Performances, Parties, and Poop at the Whitney Biennial

Without any negative connotation, Monday’s live performance at the Whitney Biennial, titled “Great Campaign on Hubbert’s Peak,” can truly be described as shitty. Artist Charles Long, famous for sculptures inspired by bird droppings, teamed up with the Baltimore-based “post punk” indie band Wilderness in a collaboration that incorporated music, sculpture, mass media, and live performance.

The experience evoked the “enthralling and ecstatic beauty and anger” that Long identified as the inspiration for the multimedia collaboration. “A student gave me a copy of their music,” Long explained. The intense connection that he felt while listening was obvious as he watched the band with his son at Monday evening’s Park Avenue Armory performance.

The show itself reflected a multi-layered message that was both politically and environmentally focused. The title refers to Hubbert’s Peak Theory, first used by scientist M. King Hubbert in the ’50s to predict the year when U.S. oil production would reach its peak. Images of shredded American flags and trash entangled in brush and branches were projected on a huge screen during the band’s impassioned performance. These representations of man’s adverse effects on nature recall the materials Long uses for the sculptures that comprise the performance’s complementary exhibit.

These sculptures, made of trash and plaster, were inspired by perhaps one of the most organic substances found in nature—poop. In a process that sounds similar to finding any image floating through the sky in the guise of a cloud, Long’s pieces seek to reflect the images of birds and people that he deciphers from among the blobs of herring bird droppings that stain the cement and rocks along the banks of the L.A. River.

Photographs of the actual white splashes of excrement, interspersed with pictures of Long’s sculptures, were projected on a second, smaller screen hung from the third-floor landing. The combined effect of the flashing images and the forceful yet complex music was one that evoked “the enthralling and ecstatic beauty and anger” that results from an awareness of the destruction that can overshadow an appreciation for nature.

While it is an unfortunate reality that wildernesses and habitats like the L.A. River are bearing the brunt of the effects of Hubbert’s Peak Theory, the degree to which Long was able to achieve a cohesive unity between music and art, East and West, nature and man, and creation and destruction is impressive. And it is this success that gives the almost overwhelmingly intense production an element of hope for the future reconciliation between man and nature.
—Adrienne Reitano

If you’re looking for a great party where you can unwind from the stress of midterms, you could see what’s going down at East Campus or the West End—or you can check out the Whitney Biennial. With a sculpture-cum-working bar serving homemade tequila, 50 international DJs on rotation, and a week—yes, a week—of near-nonstop dancing, it’s clear that this is not your grandma’s art exhibit.

The Whitney Biennial is known to forward what is fresh and cutting-edge in contemporary art, and yet this is the first year the Biennial has focused so much attention on performance as art. Starting on March 6 and running through March 23, the Whitney Biennial takes over the Park Avenue Armory with myriad special events, performances, and wild installation pieces. With its high ceilings, mahogany wood, and large portraits of old white men none of us recognize, the Armory resembles any number of buildings right here on campus. The party inside, however, is unlike anything you will find in Morningside Heights—or anywhere else in Manhattan.

A highlight at the Armory this week is a weeklong interactive performance piece titled Stamina: Gloria et Patria, by artist Agathe Snow. From 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. March 9-14, Snow hosts a dance-a-thon in different rooms of the cavernous building. The performance culminates in a 24 hour-long dance-off starting on Saturday, March 15, at 11 a.m. Participants in this free, weeklong event are encouraged to fill out time cards in order to “clock-in” their dancing hours. The dancer with the most hours logged wins a trip from New York to New York—a round-trip around the world. As of Sunday night, this marathon dance party had over 575 participants registered to dance throughout the week.

Sounds like fun, right? But does it also sound like art? “Agathe is into the idea of social sculpture ... cultivating a community, bringing people together,” says James Fuentes, who represents Snow. But how do others receive the piece? “Old people were like, ‘What is this? What is going on here?’ They were, like, angry,” said volunteer Rafael Lett. “Everyone else is getting into it. They hear the music and they come.” Snow creates an infectious atmosphere that pulls art viewers out of their normal docile passivity.

Some people make art. Others live art. Agathe Snow is of the latter sort. And for the next week, for up to 96 hours, she invites you to join in her world. For further information, dancer registration, and videos from previous performances visit www.stamina2008.com. Images from the artist’s most recent solo show, “I Don’t Know But I’ve Been Told, Eskimo Pussy is Mighty Cold,” and an extended review of Stamina can be found on the Columbia Spectator Online Edition.

—Melissa Hernandez