Friday, November 04, 2011
Pop Cabaret
Carnegie Mellon University: Students in Carnegie Mellon University's School of Art have been creating short solo and group performances this semester in the first floor theater at the Warhol. "Pop Cabaret: Performance Art at the Andy Warhol Museum," an advanced level electronic and time-based media course, is a first-time collaboration around a college course for the Warhol and Carnegie Mellon.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
One question here - how is a low tech Performance Art class actually an electronic- and time-based media course?
I really like the notion of the class as performance troupe and that getting the class out of the classroom and into a performance venue breaks down the traditional structure. It sets up more of an informal hands-on environment somewhere between lab experience and professional company, which is also where our Production Prep program succeeds. Performance art is a suitably broad umbrella term that offers a lot of opportunity for experimentation and innovation, which makes collaboration with the Warhol and its repository of modern and pop pieces as inspiration such a benefit to this course. I missed the Halloween cabaret, but I think I'll make my way over for the winter show.
I like the idea of collaborating with the community. In my undergrad I had the luxury of working with theatre companies in town but it was a much smaller program. I often wonder what kind of neat projects we could do within this community. Unfortunately at the SOD we don't always have time to branch out. We try with the Pittsburgh Opera and City Theatre but not everyone gets those experiences. I was lucky enough to get to work with the lighting department my first year on their efforts to enhance downtown Pittsburgh and that was fantastic. I hope students get more of these opportunities in the future.
Brian, this counts as an electronic and time based media course both because performance art counts as time based media and because the teacher, Suzie Silver, is a really excellent and talented video artist. In the art school, electronic/time based media is a flavor of art that students concentrate so that is where Pop Cabaret gets lumped.
That being said, I am definitely going to see the winter show. What a great opportunity that this class got to perform at the Warhol! That's not something that most artists get to list on their resume. Performance art is so interesting here because they are really conceptually pushed, and so wildly different than straight up theater performances. I think that it's important in the drama school to be well versed in performance art, to open our eyes to new, maybe more experimental forms of performance.
Post a Comment