A Gala Honoring William Basinski, featuring an exclusive New York premiere of music from Robert Wilson's "The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic," with William Basinski, and Marina Abramovic.
When William Basinski opened his nightclub Arcadia in 1992, Williamsburg had more than a decade of history as an outerborough artists’ colony. Arcadia and a handful of other entities such as The Lizard’s Tail, Lalalandia, Test-Site gallery, Nerve Circle Studios, Mustard and Galapagos transformed the artists’ colony into a full blown urban subculture. No neighborhood in Brooklyn compares to Williamsburg for the shrillness of her declaration of artistic autonomy in the closing years of the last century. This neighborhood is the heart of the Brooklyn Renaissance. And at the heart of Williamsburg, in the pivotal years, was Arcadia. Join us on November 2nd, as we pay tribute to William Basinski and create the distinctive environment and spirited performances of Arcadia at 110 Livingston Street, our future home.
Festive attire
7:00pm - Reception
8:00pm - Performances by William Basinski, Marina Abramovic, and Antony
9:00pm - 11:00pm - Afterparty
HONORARY CHAIR: Robert Wilson
GALA COMMITTEE: Tom van den Bout*, Steve Buscemi*, Tony Conrad*, R. Luke DuBois* Eva Schicker, Ruth Kahn, Charlotta Kotik, Anjali Kumar*, John Latona*, Robert Longo*, Jeanne Lutfy*, Ethan Pettit, Steve Wax*
(* Issue Project Room board member)
About "The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic"
The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic is a biography of the godmother of performance art, re-imagined by visionary director Robert Wilson. The show features scenes from Abramovic’s life and career, from her Serbian childhood to her work as a performance artist. With original and traditional music, including songs written by composers Antony and William Basinski, this ground-breaking show brings together the worlds of theater, art and music to thrilling effect. The work premiered in July 2011 at the Manchester International Festival.
“You swim through Arcadia, as if through the submerged ruins of an ancient city. Past quiescent, luminous sculptures of blown glass, antifreeze, perfumed factices, past a wall of transistor radios creating a wash of static, murmuring in an extinct language distilled form the living air.” -Jesse Browner, Nest Magazine ‘00