STO - of CINDERS - is in the - BRODY CONDON - ‘CASE’ - NEW MUSEUM PERFORMANCE !!

BRODY CONDON presents: ‘CASE’ !!
SUNDAY - NOV 22, 2009 - runs from 12 - 6 PM !!
NEW MUSEUM - LOWER EAST SIDE

This event has been commissioned and presented by RHIZOME and PERFORMA 09.

yes !! check out: BRODY CONDON !!

A performance & installation based on the famous ‘classic’ cyberpunk novel - ‘NEUROMANCER’ - by WILLIAM GIBSON !! This 1984 novel - the most famous early cyberpunk fiction outing - tells: “the story of a washed-up computer hacker hired by a mysterious employer to work on the ultimate hack!!” The event will be a ‘deadpan’ reading of the novel by mostly non-professional actors in a casual, dress rehearsal-like atmosphere !! BRODY CONDON tells us the performance “combining the 1980s dystopian techno-fetishism of William Gibson
with early 2oth C abstraction faux ‘virtual reality’ - scenes will unfold via moving Bauhaus-inspired sculptural props - accompanied by a Gamelan ensemble !! - Dharma Swara” !!

OMFG - check out: Dharma Swara on YouTUBE !!

This premiere NYC performance of ‘Case’ - will feature some very very interesting cast members. who ?
Political activist (and notorious hell-raiser/mid-west-based) RAY ‘BAD RAD’ RADTKE - who will star as the main character - HENRY DORSETT CASE - a drug addict and computer hacker hired “to execute an impossible cyber-crime”.
STO - of CINDERS - a Brooklyn-based gallerist/artist/small press founder/musician/performance artist/& much more we are sure !! - much respected locally in NYC - in all his facets !! - will play LUPUS YONDERBOY - leader of the techno-anarchust gang - the PANTHER MODERNS !!
and, SASHA GREY - the young (21 !!) alternative porn actress & techno, wait that’s: ‘industrial music’ - musician !! …
will be: the street samurai MOLLY !!

yes !! check out: SASHA GREY !! on wikkki !!

talk about a cast - line-up !!
The script has been prepared by the writer BRANDON STOSUY, yes !! check out: THE BELIEVER/BRANDON STOSUY !!
The sound design is by: PETER SEGERSTROM - and, yes !!
check out: FLATFILE !! - aka - the “digital igloo” of PETER SEGERSTROM.
and last but not least, the graphic props are by: BREANNE TRAMMELL !!
and, check out: AGAIN - BREANNE TRAMMELL - and color her - in !!

watch out !! - with this much (radical) talent concentrated in one place - the island might just - tip over !!

note, look out MISSOURI !!
BRODY CONDON also tells us, his - ‘CASE’ - will be performed at “a small outdoor community theater in rural Missouri - Summer 2010″ !!

PIX FROM THE NEW MUSEUM PERFORMANCE - SUNDAY NOV 22, 2009 !!

. . . we had to get into the New Museum under an assumed identity - cause artlovers has been blacklisted by the museum’s press office !! (I wonder why ??!!) so it was kind of fitting to run into IAN, a founding member of NYC’s BLACK LABEL TALL BIKE CLUB and a dynamic presence on the city’s (truly) underground art scene !! he has a part in the production.

STO - had just finished his part !! he played Lupus Yonderboy, leader of the techno-anarchist gang - the Panther oderns.

JEE - JEE YOUNG SIM - she played the street Ninja - Hideo !!

KELIE BOWMAN, with sculptor RYAN DOYLE - was there to lend her support to the production.

BRODY CONDON - PHOTO BY: KRISTIANNA SMITH COURTESY/BRODY CONDON.
His project: ‘Case’ - “is the deadpan reading of the classic cyberpunk novel Neuromancer by William Gibson in a rehearsal-like atmosphere.”
This NYC performance was the premiere presentation.
BRODY CONDON’S body of work “explores concerns about the over-identification with fantasy in contemporary culture, frequently incorporating modified computer games and role-playing subcultures to create performance and video installation. Past exhibitions include the 2004 Whitney Biennial, Pace Wildenstein Gallery, Mattress Factory, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam”.

the performance had resumed - and the lights went slightly colored, and theatrical !!
this ANDREW CLAY McGRAW Ph.d., Assistant Professor, Music / Ethnomusicology at the University of Richmond, VIRGINIA.
He is the leader of the Gamelan Ensemble - DHARMA SWARA !!

I guess it was too much to expect the GAMELAN to show up in formal costumes (as in the YouTube clip above), though think that would have made a huge visual contrast - the play, or performance really - actually a reading - being so casual, and presented so, well: like it is - punk dudes lost in cyberspace !!

it was still fascinating to watch the scenes unfold - through the alert eyes - of the first - frontier !!
the Gamelan musicians !!

the simple scenery props contrasted in a counter-intuitive but, subtle dynamic way - with the ornate Gamelan.
in fact subtle, low key - was the under-riding vibe.
there was always this underlying strange tension - between the now - simple and straightforward - and the futuristic forces - of creativity. I guess you could say the Gamelan also presented a framework - a connection to the past - where tribalism meets globalism - going into the future.

there’s no way to post a photo of it - but there was this strange eerie soundtrack going on, too - throughout out the whole performance - except when the Gamelan chimed in, like tin thunder - and overrode it.
at first I thought it was just the ‘White Noise’ of the Museum !!?? but then - I’m like - does the Museum really have those kind of mechanical gears working down here, even though the performance space - was below ground level ?
it was this kind of Mad Max futuristic track - you know - old obsolete mechanical gears - of several generations back - in the future - working deep in the forgotten city - pit.
it was extremely cool - and effective. I guess that would be accolades to PETER SEGERSTROM - the musical director !!

waiting for things to start up. watching the reading - being staged - was like watching a play within a play - and seemed very appropriate - for the story-line. it also brought the viewer into the: present. that is, cyberspace circa 1980 !!

LIONEL - read the part of ARMITAGE.

SASHA GREY comes onstage - with RAY ‘BAD RAY’ RADDTKE, “political activist and notorious hell-raiser” - in real time - who played the main character - Henry Dorsett Case - “a drug addict and computer hacker hired to execute an impossible cyber crime.”

BRODY CONDON, in the gray shirt - instructs the cast - as the event - plays out.

SASHA GREY was a transfixing stage presence.
She played Molly.

an overview - this was Part 3. Midnight in the Rue Jules Verne.

MELISSA BAXTER - from Missouri. She read the part of Maelcum.

yes, we caught - IAN - in his stage time.

BRODY CONDON presents: ‘CASE’ - a reading of WILLIAM GIBSON’S - ‘Neuromancer’ - at the New Museum of Contemporary Art. Sunday, Nov 22, 2009. NYC.
Script by BRANDON STOSUY.
Sound Design by PETER SEGERSTROM.
Casting by RAY RADTKE, BRANDON STOSUY.
LIVE MUSIC: GAMELAN DHARMA SWARA - directed by ANDREW CLAY McGRAW.

when, the DHrama Swara Gamelan took intermissions - it was a 6 hr performance !! - it brought to mind - how much this novel, and Brody’s staging - was so raw - and low down beautiful, in the street - tough - cool - low profile. but edge-city !!
fascinating - for what it said, and what lay between the lines, and - in the empty spaces.
of the here, now. past & past future !!

I guess you could say - the ornate golden ancient gongs, percussion chimes and drums - and the tiny plastic blue stools - the musicians sat on - kind of summed it up: ancient Asian tribalism meets Chinese mass production - in a tale of
global cyberspace - gone Mad Max. and, the underground artist activists - who read the roles - underground ‘futurists’ - in their own real time lives - pretty much. of that, there is no - doubt.

PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH - unless otherwise noted.