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4 Debating Through the Arts-Performance Art Event 4

Artists and Producers, Jerri Allyn and Inez Bush, with collaborating Artists:     Juna Amano, Stephanie Allespach, Dino Dinco, Rafa Esparza, Micheal Haight, McCristol Harris III, Daniela Ionescu, Teka Lark (Fleming), Marissa (Mercado) Magdelana, Jasmine Orpilla, Christine Palma, Christy Roberts, Leah Solomon Taylor, Kelly Thompson, Ali Tobia, Marjan Vayghan, Gregory Walker, Anna Martine Whitehead, Erich Wise.

Debating Through the Arts-Performance Art Event 4

Part of the LACE Performance Festival, in conjunction with the exhibition, Los Angeles Goes Live: Performance Art in Southern California 1970-1983; LACE-Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, a part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945-1980, Getty Research Institute, CA, USA; Oct 29, 2011, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm

From Debate to Create     Through a structure of debate, caucus, collaboration, performance and voting that echoes United Nations proceedings, artists and audience come together to explore social issues. By developing creative referendums (art, music, theatre or dance), the goal is to provide a performative context for artists to demonstrate the importance of the arts in solving conflicts. (The Model United Nations Program simulates activities in the UN General Assembly through conferences at universities throughout the world.)

Debate 4 was a daylong performance event based on a Model UN paradigm. Artists chose topics and a team; developed arguments and debated their view to an audience; caucused with those outside of their team; then collaboratively developed and proposed new artistic “referendums” (in Model UN parlance). The event culminated with the assembled gathering voting on their favorite solutions.

The audience was invited to come all day or drop in throughout the day.Recommended times to attend:    10:00-12:00 Artist Debates or 4:00-6:00 Proposed Creative Referendum Performances.

Debate 4 included 6 teams of artists creatively debating pros/cons of issues in Performance Art today: 

  • Does Performance Art make a contribution to civic life, and should communities

financially support the work of their artists?

  • Is it possible for artists to feel individual ownership of collective Public Practice

initiatives that are for the betterment of the community in which they work?

  • Should there be restrictions in presenting controversial Performance Art to a general public that may get offended?

LACE Producers: Andrea Dominguez and Tim Stark

LACE Interns: Stacy and Olga Ordaz

Photo Documentation     Devin Calloway, Meg Madison, Bill Bush, Inez Bush

Video Documentation     Luiz Ricardo Lopez, Vlad Ionescu

A special thanks to Carol Stakinas, Executive Director, LACE.