Thursday, March 6, 2014

Lonestar Explosion 2014: They came. I saw, and all of us were compromised. (NSFW)

Dean Liscum

The second Houston International Performance Art Biennale (a.k.a. Lonestar Explosion) took place from Thursday, February 20 through Saturday February 22, 2014. During the festival organized by Julia Claire Wallace, Jonatan Lopez and Ryan Hawk, many local, regional, national, and international performance artists converged on Houston in a marathon of performances.


Jessica Santone at the CAM


Autumn Hays interviewing Jill McDermid and Erik Hokanson at the CAM 

They lectured at local universities (Sam Houston State and University of Houston), held a panel discussion at the CAMH, performed at such venues as Box 13, the Art League, and Notsuoh. While performing, some got dirty;


Dirty Dancing by Hilary Scullane 


Making the Perfect Line #2 by Josh Urban Davis 

some got naked;


Kristen Danae Keilman, Bound


Utero by Abel Azcona 


For Gloria by Emilio Rojas 

some got cold;


Romper La Noche by Carlos Martiel

some got blue;


Untitled by Nestor Topchy 

some got exploited, and some got injured and taken to the emergency room.

By the final performance, a few personal boundaries may have been violated, some psyche's may have been damaged, and some preconceived notions/prejudices may have died. Which is what is supposed to happen because those are some of the roles that performance art plays in its relationship with its audience.

I attended the entire festival and while I didn't see every performance, I witnessed most of them. Over the next couple of weeks/months, I'll recount what I experienced, share what I saw, and discuss how I interpreted it. And you can take it or leave because after an explosion what else is left but debris and impressions.

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