Charlotte Street Foundation

As a component of Happy Tree Friends (Part II), participating artist Kurt Flecksing will host a series of public programs on Saturdays in May. These presentations, by leading area arborists, will take place within and is core component of the artist’s installation, diaLog, which includes functional seating made from local and/or area trees. “diaLog offers the public, artists, and local tree specialists an opportunity to examine the place and methods of art exchange, and learn about tree-care in the process,” writes Flecksing.  “In addition, I am creating a participatory, educational environment supported by (literally) seating designed for this exchange.”  The wood used for this work was donated by Kevin Smith, and was harvested as part of the Johnson County Tree Maintenance Program.

diaLog program schedule is as follows.  Free and open to the public, all take place at Paragraph, 23 East 12th Street. See press release for more details, including bios of featured speakers.

Saturday, May 2, 2009, noon: Ivan Katzer – “The History of Arboriculture”

Saturday, May 9, 2009, noon: Kevin Smith – “Urban Forestry and Pruning”

Saturday, May 16, noon: Bob Haines - “How to Kill a Tree”

Saturday, May 23, noon: Brian Grotts – Heartland Tree Alliance

CSF’s Urban Culture Project presents a solo exhibition by Kansas City based artist Teri Frame, opening at Project Space, 21 East 12 Street, on Third Friday, April 17, 6-9pm, and running through May 7. The opening will include a live performance by the artist at 7:30 pm, which will be videotaped and exhibited in the gallery for the duration of the exhibition. Frame will present a public lecture about her work and influences at Project Space on Thursday May 7, 6pm.

Frame will present work from two recent and ongoing series, which center on the human body and explore mnemismus, the notion that ancestral memory is stored within the body, and can be retrieved psychosomatically. In her Beauty Marks series, Frame arranges images of invasive birthmarks into recurring patterns. By applying rules of proportion, symmetry and pattern to dermal “imperfections,” the artist examines the Western body politic and probes the sublime space between the beautiful and the grotesque. Frame’s performance and related/resulting sculptural objects stem from another series, in which the artist employs raw clay masks and “prosthetics” as a means for altering her body.

Read the full press release. Read Kansas City Star review. View photos of this exhibition.

STREAMING LIVE!!!

from

LA ESQUINA / 1000 W 25th, Kansas City, MO

May 8, Noon - May 9, Noon [view performance schedule]

On May 8, 2009, beginning at noon, Kansas City based artist Jason Dixon will attempt to complete the most performance art pieces ever enacted by a single person in a single day. Clad in competitive swimming gear and acting through his alter ego, Tito, Dixon  plans to re-create a selection of seminal performance art works of the past, from Bruce Nauman’s “Bouncing in Corner” to Vito Acconci’s “Turn On,” and  Theme Song,” to Paul McCarthy’s “White Line.”  This unique 24-hour event will take place at CSF’s Urban Culture Project venue, la Esquina, 1000 West 25th Street, Kansas City, MO from noon on May 8 to noon on May 9. The public is invited to this free performance, which will also be streamed live and accessible online at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-most-performative-piece-ever

In the spirit of competition, Dixon also hopes to earn recognition in the Guinness Book of World Records. Though  he acknowledges that many performances have extended longer than 24 hours, his feat will be  to complete as many performances with “provenance” as possible within a 24-hour time limit.   Read complete press release. Listen to KCUR’s feature on Jason Dixon.

KCAI Student Attempts _Most Performative Piece Ever_.mp3