dutifully obeying - as faithfully as possible - the whims of onlookers in Seattle at Folklife yesterday as I warm up the rebirth of the #PushButtonPerformer for more events this Summer, Fall & beyond
performing this in Seattle during Folklife @nwfolklife about 1-3p tomorrow Sat 5/23, and the same time Monday 5/25. Look for me near the fountain.
you will soon be able to push my buttons and make me do whatever you want. The #PushButtonPerformer is returning after a very, very long hiatus. With new instrumentation, content & costuming. I’ll be out warming up in Seattle @nwfolklife this weekend. Then I’m aiming to appear at other events in & around Seattle through the Summer & Fall.
I’m not a trained musician but this performance is only partially about the content I perform. The other content is you; how you interact with me, how you control me, and how you can watch what other people do to me. It’s always revealing to watch people mess with me, sometimes to the point of others riding to my defense. “Don’t make him do that!l” “The robot will break!” Watch where sympathies lie when you open up the controls and hand over the button-pushing duties to perfect strangers with few guardrails restricting what can or can’t be done. Grown adults will turn into Lord of the Flies faster than you might think.
gearing up to test this new iteration out in Seattle this weekend @nwfolklife
New #PushButtonPerformer apparatus in progress. I first started this bit in 1999, from inside a telephone-size booth I built to put myself in a box. It was a commentary on tech back then, which seems only more prescient now. Which has inspired me to return to the performance piece and give it new life. I’m writing and rehearsing all new spoken word content aimed at the intersection of art, big tech and big money. I’ll add a couple musical instruments and some lettering to these buttons, then have it out this Summer & Fall at events & venues in & around Seattle.
slowly building a new iteration of #PushButtonPerformer piece I did first in 1999. First I was a performer in a box. Then I improved the box. Then I mobilized myself with a chest panel of buttons. Then I added a TV head. I tried all these iterations dozens of times for performances around the PNW. Something in the realm of MORE ROBOT SATIRE has inspired me to give it another go. So here I am rebuilding the chest panel buttons integrated with a TV head.
Live & learn. I should’ve provided better lighting & magnifying glasses. Also a lesson in showing art in alternative spaces. On Monday I installed several of pieces in the lobby of Town Hall Seattle as part of an amazing event for the Alliance for Gun Responsibility @allianceforgunresponsibility. I couldn’t put holes in the Town Hall walls - they’re historical! So I built racks & mounted the plaques underneath, which made them low & hard to read. I did, however, meet some amazing people. True heroes working on this. And therein lies the blessing & curse of injecting art into non-art contexts: difficult to install, beautifully unexpected outcomes.
get to Vashon Center for the Arts @vashoncenter today & tomorrow, the last 2 days of my “Good Buy! Cruel World” art exhibit full of holiday gift possibilities. Don’t buy a corporate product. Buy from a working artist.
“Good Buy! Cruel World” ends tomorrow
Don’t say good bye. Say, “Good buy!”
All details at my bio link
Last chance to see my “Good Buy! Cruel World” show before it ends this Sunday. I don’t have another show booked. I’m not quitting or retiring, but you never know. I have nothing else lined up. This could be the last time my work is seen out in public if not ever, for a very long time
we estimated something like 300 people at the opening of “Good Buy! Cruel World” @vashoncenter but I was too engrossed in conversation to pull my phone out and take pictures. Anyone have any pics from the Nov.7 opening? Feel free to DM or post & tag me
I made 30 new juice boxes as part of my “Good Buy! Cruel World” exhibit on now til Nov.30 @vashoncenter. GALLERY IS OPEN TODAY! Hours: Noon-5p PST Wed-Sun.
a massive THANK YOU to everyone who came to the opening and talk last weekend. And an even massive-er THANK YOU to the many who purchased works from the show. Yall make the world go round. Many of you came from off-island to Vashon just to see my art. I can’t thank you enough. Many of you came Friday for the opening then came back again Sunday for the talk. My heart swells with gratitude and I don’t really know how to process the feeling other than to just keep thanking you. Thank you thank you thank you
there’s so much happening @vashoncenter that this happened. This. This this this this this
I still can’t believe it. Can’t believe a lot about how well my show opened last night. But this. That this exists. And that I had anything to do with it. I think I’m just gonna watch this video any time I ever feel sad, mad, hurt or depressed about anything. Instant #MoodLifter.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️THANK YOU❤️❤️❤️❤️ to everyone who showed up last night. You make the world go round. If you missed my show opening, I’m doing a free talk @vashoncenter 2p tomorrow, Sunday November 9. Come with hard questions. Let’s press the matter.
and that’s a wrap. Had a very fun and strangely good/weird time mis/directing people as part of a brilliant @suttonberesculler performance piece for @walkdontrun_sea today in Seattle, a place I was born in, barely recognize anymore, am re-acquainting myself with now, and am truly re-falling in love with, due only to the good and amazing people who live here… who love art… who’ve loved the satire, free speech in the street and the first amendment long before some A-hole co-opted the lingo, ran it into the White House then turned it on the people he supposedly represents. Just a good day to be reminded that there are those of us fighting the good fight. And low and behold, it always seems to be artists and those who love the arts. Always
spending my Saturday directing traffic for @walkdontrun_sea with @benjamite1061 as part of @suttonberesculler ‘s official Department of Bearing & Orientation aka “DEBO”
can’t quite hear anything for some strange reason
effectively done with this puppy. Gonna go have it installed @cannonballarts in downtown Seattle then try to have it installed as part of the big solo I’m working on @vashoncenter this coming November
