NO BIRDS ALLOWED


 

curated by

Betty Nguyen,
first person magazine

 

JUNE 4 - JUNE 12

 

 

 

 



If San Francisco represents a certain impulse to construct utopias from the lush surroundings of our geographic location, it often falls to the artist to invoke the cracks in the dreamworlds of the castle and garden, the hard realities of social ineptness and malcontent that temper the reveries of a balanced TV distraction and brunch-lifestyle.

In the exhibition / festival "No Birds Allowed" we invoke the feeling of discomfort. It is this awareness that forces the player to face his or her deepest fears, shame and histories in order to move forward and handle life with humor, dignity and strength. Surrounded by sunny images of birds and beaches reflecting our Coastal life, there is a flip side in the space of books, sound and bad influences that chides this romanticism in art. Arvo Part reflects, "If you can kill with sound, there is this opposite. And the spectrum in between is quite big. You are free to choose. In Art everything is possible, but everything that is made is not necessary".

From June 4th until June 12th, NOMA Gallery will transform its seedling space into a dark room for play and experimentation. I have always been interested in exploring and discovering sides of people, including myself, that aren't usually known to others. Whether it be personal or just allowing for a platform to produce things that normally haven't been tried. I was asked to curate a performance festival. I don't know anything about it, so of course, I was up for it. I decided to invite artists whose works are themselves performative. Through poetry, theatre, music, acting and directing roles, and manipulating objects, these artists will be driving an elephant through a screw.

Players:

Lemon Bear
Jonathan Casella
Joshua Clayton
David Enos
Jonathan Grothman
David Highsmith
Christian Jankowski
Yayoi Kusama
Randy Lee
Betty Nguyen
Julien Poirier
Guy Overfelt
Mishell Stimson
Marshall Trammell

 

Schedule:

Friday Night Opening, June 4th 7pm
Readings by Julien Poirer, David Highman, Francois Vigneault 8pm
"The Blind Side" play by David Enos 9pm

Saturday Night, June 5th 7pm
Music Performances
Camp Followers  7pm
Marshall Trammell 8pm
SF Workshop 9pm

Sunday Brunch, June 6th Noon
Screening Yayoi Kusama "I Love Me" 12pm
"A Machine for Dismantlement"  by Joshua Clayton 2pm

Artworks shown from June 4th through June 12th by Jonathan Casella, Guy Overfelt, Christian Jankowski, Betty Nguyen.

Food carts from SF vendors have also been invited, so bring cash for snacks*

Betty Nguyen
www.firstpersonmag.com