Welcome Failure

Broken Red Balloon Dog NY Edition

Wednesday, October 5
8:00pm–9:30pm
Segal Theatre
Photo courtesy of the artist

Photo courtesy of the artist

Situated on the border of irony and sincerity, The Institute of Failure studies failure in all aspects of human endeavor. Headed by Tim Etchells (Forced Entertainment) and Matthew Goulish (Every house has a door) the Institute aims to map contemporary failure in cross-disciplinary style.

This performance takes its title from a shattered Jeff Koons sculpture. It presents monologues in adoxography, the art of praising worthless things, written by Tim Etchells, Matthew Goulish, and five invited writers.

Participating Artists: Matthew Goulish, Tim Etchells (as co-writer); Guest Writers: Blair Bogin; Abigail Browde; Sebastián Calderón Bentin; Robin Deacon; David Grubbs; Guest Performer: Itamar Segev.

 

Guest Writers:

Blair Bogin generates documentary-based performance, photo and video that impart poetic humor into topics of esotericism. She earned her BA from Indiana University Bloomington and her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She lives in Chicago, conducting pop-up art spaces and running Wax Long, a monthly full moon performance event.

Abigail Browde works with Michael Silverstone under the name 600 HIGHWAYMEN. Since 2009, their work has been presented in the U.S. at Under The Radar/The Public Theater, Crossing the Line, River to River, Abrons Arts Center, The Invisible Dog, Wexner Center for the Arts, International Festival of Arts & Ideas, FringeArts, On The Boards, Mount Tremper Arts, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Fusebox Festival; Internationally at the Centre Pompidou and Parc de la Villette (France), Festival Theaterformen (Germany), Noorderzon Festival (The Netherlands), Zürcher Theater Spektakel (Switzerland), OzAsia Festival (Australia). Upcoming presentations include Onassis Cultural Centre (Greece), In BetweenTime International Festival (UK). 600 HWM received an Obie Award in 2014, Zurich’s ZKB Patronage Prize in 2015, and a Bessie Nomination for Outstanding Production of 2015. Abigail was named an artist fellow by the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Sebastián Calderón Bentin is an actor, director, and scholar. He has performed with Every house has a door, Anna Deavere Smith, John Jesurun, Witness Relocation, Ann Carlson, Faye Driscoll, Gisela Cardenas, Tim Etchells and Matthew Goulish’s Institute of Failure, and the International Contemporary Ensemble, among others. In collaboration with Sean Donovan he conceived and directed 18 ½ Minutes (2013) at JACK, the climate chronicles (2011) at the Arts Incubator Project, Se Vende/For Sale (2008) at the FAE Festival in Panama, Sublimate (2006) and Petri Dish Decorum (2006) at Galapagos Art Space. Their new piece The Reception will premier at HERE Arts Center in June 2017.

Robin Deacon is a British artist, writer, filmmaker, and educator. His work has explored questions of memory, absence and fiction in performance practice, through a constant reconfiguration of his role as an artist – as a journalist and biographer, operator and technician, imposter and stooge. His recent research projects have explored histories of video documentation and outmoded media formats, as well as the practice and ethics of performance reenactment. His live and screen based work has been extensively presented in Europe, the US, and Asia. He is Associate Professor and Chair of Performance at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

David Grubbs is Professor of Music at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, CUNY. At Brooklyn College he also teaches in the MFA programs in Performance and Interactive Media Arts (PIMA) and Creative Writing.  He is the author of Records Ruin the Landscape: John Cage, the Sixties, and Sound Recording (Duke University Press). He has released thirteen solo albums and appeared on more than 150 commercially-released recordings, the most recent of which is Prismrose (Blue Chopsticks, 2016). He is known for his cross-disciplinary collaborations with writers Susan Howe and Rick Moody, and visual artists Anthony McCall, Angela Bulloch, and Stephen Prina.  Grubbs was a member of the group Gastr del Sol, and has performed with the Red Krayola, Will Oldham, Tony Conrad, Pauline Oliveros, and many others.  He is a grant recipient from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, a contributing editor in music for BOMB Magazine, and director of the Blue Chopsticks record label.

Guest Performer:

Itamar Segev is an actor, performer and maker. Born and raised in Jerusalem, Israel/Palestine, Itamar’s work ranges from film to experimental theater, dance and performance art. As a performer Itamar worked with 600 HIGHWAYMEN, Lee Sunday Evens, Sarah Delappe & Morgan Green, Andrew Hoepfner, Lilleth Glimcher and Brandon Wolcott  and performed/rehearsed in such venues as The Public Theater, The Park Avenue Armory, Sundance Theater Lab at MaSS MoCA, Pace Gallery, FIAF, Glasshouse Gallery, JACK, Noorderzon Festival, The Bowery Poetry Club and The Marcy Hotel. As a maker Segev presented work with collaborator Georgia Wall at NYLA (Fresh Tracks artists in residence), CATCH at the Invisible Dog and Movement Research at Judson Church.