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.
my pieces were on display at Town Hall Seattle today as part of a fundraising event for the Alliance for Gun Responsibility @allianceforgunresponsibility
people entering the “Knock on Wood” show last week in Seattle. Got stuffy in there! Check it out @cocaseattle - show is still on view through the rest of March
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
start off the shopping season with a well placed middle finger to corporations. Two things can be true at once: you can buy gifts for loved ones, and not destroy the world at the same time. My “juice boxes” made from corporate waste are available during the last days of my “Good Buy! Cruel World” art show @vashoncenter until this Sunday Nov.30 - see my bio link.
I kinda wish I didn’t have so much going on at my opening because I missed moments like this. And if you missed the show entirely so far, your last chance is this weekend. “Good Buy! Cruel World” @vashoncenter ends Nov.30.
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
🗓️TODAY is the last day I’ll be at the gallery @vashoncenter if you want to meet me & see my show before it closes. 1:30p PST I’ll be on Instagram Live to host a virtual tour. 2p PST I’ll be available to host in-person tours as part of the Fall of Freedom events taking place around the country @falloffreedom
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
From opening night for “Good Buy! Cruel World” last weekend @vashoncenter. Still energized from so many great people turning out. People I loved in every direction. Show is up until Nov.30.
the pure glory that happens when you let human hands touch art. Look how happy the children are! Take down the velvet ropes. Remove the barriers. Go see it in person. The “Kingwalker” piece buried in this pack of sweet, small souls is one of many pieces currently on display @vashoncenter as part of my “Good Buy! Cruel World” art exhibition on now thru Nov.30. Gallery hrs Noon-5p PST Wednesday - Sunday. See art in person. Especially mine. As joyful as these little faces are, the pictures still don’t do proper justice.
