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SHRIMPS:
Performance Art (1986–1999).
Featuring: Martin Kersels, Pamela Casey, Steven Nagler, Gail Gonzalez,
Ryan Hill, & June Scott.
I first met the SHRIMPS when I worked as the Performance & Video
Art Coordinator at LACE in 1985. I knew nothing about Performance
Art or Video Art, but I knew a lot about theater, production and the
DIY aesthetic. The men in the SHRIMPS were big: 6’7” and
up, the women were tiny and muscular. The first night SHRIMPS rehearsed
at the gallery, I was scared of them, even though they seemed like
such nice people.
Martin joined LACE in 1986 as the Facilities Manager and soon I was
invited to "sing" for SHRIMPS. Our first performance together
was on Santa Monica Beach, on top of the some concrete platforms and
I sang "Wild Thing."
I continued singing and performing with SHRIMPS for 10 years and loved
working with them. It was intensely physical performance, not dance.
It was highly conceptual, dreamed up by very smart people who all
went to art school, yet it was simple, primitive and community oriented
in a way that reminded one of the parades in Bali. It was performance
art as daily ritual.
I
am happy to say that the SHRIMPS have reunited for a performance
at LACE on December 8,9 & 10, 2005.
SHRIMPS Pieces:
LOOKS: presented at the Serious Fun Festival, Alice
Tulley Hall, Lincoln Center, NY, Brave New Works (Baltimore, MD),
Inter-media Arts (Minneapolis, MN)
SCREECH: ASK Common Grounds Festival (UCLA)
TONGUE: Highways (Santa Monica, CA), Beyond Baroque
(Venice, CA)
STUMP: Twisted Spring (1992)
STUN: Twisted Spring (1996) LACE (Los Angeles, CA)
Smarts Festival (Santa Monica, CA)
STUMP: Barnsdall Art Gallery (Los Angeles, CA)
Listen:
Squash
from LOOKS
Stun
from Stun
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