Meredith Monk performance art (1966)

Here's a fine piece of downtown NYC avant-garde history. Performance artist Meredith Monk's "16 Millimeter Earrings" for voice, guitar, and tapes, first performed in 1966 and recreated for the 1979 video above. Monk's musical/theatrical/multimedia/film art has influenced everyone from Bruce Nauman to David Byrne to Bjork. "I work in between the cracks, where the voice starts dancing, where the body starts singing, where theater becomes cinema," Monk once said. (via Toys and Techniques)

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Dwen Dooley

Saw a performance of hers in college once. We were young. We laughed hysterically. I don’t recall if we actually got thrown out or saved them the trouble. Her making weird noises occasionally punctuated by “coffee!!” had us rolling. Like I said, we were young. Maybe I just don’t recognize art when I see it. Or it was hysterical. possibly both.
noah django

whelp. ain’t that a corker. If I can’t understand what compelled me to watch it all the way through, then I reckon it was art.

the projections onto the paper helmet was my favorite. I’ve seen a lot of art that uses projection in a similar way, but none that I know pre-date this. Is she the originator, I wonder.

I am a bit skeptical when it comes to performance art, but this rang true to me. The thing Sedaris wrote about his performances encompass the good and the bad of this genre, but naturally I can’t find a link or even the title…
lorq

Simply awesome. I remember hearing her album “Dolmen Music” for the first time in college, and it was almost silly how beautiful it was. It’s still the CD I play for people when I’m introducing them to Monk.
http://theladyfingers.blogspot.com/ Ladyfingers

She is to me forever the soundtrack to Maude Lebowski making art commended as “strongly vaginal”.
gsilas

I was always partial to her opera, Atlas in three parts.

I had the delightful opportunity to meet her as part of a college music class. Wonderfully kind lady, humble, and very interesting to listen to as you might imagine. One thing that struck me in particular, is that she doesn’t mind if her music causes you to laugh. It’s not taken as an insult, but she derives satisfaction from you opening your emotions to be affected in whichever way occurs, as long as the listener approaches the music honestly.