When Contemporary Performance Artists Meet Old Testament Prophets.
A presentation by Wayne Roosa, artist, art historian Sunday, May 15, after church Chris Larson’s house
This lecture explores the provocative world of contemporary performance/video art in parallel with the equally provocative ancient tradition of Old Testament prophetic acts. The connecting thread is our Sacred Discontent, that discrepancy between human aspiration and human shortcoming, which we call the human condition.
What happens, for example, when the prophet Isaiah, who walked naked through Ancient Israel for three years as a sign and portent, meets Bill Viola’s video, The Passing, where a naked elderly woman walks out of a grey-toned netherworld through a membrane of flowing water into the full light of this world to meet us? These and many other odd, strange and arresting symbolic acts that express the human situation and its longings will be explored.
Includes analysis of recent films of Chris Larson.
1195 Burns Ave, St. Paul. TO GET THERE: Go east on 94. After you pass downtown St. Paul, exit on Hwy 61 south. Take your first right on Burns Ave. After 3 blocks, watch for signs on the right side. Park on the street. Walk up the hill to the house.