This Saturday afternoon in New York City, The Calder Foundation is sponsoring a twelve-hour one-day event that presents a continuous series of artist film screenings, performances and music. It takes its name from Alexander Calder’s response to Work in Progress, his 1968 theatrical production, Maybe I should have called it ‘My Life in Nineteen Minutes’. An extraordinary group of artists will be showing work, Calder, Yves Klein, Eva Luna, and William Wegman to name only a few. Holton Rower, whose wondrous Pour Painting we posted about last week (the video went seriously viral) will be doing a “live pour”, guaranteed to be an unforgettable experience (we know, we once watched him make one).

“….Influenced by Calder’s investigations into improvisational performance, appropriated materials and continual change through the development of his iconic ‘mobiles,’ Maybe I should have called it ‘My Life in Nineteen Minutes’ will traverse history by reading it through the present moment, zigzagging through different scenarios via the slippage of time and space. It will engage an active audience through different media and temporalities via numerous set-changes, playfully interrogating life’s intermissions.

…Inspired by the long history of improvised DIY art performances as cultural strategy and the new Joost Elfers manifesto Sustainism, Maybe I should have called it ‘My Life in Nineteen Minutes’ will present a rare film of Calder’s seminal 1968 performance Work in Progress, accompanied by a series of cross-generational artist films and performances including Giles Round’s backdrop for ‘abjection’ Object Horror, a new opera for Xenia Cage by Nick Hallet and a performance by Steven Cairns, as well as bands and musicians including Ava Luna and the So So Glos.

Maybe I should have called it ‘My Life in Nineteen Minutes’ starts at 2 pm (with Rower’s pour) at 74 Pine St. (entrance on Pearl St.), New York City. It is not to be missed. More info here.

Related post: intention + chance, in color: holton rower’s pour paintings