York, New York
- Music for 16 Futurist Noise Intoners
- Wangechi Mutu, Stone Ihiga[9]
- Mike Kelley, Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #32, Plus[10]
- Futurist Life Redux[11]
- Dominique Gonzales-Foerster and Ari Benjamin Meyers, K.62 and K.85[12]
- Yeondoo Jung, Cinemagician
Performa 11 commissions
- Elmgreen & Dragset, Happy Days in the Art World, 2011 at Skirball Center for the Performing Arts
- Mika Rottenberg and Jon Kessler, Seven, 2011
- Frances Stark, Put a Song in Your Thing, 2011 at Abrons Art Center
- Gerard Byrne, In Repertory, 2011 at Abrons Art Center
- Tarek Atoui, Visiting Tarab, 2011 at SIR Stage
- Simon Fujiwara, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, 2011 at Abrons Art Center
- Ming Wong, Persona Performa, 2011 at Museum of the Moving Image
- Shirin Neshat, OverRuled, 2011 at Cedar Lake
- Laurel Nakadate and James Franco, Three Performances in Search of Tennessee, 2011 at Abrons Art Center
- Liz Magic Laser, I Feel Your Pain, 2011 at SVA Theater
- Iona Rozeal Brown, battle of yestermore, 2011 at Skylight West
- Guy Maddin, Tales from the Gimli Hospital: Reframed, 2011 at Walter Reade Theater
- Ragnar Kjartansson, Bliss, 2011 at Abrons Art Center
Performa 13 commissions
- Paweł Althamer, Biba Performa, 2013, and Queen Mother of Reality Inauguration, 2013 at Socrates Sculpture Park
- Rashid Johnson, Dutchman, 2013 at 10th Street Bath House, 268 East 10th Street
- Ryan McNamara, MEƎM: A STORY BALLET ABOUT THE INTERNET, 2013 at Connelly Theater
- Subodh Gupta, Celebration, 2013 at The Old Bowery Station, 168 Bowery
- Florian Heckter, C.D. – A Script for Synthesis, 2013 at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
- Alexandre Singh, The Humans, 2013 at BAM Fisher
- Rosa Barba, Subconscious Society – Live, 2013 at Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue
- Eddie Peake, Endymion, 2013 at Swiss Institute
- Shana Lutker, The Nose, The Cane, The Broken Left Arm, 2013 at Theatre 80, 80 St Marks Place
- Marianne Vitale, The Missing Book of Spurs, 2013 at 5-01 46th Road, Long Island City
- Raqs Media Collective, The Last International, 2013 at Connelly Theater
- Tori Wrånes, Yes Nix, 2013 at SIR Stage 37, 508 West 37th Street
Performa 15 commissions
- Ryan Gander, Earnest Hawker, 2015
- Francesco Vezzoli and David Hallberg, Fortuna Desperata, 2015 at St. Bart's Church, 325 Park Avenue
- Pauline Curnier Jardin, The Resurrection Plot, 2015 at Pioneer Works
- Wyatt Kahn, Work, 2015 at Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre
- Jérôme Bel, Ballet (New York), 2015 at Marian Goodman Gallery; Martha Graham Studio Theater; and El Museo del Barrio
- Robin Rhode, Arnold Schönberg's Erwartung – A Performance by Robin Rhode, 2015 at Times Square
- Zheng Mahler, New York Post – et Préfiguratif (Before and After New York), 2015
- Erika Vogt, Artist Theater Program, 2015 at Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave.
- Jesper Just and FOS, in the shadow/ of a spectacle/ is the view of the crowd, 2015
- Juliana Huxtable, There Are Certain Facts that Cannot Be Disputed, 2015 at Museum of Modern Art
- Oscar Murillo, Lucky dip, 2015 at Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
- Laura Lima, Gala Chickens and Ball, 2015
- Agatha Gothe-Snape, Rhetorical Chorus (LW), 2015 at New York Society for Ethical Culture
- Edgar Arceneaux, Until, Until, Until..., 2015
Performa 17 commissions
- Yto Barrada, Tree Identification for Beginners
- Brian Belott, People Pie Pool at Abrons Arts Center[17]
- Xavier Cha, Buffer at Brooklyn Academy of Music[18]
- Teju Cole, Black Paper
- François Dallegret, The Environment-Bubble (1965–2017)[19]
- Nicholas Hlobo, umBhovuzo: The Parable of the Sower[20]
- Flora Kasearu, Ainult liikmetele (Members Only)
- William Kentridge, Ursonate at the Harlem Parish[21]
- Barbara Kruger[22]
- Kris Lemsalu and Kyp Malone, Going, Going[23]
- Julie Mehretu and Jason Moran, MASS (HOWL, eon) at the Harlem Parish[24]
- Mohau Modisakeng, ZION
- Zanele Muholi, Masihambisane – On Visual Activism[25]
- Wangechi Mutu, Banana Stroke
- Narcissister, The Body Is a House at Participant Inc
- Kelly Nipper, Terre Mécanique[26]
- Eiko Otake, A Body in Places
- Jimmy Robert, Imitation of Lives at the Glass House[27]
- Bryony Roberts and Mabel O. Wilson with the Marching Cobras of New York, Marching On[28]
- Tracey Rose
- Anu Vahtra, Open House Closing[29]
- Kemang Wa Lehulere, I cut my skin to liberate the splinter[30]
Performa 19 commissions
- Korakrit Arunanondchai, Together[31]
- Ed Atkins, A Catch Upon the Mirror at Abrons Arts Center
- Nairy Baghramian and Maria Hassabi, Entre Deux Actes (Ménage à Quatre)[32]
- Cecilia Bengolea and Michèle Lamy, Before We Die[33]
- Yu Cheng-Ta, FAMEME
- Torkwase Dyson, I Can Drink the Distance: Plantationocene in 2 Acts
- Su Hui-Yu, The White Water
- Tarik Kiswanson, AS DEEP AS I COULD REMEMBER, AS FAR AS I COULD SEE
- Kia LaBeija, (Untitled) The Black Act[34]
- Lap-See Lam, Phantom
- Shu Lea Cheang, SLEEP1237
- Eva Mag, Dead Matter Moves
- Paul Maheke and Nkisi, Sènsa[35]
- Gaetano Pesce[36]
- Paul Pfeiffer, University of Georgia Redcoat Band Live at the Apollo Theater
- Huang Po-Chih, Heaven on Fourth
- Yvonne Rainer, Parts of Some Sextets (1965–2019)
- Bunny Rogers, Sanctuary at the Essex Street Academy[37]
- Ylva Snöfrid, Nostalgia–Acts of Vanitas
- Samson Young, The Eight Immortals
- Chou Yu-Cheng, CHEMICAL GILDING, KEEP CALM, GALVANIZE, PRAY, ASHES, MANIFESTATION, UNEQUAL, DISSATISFACTION, CAPITALIZE, INCENSE BURNER, SURVIVAL, AGITATION, HIT
- Andros Zins-Browne and Karthik Pandian, Atlas Unlimited: Acts VII–X at 80WSE
Performa 21 Commissions
