Gutterblood Talk Show Moderation

We are proud to present the twelfth edition of the Gutterblood Talk Show

Performance Art in Austin: A Core Sample

Monday, April 6

Doors open at 6:30PM

Show & Livestream begins at 7PM with our guest host Michael Anthony Garcia, a primary and pioneering Austin performance artist and curator, and our guests Ron Berry, founder and Artistic Director of the Fusebox Festival coming up April 15-19, Laura G. Gutiérrez, Artistic Director of the OUTsider Fest, and Steve Parker, a ground breaking and inter-nationally known Austin musician, artist and curator.

Performance art is a non-traditional genre that took root early in the twentieth century with the avant-garde movement Dada that erupted in 1916 during the first World War. It was the beginning of what we call today “inter-disciplinary practice” combining elements of visual art, dance, music, theater, film and writing among others to create culturally relevant spectacles and experiences, and directly connecting artists to their audiences. Performance Art doesn’t fit neatly into any one art category or market and transcends mere entertainment. For this reason it’s resistant to the main stream and challenges assumptions about what art can be.

Awareness and support of performance art in Austin was relatively thin compared to Houston and other cosmopolitan centers in the US until the early 2000’s, when alternative spaces instigated on the fringe by artists and their communities began to emerge. Spaces such as Co-Lab Projects, Museum of Human Achievement, MASS Gallery, and Fusebox (which began installing performances in various DIY venues around town in 2005), changed the course of the Austin art scene, and brought it into the global arena of contemporary art.