Slog - Comments on Strikethrough http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough On the last Monday of every month, in the narrow, reddish, antique-looking theater of the Rendezvous, a performance happens that you aren't supposed to see. On those Mondays, host Korby Sears, wearing a navy blue suit with a shimmery white scarf, invites that month's performer into an enormous box on the small stage, leaves the theater, and hopes nobody shows up. Strikethrough reverse-advertises itself each month with posters and print ads listing the date and location, who will perform, and a notice in bold: "NO ONE ADMITTED. No public. No press. No family. No friends." But last Monday at... Copyright 2008 Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:02:10 -0800 Sat, 12 Apr 2008 11:48:30 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by nothankye wtf is this shit?

]]> nothankye http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996002 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996002 Theater Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:16:21 -0800 Comment by Levislade The only thing I don't get is: why advertise at all, reverse or otherwise? Or if you're going to "reverse advertise" why list the time, date and location when people aren't supposed to come? Seems like kind of a reverse psychology sort of thing to get you to want to go.

Also, what's with blog posts that are word for word reprints of articles in the paper?

]]> Levislade http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996003 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996003 Theater Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:17:07 -0800 Comment by Mario Garcia Torres It’s the advertising that ruins this for me. It’s selling the exclusivity of the event, rather than the nothingness of it. It’s saying this is happening but you are not important, cool, intelligent or some other exclusive term enough to see it . . . unless you work at The Stranger.

]]> Mario Garcia Torres http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996019 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996019 Theater Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:29:10 -0800 Comment by Brendan Kiley @ 2 and 3: I asked Sears about that—he said the point was to go through all the protocol of performance (including modest advertising and press releases), which is what makes Strikethrough different from just dinking around in your basement.

Also, Levi: Because not everybody reads both (but I'm flattered that you do). And it was a good excuse to post an image of this Kasimir Malevich.

]]> Brendan Kiley http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996021 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996021 Theater Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:30:46 -0800 Comment by Levislade Still, they could "enact the ritual" without telling people where and when not to be. You could have the where or the when, but having both just seems like they actually want you to be there. That's what I thought when I saw the ads. I would wager that the main reason no one tends to show up is not because they know they're not supposed to, but because it's a Monday at the Rendezvous.

]]> Levislade http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996034 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996034 Theater Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:37:50 -0800 Comment by Mario Garcia Torres Malevich's paintings are not about emptiness or voic or nothing. They are about facture about paint. This painting does not illustrate your point.

]]> Mario Garcia Torres http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996095 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996095 Theater Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:03:04 -0800 Comment by Mario Garcia Torres Dinking around in their basement:
Most artists who have done performances like this in the past have in fact been making the point that all Art or Performance is really just dinking around in a basement. Just with an audience.

]]> Mario Garcia Torres http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996104 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996104 Theater Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:08:27 -0800 Comment by inkweary Usually when people want to be isolated in a box, bag, or cell by someone else it is called a fetish and if someone is paid to do it they are called a sex worker.

]]> inkweary http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996145 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996145 Theater Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:26:53 -0800 Comment by The CHZA Oh my god, I cannot believe people go to art school to be enabled to write multiple paragraphs about a freaking black square.

]]> The CHZA http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996279 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996279 Theater Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:54:17 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle This is why I avoid modern dance a lot.

It's all about the nothingness of existence.

(imagines performers giggling behind stage at how stupid we are to be watching it)

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996416 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996416 Theater Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:16:37 -0800 Comment by Gomez Artistic masturbation. We're too self absorbed as it is to glorify this sort of wank.

]]> Gomez http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996844 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996844 Theater Sat, 12 Apr 2008 01:32:14 -0800 Comment by Matty Worth @11: Absolutely, 100% agree.

How can Sears claim that his "reverse-advertising" (which is the lamest term ever concocted and, if taken literally, is not what Sears is doing) is meant to fulfill all the protocols of performance, when the entire point of Strikethrough seems to be abandoning those protocols to begin with?

I can almost buy that this is a unique exploration for some of the artists, but for Sears this is nothing more than a constant pat on the back for how gosh-durn clever he thinks he is.

]]> Matty Worth http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996923 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/strikethrough#c996923 Theater Sat, 12 Apr 2008 11:48:30 -0800