Boston is a transient city. Each fall, legions of artists enroll in graduate programs throughout the city to nurture their talents and connections, and approximately two years later, many move on. While they are here, some of these artists are…
Every two years the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston (ICA) selects up to four Boston-area artists to receive the James and Audrey Foster Prize. In addition to a cash award, finalists are given the opportunity to mount a show in…
The format of the performance art festival, which has been widely developed in other parts of the word for decades, is seeping into the United States. In the past month alone, three large-scale international performance art festivals have taken place…
Wednesday night the MFA and Big Red & Shiny were proud to present the Odd Spaces panel discussion at the MFA Boston, following the group exhibition of performance art curated by Liz Munsell, assistant curator of contemporary art and MFA…
One consistent trend we’ve noticed at BR&S is the strength of our local performance art scene. Several of our recent Journal articles have considered performance art: We’ve explored its differences from theater, published numerous interviews with performers, and what will…
Living in The United States in the twenty-first century, it is impossible to escape the complexities of the digital body and our rapidly evolving screen culture. Interested in exploring the interface as a place and the challenges and potential that…
“Performance art in Boston has always been under the radar,” says Sandrine Schaefer, co-founder of The Present Tense and co-curator with Philip Fryer of the recent Rough Trade II, a performance art exchange between Boston and Chicago. Often coming to…
By SANDRINE SCHAEFER Many artists make work with the hope that they will one day see it in a gallery or museum, but Vela Phelan once told me that his assemblages are made not for these spaces, but for homes.…
By SANDRINE SCHAEFER As Americans, we live with the luxury of ignorance. Some take pride in educating themselves on war, others ignore it, but unlike the citizens of Iraq or Afghanistan who are immersed in the daily consequences of war,…
By MATTHEW NASH Performance artists Phil Fryer and Sandrine Schaefer are the duo behind “The Present Tense”, a series of festivals promoting performance art. Recently, they have joined forces with Vela Phelan, Dirk Adams, Alice Vogler and Brad Benedetti to…
By SANDRINE SCHAEFER The performance art group, TEST has once again activated our perceptions of time, space, and action with its 10th event that occurred on July 21st and 22nd at the Devanaughn Theatre in Boston. Like so many TESTS…