Performance Art Stills

“Synthetic Ritual” 1971, San Francisco Art Institute, with Michael Hinton Opposing forces, represented by two performers painted opposite colors, emerge from walls at either end of a room. Blindfolded and connected to ropes extending from the walls they meet at the center of the room inside a circle of steer manure where they begin a physical interaction. Gradually the encounter escalates from blind exploration to a contest of strength. Soon the performers begin to wrestle and as they struggle on the ground the opposite colors of their bodies blend into a uniform gray.	“Initiation” 1972, San Francisco Art Institute, with Michael Hinton and Conny Vokietaitis The neophyte artist and his double are initiated into the role of masters by a female adept in a series of labors and trials. The performance metaphorically equated rites of shamanic initiation with the process of a young artist achieving a personal vision and an authentic voice.	“War Games” 1973, corner of Third and Howard Streets, San Francisco, CA with Michael Hinton and others Two performers in war paint engage in a hierarchy of conflict rituals in the basement of a demolished building open to the street above. Seated upon towers elevated to street level at opposite ends of the space two chess masters engage in a chess game calling out their moves through loudspeakers. On a wall behind the combatants a youth tracks the game on a display board. In contrasting games and rituals of conflict the performance revealed how games separate participants by creating winners and losers whereas ritual brings the participants together in balanced equilibrium.
“Split-Man Bisects the Pacific” 1974, ruins of Sutro Baths, San Francisco, CA, with Michael Hinton Two performers are roped together through the axle of an eight foot diameter wheel. Their task is to roll the wheel along the top of a 100 yard causeway to an island and back again. A bright beacon of light from above tracks their progress. Each man, unseen to the other, calls back and forth to guide the wheel. The energy generated by the pull of opposition is harnessed and propels the men and the wheel along its night sea journey.	“Tricycle; contemporary recreation” 1975, Museum of Conceptual Art, San Francisco, CA, with Michael Hinton and Cyd Gibson Two performers wearing video camera headmounts and equipped with intercoms create two drawings on two gridded walls within a wedge shaped enclosure. Their markings are guided by a female director on the floor above them. She speaks in a code based on the clock and compass to guide each performer’s marker in the execution of their drawings. The director can see through the video eyes of each performer on two monitors facing her. On the lower floor the two performers act as her robotic hands, square by square creating what evolves into a child’s drawing of a man and woman.	“Splitting the Axis” 1975, University Art Museum, Berkeley, CA, with Michael Hinton A thirty-four foot tall wooden utility pole was installed floor to ceiling in the visual center of the museum. Two performers ascended the pole equipped with wooden mallets and wedges. Upon reaching the top both men began hammering the wedges into the pole as they descended. While the performers were splitting the pole lengthwise they were themselves being fragmented by strategically placed video cameras and contact microphones. Visual and auditory fragments of the performance were transmitted around the periphery of the museum, there to be encountered by unsuspecting viewers in the different galleries.
“Within the Nucleus” 1976, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, with Michael Hinton Two performers wearing video camera headmounts assembled a thirty-two foot tall double helix ladder suspended on a floor to ceiling armature of tightened ropes. Inside a cylindrical plastic curtain each performer ascended his red or green ladder as he built it, one rung at a time. Both performers could only see through the video cameras attached to their heads. The visual images of each camera were projected live on two large screens behind the shrouded tower. One screen was tinted red and the other tinted green to correspond to the red and green ladders being built. Upon reaching the top the performers exited the cylinder through the ceiling. Ultra violet light was then projected onto the ladders to illuminate the fluorescent paint on the rungs. Finally the performers descended the ladders with their white costumes glowing in the dark.	“A Bridge Can Also Be A Work of Art” 1977, Jessie Alley, San Francisco CA and Bologna, Italy Using time lapse photography the artist created a bridge between two buildings with his own body over an alley in San Francisco. Later, at the Bologna Art Fair, the artist repeated the performance over an Italian street. Upon his return to the USA he wove the two images together thus bridging the two countries with his body.	“The Principle of the Arch” 1977, P.S.1, Long Island City, NY, with Conny Vokietaitis Two performers reconstruct the rise and fall of their personal relationship in comparison to a Medieval alchemical text, the Rosarium Philosophorm. Metaphorical actions refer to aspects of predestination, mythical encounters, archetypes of paradise, sacrifice, betrayal, contempt, death, and rebirth. Videotaped scenes from contemporary life are inter cut between the more symbolic performance actions.
“Crime in the Streets” 1978, Adler Alley, San Francisco, CA, with Michael Hinton and others This was a street performance depicting a series of violent crimes against innocent and powerless victims. Among the crimes were rape, murder, suicide, and lynching. The city itself was identified as a voracious predator consuming its weakest citizens to fuel its growth. In the end the victims were restored to life, then climbed the fire escapes, and joined together to form a human bridge over the scene of the crimes. Thus a higher purpose was achieved surmounting the mayhem of the street below.	“Liberated Zone” 1979, The Sculpture Center, Sydney, Australia Performed in a vacant lot in downtown Sydney this performance focused on the subjects of judgment, confinement, escape, and liberation. It examined how people may judge themselves, consequently wall themselves off, and the necessity of breaking down those walls in order to grow.	“Portrait of the Artist x 3” 1979, ruins of Playland at the Beach, San Francisco, CA with Michael Hinton and others Taking place amongst the ruins of a demolished amusement park this three part performance drew a portrait of the artist at three crucial stages of development. The learning stage where the artist masters his skills, the middle period of hard work and monumental effort, and the final period of entrapment, escape, and renewal. The audience wandered through the vast sandy landscape of broken concrete and jutting abutments to view the three performances which were running simultaneously.
“Hero” 1980, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA, and the Victoria Theater, San Francisco, CA with Menno Meyjes, Saun Ellis, and J.E. Freeman “Hero” explored aspects of the ‘hero myth’ in popular and archetypal forms. The performance explored the meanings of maleness and machismo as its two protagonists searched for a path to manhood encountering contemporary stereotypes and archetypal role models; superheroes and culture heroes. Throughout the performance they were guided by a tutelary female goddess who directs, advises, and criticizes them along the way.	“American Roulette” 1981, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY A roulette table manned by two croupiers and crowded with eager gamblers sits at the center of the Guggenheim Rotunda. Depicted on the floor around the table is an exploded view of a roulette wheel with numbered red and black squares. There are two male/female couples moving around the giant wheel. One couple occupies the red squares and the other the black squares. Their movements are determined by the result of the spinning of the roulette wheel. At consecutive numbered squares they enact a symbolic progression of a romantic relationship from beginning to end. They are betting their personal relationship against career advancement hoping their gains in one will cover their losses in the other.	“Pixellage” 1983-4, San Francisco Opera House, with the San Francisco Ballet and choreographer Betsy Erickson Ten dancers in white costumes interacteed with computer generated, animated scenery set to the music of Corelli played by a live orchestra. The synchronized interaction involved five couples choreographed to move into and out of a continuously moving colorful backdrop. In three movements the music, the choreography and scenery coalesced in response to different rhythms and tempi. The imagery revolved around a subtle theme of maintaining one’s humanity in an increasingly dehumanizing world. “Pixellage” was the first large scale live theatrical production using animated scenery that was entirely computer generated.