My Yard Our Message in the Walker’s backyard.

Posted on the New Yorker website yesterday:

Purple Prose

Yesterday afternoon in downtown Denver, about a hundred gay, lesbian, and transgendered volunteers recited, in unison, a ten-minute speech titled “Revolutionary Love, Part I: I Am Your Worst Fear,” written by the New York performance artist Sharon Hayes. An equal-opportunity artist, Hayes will stage a sequel near the Minnesota State Capitol building in St. Paul next week, titled “Revolutionary Love II: I Am Your Best Fantasy.” The text itself was unavailable at press time, but according to a statement issued by Creative Time and the Walker Art Center, which co-produced the events:

Hayes’s performances are designed to mirror the spectacular nature of the national conventions. Reacting against the tendency of groups to polarize feelings about homosexuality for political gain, she describes these performances as personal addresses to the power structure, or a group of people speaking their hearts as one.

via Andrea Scott, The New Yorker

Sharon Hayes’ Revolutionary Love 2: I Am Your Best Fantasy is presented by Creative Time with the Walker Art Center and the UnConvention. Revolutionary Love 2: I Am Your Best Fantasy is a part of Democracy in America, a national public art initiative organized by Creative Time.

Great article in today’s Strib:

“The Republican convention is in the Twin Cities this week, but unless you’re someone special, you haven’t been invited to that party.

“Hoping not to be left out, the Twin Cities arts community has devised a plan for “unscripting the political process.” Hence its plan for what is being called the UnConvention.

“As the name implies, it’s an unconventional way to look at political issues through a week of concerts, parades, art exhibitions and various participatory events. Under the UnConvention umbrella are individual artists as well as such larger organizations as the Walker and Intermedia Arts. While it’s definitely political, its organizers have set out to be nonpartisan.”

Nightlife: Political party
By TOM HORGEN, Star Tribune
Last update: August 28, 2008 - 4:28 PM

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