Total Styrene: Breakdown Video

Total Styrene Breakdown 10min from Lizzie Scott on Vimeo.



Event organized by Michael Mahalchick and Lizzie Scott. Featuring work by Becca Albee, David Galbraith, Marcos Rosales, and Lizzie Scott. Lizzie Scott's piece performed by Lizzie Scott, Nikki Calonge, and Marisa Lark Wallin. Video shot by Ezra S. Henning at Klaus Von Nichtssagend gallery on August 8, 2012.

Total Styrene: Breakdown slideshow at TimeOut New York

http://www.timeout.com/newyork/art/performance-total-styrene-breakdown-slide-show

A Few Choice Moments from Totally Total Styrene: A Happening. 2.26.2012

2.26.2012

Totally Total Styrene: A Happening took place on February 26, 2012 in Long Island City. It featured Andrew Bucksbarg, Michael Mahalchick, Patricia Milder, Lizzie Scott, Marie Warsh, and Max Warsh.

Ever since I first learned of the Happenings of the late 50sand early 60s and the performances in Soho and at Judson Church in the early 70s, I’ve ached to have been able to be there. These moments produced some of my favorite art ever.

Or at least I think so. Having been born in 1970, and having arrived in New York to start my artist life in 1993, I never saw any of it. What I’ve seen, and what I love, is mostly grainy black and white photographs, and some ramblingly long films.

And of course I’ve seen some recreations. Some of these are good — most of the “dancier” ones work pretty well. But most performance art recreations are terribly disappointing. I stand there fidgeting and let down and I wonder if I even like performance at all. Maybe I just like grainy black and white photographs. Maybe I should have become a photographer. Maybe my work is based on a misunderstanding. A fantasy.

But I think the problem is that what makes those happenings and performances of the 50s and 70s so amazing — even in photographs and oral histories — is the particular set of conditions out of which they arose. They were experimental. They came out of small communities of like-minded artists. They were work for which no market yet existed. They were basically groups of artists playing together.

Of course you can’t get that kind of playful experimentalism if you train a bunch of dancers or actors to restage your happening at a museum now that performance is a major commodity. But if you recreate the conditions instead of the performances, I think you can get close.

Of course some things can never go back. I can’t make Soho into a cheap empty wasteland, and I can’t go back to the time before Performa started branding everything that moves. But I can get a small group of like-minded people to experiment and play together. I just did, to make Totally Total Styrene with Michael Mahalchick, Andrew Bucksbarg, Marie Warsh, Max Warsh, and Patricia Milder. And it didn’t disappoint.

Sustainability Studies Feb. 18, 2012

Photo by Ryan Leitner

Photo by Ryan Leitner

Photo by Ryan Leitner

Photo by Ryan Leitner

Photo by Ryan Leitner

Photo by Ryan Leitner

Photo by Ryan Leitner

Photo by Ryan Leitner

Photo by Ryan Leitner

Photo by Ryan Leitner

"Sustainability Studies" by Lizzie Scott. Performed by Kyli Kleven, Georgia X. Lifscher, Lizzie Scott and Marisa Lark Wallin.

The return of Total Styrene

The Total Styrene Experience is back.  We are roving, popping up, guest appearing. I mean, what's the point of being lightweight if you're not mobile? Besides, real estate just feels so 2000 – this is the era of the ever shifting occupation. So keep your eyes out, we could turn up anywhere.

On Sunday we'll be turning up in LIC as part of "The Art School," Katya Grokhovsky's project with Chashama. "Totally Total Styrene" will be a participatory happening in the spirit of Alan Kaprow and Claes Oldenburg. There will be event scores, there will be tasks and actions, and of course, there will be Styrofoam. Michael Mahalchick and I will get things moving, Andrew Bucksbarg will add light and sound, and Josh Blackwell will be represented by Tyvek suits.

Totally Total Styrene
a happening/workshop
Sunday, February 26th
5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
"The Art School"
26-15 Jackson Avenue
Long Island City Queens


See you there!

Images from left: Michael Mahalchick at Total Styrene 7.20.2011, photo by Janice Caswell; Lizzie Scott "Sustainability Studies" performance, photo by Ryan Leitner; Alan Kaprow, Yard, photo by R. McElroy (go see the Happenings show at Pace!!!)

The Total Styrene Experience is a sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Some Total Styrene 7.20.11 Moments

Georgia X. Lifsher performs with a floating Styrene Fantastic object.

Kyli Kleven and Patricia Milder lounge on Styrene Fantastic sculptures.

Kennis Hawkins experiments with coffee cups.

Max Steele performs Teach Frankenstein to Dance

Michael Mahalchick dances 8 dances in 8 minutes.

The stage and styrofoam backdrop.

Total Styrene 7.20.11 was a great success! Thanks to the artists who performed: Kennis Hawkins, Michael Mahalchick, Rashaun Mitchell, Max Steele and the women who performed my pieces: Kyli Kleven and Georgia X. Lifsher.

Thanks to those who donated work for auction: Josh Blackwell, Janice Caswell, Keiko Narahashi, Michael Mahalchick.

Thanks to Lia Gangitano and Participant Inc for generously donating the space and giving so much time, advice and help to the evening. Thanks to Patricia Milder and Michael Mahalchick for their curatorial and event-planning genius. And thanks to Eric and Marty for working the door and the bar.

And especially thanks to everyone who came and braved the heat and bought tickets and art. We exceeded our fundraising goal, and the night felt like a fabulous (and very hot) beginning to our great experiment.

Our only problems were with documentation, as both photographer and videographer were unable to attend at the last minute! But here are some images from the evening.

There will be more to come, and if any of you have any documentation of any kind, definitely send it to me at styrenefantastic (at) gmail (dot) com.

Save-the-date: July 20th

Save the Date!

Total Styrene 7.20.11

Participant Inc 
253 East Houston Street
New York, NY 10002
Wednesday, July 20, 8:00 pm

Performances by:
Kennis Hawkins
Michael Mahalchick
Rashaun Mitchell
Lizzie Scott
Max Steele
Curated by Patricia Milder

Tickets $15

Bring some styrofoam to recycle and get a $5 discount!



Donate to The Total Styrene Experience here

The Total Styrene Experience is a project by Lizzie Scott, curated with Patricia Milder and Michael Mahalchick. The Total Styrene Experience is a sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts.

What is The Total Styrene Experience?

The Total Styrene Experience is a laboratory for recycling Styrofoam into art and performance, turning the glut of empty storefronts and the glut of discarded Styrofoam into an opportunity for experimentation and collaboration across live and visual art. A temporary pop-up storefront in Lower Manhattan will collect styrofoam from the surrounding community and turn it into art.  

The project aims to create a small temporary space for creative generosity and intellectual abundance in resistance to the commercial and institutional models of competition and scarcity that define current art worlds. It celebrates the alchemy of turning toxic Styrofoam trash into a source of artistic abundance.
 

A project of artist Lizzie Scott, The Total Styrene Experience presents installations and performances exploring the material relationship between Styrofoam and the body. Working with curators Michael Mahalchick and Patricia Milder, The Total Styrene Experience invites guest artists from the dance, music, and art worlds to use the combined resources of the space and the collected Styrofoam to create experimental work of all kinds.

Participating Artists (list in formation.)
Kennis Hawkins - Choreographer and Performance Artist, Dance Gang
Michael Mahalchick - Visual, Sound, Dance and Performance Artist
Rashaun Mitchell - Choreographer and Dancer, Merce Cunningham Dance Company
Lizzie Scott - Visual Artist and Performance Choreographer, The Styrene Fantastic
Max Steele - Conceptual Go-Go Dancer and Cabaret Performance Artist

Project Organizers
Lizzie Scott has had exhibitions and projects at John Tevis Gallery in Paris, at the Brooklyn
Museum, The Jersey City Museum, and at LMAK Projects in New York. She has recently
staged performances in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, at Rachel Uffner Gallery, and under the Manhattan
Bridge.

Michael Mahalchick’s work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions and performances
at CANADA, the PS 1 Museum, and the The Kitchen. He has curated performances and exhibitions
at CANADA Gallery and Klaus Von Nichtsagend Gallery in New York City, and was
co-curator of the Movement Research Spring Festival 09.

Patricia Milder was Associate Curator of Writing Live at Performa 09 and a Production Associate
at Mt Tremper Arts Summer Festival in 2010. She is the Managing Art Editor of the Brooklyn
Rail. Her writitngs have appeared in the Brooklyn Rail, ArtCritical and PAJ: A Journal of
Art and Performance.

The Total Styrene Experience is a sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Oh my God things are Horrible, right?

Oh my God things are Horrible, right?

But the Styrene Fantastic was born of horrible. It’s my balm against horrible.

Toxic Plastic Pollution? Free Sculpture Materials! Economic Disaster? Cheap Real Estate! Republicans? … Fuck Them.* We will never stop making things Eric Cantor doesn’t like or understand.

UPDATES

PERFORMANCE AT ART PARIS

On Saturday April 2^nd, John Tevis Gallery will present the Styrene Fantastic performance “Floating Island” performed by Jean-Baptiste Veyret-Logerias at Art Paris at the Grand Palais.

THE TOTAL STYRENE EXPERIENCE PROGRESS REPORT

I was overwhelmed by the generous outpouring of support in response to our Winter fundraiser! Thank you to all who donated! With that seed money, Curators Michael Mahalchick and Patricia Milder and I are working on opening this temporary storefront for recycling Styrofoam into art and performance, turning the glut of empty storefronts and the glut of discarded Styrofoam into an opportunity for experimentation and collaboration across live and visual art. We’re already developing a program of mini-residencies for guest artists to take advantage of the space and the material.

In the meantime, we are also putting together some very special benefit events for the summer, with the aim of opening in fall 2011. It’s closer than it sounds!!!

I AM ALREADY ACCEPTING STYROFOAM, ESPECIALLY PEANUTS

So don’t throw it in the trash! Email me if you have any, and we can arrange for a transfer.

Thanks and don’t despair.

Lizzie

The Total Styrene Experience is a sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts. If you would like to make a tax-deductable donation to The Total Styrene Experience, click here to go to Artspire, NYFA’s new online donation site for sponsored projects.

*Figuratively only. I would never actually have sex with a Republican, nor would I advocate that others do so.

Floating Island 1 at John Tevis Gallery

Floating Island 1 from Lizzie Scott on Vimeo.


Performed by Jean-Baptiste Veyret-Logerias at John Tevis Gallery in November, 2010.

Announcing The Total Styrene Experience

HUGE NEWS:

In 2011, The Styrene Fantastic will be working with the New York Foundation for the Arts to open The Total Styrene Experience – a temporary storefront laboratory dedicated to transforming discarded Styrofoam into art and performance. I have teamed up with writer and curator Patricia Milder and artist and curator Michael Mahalchick to significantly expand programming for the project in 2011. The space will accept Styrofoam from the community, present Styrene Fantastic performances and sculptures, and host guest artists exploring ideas of trash, excess and clutter.

The Holidays are great, but they create a lot of trash. In this season of consumerist frenzy, why not create some balance with a tax-deductible gift to a project that transforms the detritus of consumer culture into art?

We have already raised $1500 of our $5000 year-end goal. But we still need a few inspired contributors to help found the project and make our visions of transformed trash come to life. Your tax-deductible contribution to The Total Styrene Experience will help make this project possible. A $100 donation will pay our utility bills for one week. A $75 donation buys paint to cover one wall. A $50 donation buys cleaning supplies for moving in. A $25 donation gets us 1 large Styrofoam collection container. 

There is so much Styrofoam in the world! Let’s keep it out of the landfills and oceans, and turn it into a resource for art.

To donate money with a credit card, simply click here.
The link will take you to NYFA's NY Charities donation page.
Type in Artist Name: Lizzie Scott
Project Name: The Total Styrene Experience

Thank you for supporting this green interdisciplinary experimental project!

Lizzie Scott

The Total Styrene Experience is a sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts, a 501(c)(3), tax-exempt organization. Contributions on behalf of The Total Styrene Experience must be made payable to the New York Foundation for the Arts and are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Floating Island at John Tevis Gallery

 

Floating Island Dance

Walk around it

Sit under it

Balance it on your head

Turn your head to the right, maintaining contact

Turn your head to the left, maintaining contact

Turn your body to the left, keeping it on your head

Lie down under it

Balance it on one foot

Balance it on two feet

Push it up with your feet, release it, catch it again

Push it up with your feet, release it, catch it again

Push it up with your feet, release it, catch it again

Walk your feet under it

Twirl it with your feet

Release it

Lie under it

Sit up under it

Touch it with one finger

Spin it on your hand

Catch it with one hand

Balance it on your hand while you stand up under it

Let go and walk a few steps away

Balance it on your back

Walk with it balanced on your back

Stand up straight so it falls off your back

Kick it high

Catch it with your leg and hold it there

Kick it high

Catch it with your leg and hold it there

Kick it high

Catch it with your leg and hold it there

Release it

Stand with it curving around your chest

Spin with it, maintain contact with your torso,

Let it unwind, maintain contact with your torso (chest or back)

Rest both arms on it, still touching it with your chest

Let the weight of your arms increase with each exhale

Eventually, press down with your arms with each exhale

Press it almost to the floor

Step over it

Release it

Walk away

Two weeks before the performance, I sent dancers Jean-Baptiste Veyret-Logerias and Brenda Salinas this list of tasks to perform with the floating island sculpture. When I got to Paris, they worked with the sculpture, interpreting and re-arranging these instructions within the basic structure of motion: Begin on the floor under the piece, work your way to be level with it, then press it down and climb over it.

Babies dance the styrene fantastic

well, a toddler, really. Nadia choreographed this piece all by herself.

Sustainability Studies from Lizzie Scott on Vimeo.

The Styrene Fantastic, Studio view (Pillow)

The Styrene Fantastic, Performance view (Fainting Couch)

"Day Bed" Styrofoam, Muslin and Elastic

"Bench" Styrofoam, Muslin, Tulle

"Fainting Couch" Styrofoam, Muslin, Tether

The Styrene Fantastic/Domestic

The Styrene Fantastic at Rachel Uffner, Movement Research Spring Festival 09, definitive cut

Manifesto!

Because...

Our weightlessness crushes us,
Our conveniences control us,
Our speed steals our time,

And our outrage is exhausting,
Our self-denial a self-indulgence...

We submit the following truths.

Use is not Importance.
Eternal is not Precious.
Obvious is not True.

Or, (more succinctly):

Frivolity is Essential.


And so we refuse to...

Measure worth by demand,
Measure virtue by function,
Measure accomplishment by attainment.

Instead we resolve...

...to find purpose in the useless.
...to delight in our detritus.
...to transcend the practical.

To expand the everyday, every day.


copyright © 2009 by Lizzie Scott

Happening Sur L'Herbe, September 20th, 2009

Happening Sur L'Herbe

The Styrene Fantastic invites you to Happening Sur L'Herbe, an experiment in happenings and video making on Sunday, September 20, from 11:30 to 1:00 p.m. at Nellie's Lawn in Prospect Park.

If you're free and it's not raining, bring a picnic lunch, wear summer whites and drop in for a while and enjoy the very last day of summer in the park. Spectators do not need to be performers, but there may be opportunities for participation. This will be an intimate gathering, but all guests are welcome.

Featuring Lydia Bell, Mieke Duffly and Josh Row.

The Styrene Fantastic Video Remix

Edited to suit the online attention span. Includes footage of both Recessional performances at Rachel Uffner with some rehearsal thrown in for good measure. Starring Mieke Duffly and Georgia X. Lifsher

Video of TSF at Rachel Uffner Gallery, Movement Research Spring Festival 09 Recessional

The uncut video of the Recessional performance, April 26, 2009. Performed by Mieke Duffly and Georgia X. Lifsher

Project Description

The Styrene Fantastic is a physical exploration of the mountains of styrofoam that are both a by-product and a symptom of consumer culture. In different performances in all kinds of locations, dancers wear clothing constructed of large styrofoam-filled blobs. They collaborate with their costumes, adapting their activities and postures to them in an attempt to make the best of a ubiquitous material with little use and an endless future.

The central idea in my work is that function is excessive while frivolity is essential. I make sculptures and performances that use found materials to explore this idea in the context of the urban landscape.

Styrene Trial One