At venues throughout New York City
November 1–19, 2017
Performa, the internationally-acclaimed organization dedicated to live performance across disciplines, announces select commissions and the historical anchor for Performa 17—the seventh edition of the Performa biennial, to take place November 1–19, 2017, at locations throughout New York City.
Since its inception, Performa has been a leader in commissioning artists whose work has collectively shaped a new chapter in the multi-century legacy of visual artists working in live performance. Founded by art historian and curator RoseLee Goldberg, the organization is dedicated to exploring the critical role of live performance in the history of twentieth-century art, as well as its enormous significance in the international world of contemporary art.
For the Performa 17 biennial, Performa’s team of curators and producers will present commissions and projects around curatorial research themes focused on a cross cultural dialogue between artists working in several African cities, the intersection of architecture and performance and the legacy of Dada, that represent timely opportunities to work with a diverse range of global contemporary artists. The resulting commissions and scholarship examine immediate and critical concerns confronting our urban centers, the shifting political and cultural currents of our turbulent world today, and ultimately the role of the arts and of artists in supporting afflicted communities. This edition of the Biennial will focus on the sociopolitical context informing contemporary art today, and how best to engage audiences in significantly understanding and absorbing its aesthetics and intrinsic values. Additional commissions, projects and details will be announced in the coming months.
“The Performa biennial provides an extraordinary platform for showing the important role of art in society. Through live performance we touch people directly, change their minds, and introduce them viscerally to the complicated emotional and aesthetic expressions of artists responding to the world that we inhabit,” says RoseLee Goldberg, Founding Director and Chief Curator. “For the past 18 months, Performa curators have visited Dakar, Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Johannesburg and Cape Town, as part of our ongoing research, examining how artists in these disparate cities consider performance as an extension of their creativity in multiple disciplines—visual art, music, dance, film, image making—and how each artist takes us into distinct histories and sensibilities. Along with artists from Guadeloupe, New York and Paris, we are excited to announce the first commissions emerging from this extended engagement.”
Performa Commissions for the Performa 17 biennial include:
Yto Barrada (Morocco/France)
William Kentridge (South Africa)
Tarik Kiswanson (Sweden/Palestine)
Kemang Wa Lehulere (South Africa)
Julie Mehretu (Ethiopia) and Jason Moran (USA)
Zanele Muholi (South Africa)
Wangechi Mutu (Kenya)
Kelly Nipper (USA)
Jimmy Robert (France)
Tracey Rose (South Africa)
The full Performa 17 biennial program will be announced in September and will include over 60 performances, installations, projects, special events and public education programming at over 45 venues and locations across New York City with new commissions and additional projects curated by the Performa Biennial Consortium of cultural partners. The Performa curatorial team is led by Chief Curator RoseLee Goldberg and includes Performa Curator Adrienne Edwards and Associate Curator Charles Aubin. Performa’s programming is produced by Esa Nickle. The Performa Commissioning Fund is supported by grants from Toby Devan Lewis and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and by the members of the Performa Commissioning Council. Additional program support for the biennial is provided by the The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation - Institute of International Education, The Lambent Foundation, David and Elaine Potter Foundation, the Arison Arts Foundation, Estonian Ministry of Culture, Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center, Lafayette Anticipation - Fondation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette and Institut Français à Paris and FUSED, French-US Exchange in Dance.
Media contact
Victoria Kung, SUTTON
victoria.kung [at] suttonpr.com / T +1 212 202 3402
