by frankofile

With the plethora of recent theatre festivals this winter, it’s difficult to fully grasp the current state performance in this town. For a quick refresher course on how we got where we are today, check out RENEGADES: 25 Years of Performance at Exit Art – a selection from the archives, on view now through Saturday at 475 10th Avenue.

The exhibition is a survey of the various performances Exit Art has produced or taken part in during its 25 year existence, from 1982’s Illegal America to last year’s Wild Nights. With a long and impressive list of participants, including such notables as Marina Abromovic, Carolee Schneemann, and Vito Acconci, Exit Art proves that performance during the past quarter century has been a bold journey worth examining.

RENEGADES also serves as a fascinating experiment in how to display performance archives, through well situated video projectors, slides, and video viewing stations. The product is a history museum of performance art, where we see artists in their purest form leaving a lasting mark on medium.

About the Author of this post!
Ryan Frank is an artist who works in the mediums of performance, sculpture, and installation. He has directed productions of The Eiffel Tower Wedding Party and Artaud’s The Spurt of Blood and co-created The Glass Project – Chapter One: The Bathroom, which was exhibited at chashama in the Spring of 2006. Ryan is also a founder of Ad Nauseam Lyceum, a group that curates exhibitions of emerging artists in the New York.