CHICEN WOMAN and WARREN MONTANO: Photo by Anica Montano

LINDA MARY MONTANO  as  CHICKEN WOMAN: CHICKENARAMA: Re Seed Saugerties: Curated by Jennifer Zackin  ;Photo Anica Montano

LINDA MARY MONTANO: RAPID PULSE INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE ART FESTIVAL 2016: Blog: Jennie Klein

Linda Mary Montano: Glands and Sleep

Rapid Pulse 2016 concluded with a performance by Linda Mary Montano's Interactionarama: Cry/Laugharama : An Interactive Lecture Honoring the 7 Glands of the Body. Montano was aided by three volunteers, who helped to facilitate the performance which  was originally meant to be divided into 7 of Montano's video trailers which represent the 7 glands in the body: Intimacy, Security, Courage, Compassion, Communication, Intuition, and Joy. Instead of presenting 7 videos, Montano refocused her original idea after being at Rapid Pulse for a week and  she  began with her Chickenarama video of live chickens and announced in song-drone that she would  "bless" the audience, the space and  herself. Using the same format of song-drone, she called to the stage her "nurse" after letting the audience know that she was practicing the "art/life of aging."  The nurse was a totally accurate Amy Winehouse doppleganger, a reference to Montano's persona practice which began in 1975 and continues today with her current  Bob Dylan and Mother Teresa endurance performances. And then thebeautiful, twin love-ettes entered, teaching the audience to laugh and cry in gratitude for our glands (chakras) that work 24-7.

 On her web site, Montano has included a "wish list" under projects that includes a proposal for a two day performance Death-Athon  and Life-Athon.  The two final videos that she presented covered those two states: Montano's My Mother: Artist and Teacher, an absolutely incredibly piece about the life and death of her mother, Mildred Montano, delivered in the same monotone chant that Montano used for her seminal performance Mitchell's Death, a piece performed three times (once for video) in which she narrated the circumstances of the death of her husband Mitchell Payne. Montano sang-droned that we were at the heart chakra and during the video about her Mother at  Rapid Pulse, "Amy", travelled throughout the audience with a microphone, collecting the called out  names of mothers from audience members while the two stunning love-ettes comforted Montano who was now disguised by a chicken mask; a theatrical attempt at losing her individual "self" and including all in the communal rite of healing.

After the intense depth of mother-sorrow, the mood switched drastically as Amy, and the two love-ettes swayed to  Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love, an 80's video that looked absolutely bizarre in retrospect, but certainly stressed the importance of love. The audience thought so too and spontaneously jumped into the celebration of NOW.

Linda Montano with C.V. Peterson. Photo by Linda Montano, lifted from Linda Montano's blog

To conclude: Interactionarama: Cry/Laugharama : An Interactive Lecture Honoring the 7 Glands of the Body was the perfect performance with which to end a Festival that was celebrating its 5th year. Montano has been performing for fifty years or so (more if you count what she considers her earliest performances as a child and a young adult). Chickens have always figured prominently in Montano's performances. She has done performances with live chickens and dead chickens. Montano's first performance, Chicken Woman (1972) was inspired by her MFA Show in 1969 where she exhibited live chickens in a Minimalist grid. Montano continued to perform as Chicken Woman, sometimes with her dog named Chicken. In one memorable performance she was arrested as she attempted to perform Chicken Woman on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco because the police were concerned that she might be planning to jump from the bridge.

For Montano the glands are coterminous with the chakras. One of her seminal performances, 7 Years of Living Art (1984-1993) was based on the 7 chakras/energy centers of the body. Much of what Montano has done subsequently, including 14 Years of Living Art has been influenced by this performance. Interactionarama encapsulated Montano's career, which has included in depth explorations of love, sexuality, spirituality (Montano was a novitiate with the Maryknoll Sisters for two years--Chicken Woman is a kind of latter day nun/saint), life versus art, and death. Everything is fodder for Montano's art which she has always used in order to explore difficult ideas such as sex, death, aging, and loss of mental and physical capabilities. Later that night Montano conducted an all-night workshop: Sleepathon/Glandathon where 15 lucky participants (who were quick enough to sign up) spent the night sleeping on cots in the gallery. The workshop included exercises in laughter and different voices, a gland-athon meditation, journal writing and sharing, and a graduation ritual the following morning. The experience, which typical of a Montano workshop pushed everyone way outside of their comfort zone in different ways, was later written up for Hyperallergic by Chicago-based writer and curator Kate Sierzputowski. It was an apt finish to the five day whirlwind of the festival, a sending off from one of the most seminal, yet humble artists, who was a pioneer of performance work. Although in her writing Montano has frequently suggested that she realized that she wasn't "a perfect saint," being in her presence was just as exciting as if she actually was a Catholic/Jain/Buddhist/Hindu saint. The audience member, myself included, wanted something from her--something that would leave us wiser and more fulfilled. Montano delivered.

Sleepathon/Glandathon participants including the author on cots. Photo by Kate Sierzputowski. Linda  Mary Montano says: "Thanks to Sasha Hodges (Amy Winehouse);  Ashley Hollinghead and cv Peterson (the love-ettes) ; Maria Colon and Michelle Park ( the tech people) ; all of the mighty team and volunteers; the soup people, the photographers; Jennie Klein (blog);  Giana Gambino ( the incredible co-director); and standing applause for JOSEPH RAVENS( Director of Rapid Pulse and Defibrillator Performance Art  Gallery)."

Linda Mary Montano: Glands and Sleep

Rapid Pulse 2016 concluded with a performance by Linda Mary Montano's Interactionarama: Cry/Laugharama : An Interactive Lecture Honoring the 7 Glands of the Body. Montano was aided by three volunteers, who helped to facilitate the performance which  was originally meant to be divided into 7 of Montano's video trailers which represent the 7 glands in the body: Intimacy, Security, Courage, Compassion, Communication, Intuition, and Joy. Instead of presenting 7 videos, Montano refocused her original idea after being at Rapid Pulse for a week and  she  began with her Chickenarama video of live chickens and announced in song-drone that she would  "bless" the audience, the space and  herself. Using the same format of song-drone, she called to the stage her "nurse" after letting the audience know that she was practicing the "art/life of aging."  The nurse was a totally accurate Amy Winehouse doppleganger, a reference to Montano's persona practice which began in 1975 and continues today with her current  Bob Dylan and Mother Teresa endurance performances. And then thebeautiful, twin love-ettes entered, teaching the audience to laugh and cry in gratitude for our glands (chakras) that work 24-7.

 On her web site, Montano has included a "wish list" under projects that includes a proposal for a two day performance Death-Athon  and Life-Athon.  The two final videos that she presented covered those two states: Montano's My Mother: Artist and Teacher, an absolutely incredibly piece about the life and death of her mother, Mildred Montano, delivered in the same monotone chant that Montano used for her seminal performance Mitchell's Death, a piece performed three times (once for video) in which she narrated the circumstances of the death of her husband Mitchell Payne. Montano sang-droned that we were at the heart chakra and during the video about her Mother at  Rapid Pulse, "Amy", travelled throughout the audience with a microphone, collecting the called out  names of mothers from audience members while the two stunning love-ettes comforted Montano who was now disguised by a chicken mask; a theatrical attempt at losing her individual "self" and including all in the communal rite of healing.

After the intense depth of mother-sorrow, the mood switched drastically as Amy, and the two love-ettes swayed to  Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love, an 80's video that looked absolutely bizarre in retrospect, but certainly stressed the importance of love. The audience thought so too and spontaneously jumped into the celebration of NOW.

Linda Montano with C.V. Peterson. Photo by Linda Montano, lifted from Linda Montano's blog

To conclude: Interactionarama: Cry/Laugharama : An Interactive Lecture Honoring the 7 Glands of the Body was the perfect performance with which to end a Festival that was celebrating its 5th year. Montano has been performing for fifty years or so (more if you count what she considers her earliest performances as a child and a young adult). Chickens have always figured prominently in Montano's performances. She has done performances with live chickens and dead chickens. Montano's first performance, Chicken Woman (1972) was inspired by her MFA Show in 1969 where she exhibited live chickens in a Minimalist grid. Montano continued to perform as Chicken Woman, sometimes with her dog named Chicken. In one memorable performance she was arrested as she attempted to perform Chicken Woman on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco because the police were concerned that she might be planning to jump from the bridge.

For Montano the glands are coterminous with the chakras. One of her seminal performances, 7 Years of Living Art (1984-1993) was based on the 7 chakras/energy centers of the body. Much of what Montano has done subsequently, including 14 Years of Living Art has been influenced by this performance. Interactionarama encapsulated Montano's career, which has included in depth explorations of love, sexuality, spirituality (Montano was a novitiate with the Maryknoll Sisters for two years--Chicken Woman is a kind of latter day nun/saint), life versus art, and death. Everything is fodder for Montano's art which she has always used in order to explore difficult ideas such as sex, death, aging, and loss of mental and physical capabilities. Later that night Montano conducted an all-night workshop: Sleepathon/Glandathon where 15 lucky participants (who were quick enough to sign up) spent the night sleeping on cots in the gallery. The workshop included exercises in laughter and different voices, a gland-athon meditation, journal writing and sharing, and a graduation ritual the following morning. The experience, which typical of a Montano workshop pushed everyone way outside of their comfort zone in different ways, was later written up for Hyperallergic by Chicago-based writer and curator Kate Sierzputowski. It was an apt finish to the five day whirlwind of the festival, a sending off from one of the most seminal, yet humble artists, who was a pioneer of performance work. Although in her writing Montano has frequently suggested that she realized that she wasn't "a perfect saint," being in her presence was just as exciting as if she actually was a Catholic/Jain/Buddhist/Hindu saint. The audience member, myself included, wanted something from her--something that would leave us wiser and more fulfilled. Montano delivered.

Sleepathon/Glandathon participants including the author on cots. Photo by Kate Sierzputowski. Linda  Mary Montano says: "Thanks to Sasha Hodges (Amy Winehouse);  Ashley Hollinghead and cv Peterson (the love-ettes) ; Maria Colon and Michelle Park ( the tech people) ; all of the mighty team and volunteers; the soup people, the photographers; Jennie Klein (blog);  Giana Gambino ( the incredible co-director); and standing applause for JOSEPH RAVENS( Director of Rapid Pulse and Defibrillator Performance Art  Gallery)."

ART/LIFE COUNSELING 4 HOURS by LINDA MARY MONTANO: RAPID PULSE INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE ART FESTIVAL: JENNIE KLEIN BLOG for RAPID PULSE

The following morning the festival opened on a more serious note, with Mother Superior Linda Mary Montano conducting Art/Life Counseling (your choice). Garbed entirely in orange clothing, Montano counseled festival goers for approximately eight hours in the garage behind the gallery. Montano, a pioneer of conceptual feminist performance art in the U.S., has been concerned with the relationship between art, life, spirituality and consciousness since she first had her MFA show at University of Wisconsin and replaced the conceptual Minimalist grids that were being used by the men in her program with a grid of live chickens. Prior to becoming an artist, Montano was a nun for two years. Much of her career has been devoted to studying and articulating the relationship between different forms and expressions of spirituality, corporeal asceticism, and the messy interstices where the body refused to behave. Montano has collaborated with artists as diverse as Tehching Hsieh, an artist known for his extreme acts of radical endurance to Annie Sprinkle, the artist most celebrated for embracing radical sexual diversity, corporeal pleasure and a truly transgendered approach to art making and performance. Montano first did Art/Life Counseling as part of her durational performance 7 Years of Living Art. For that performance Montano wore the same color, meditated to the same sound every night, and called upon a different spiritual guide each year. For a time she also spoke in an accent, although she dropped that after about two years.  7 is a magical number--there are 7 chakras and 7 sacraments. The number 7 also figures prominently in many fairytales--7 doors, 7 obstacles. For her performance at Rapid Pulse, Montano reprised some of that earlier performance (which eventually turned into 14 Years of Living Art). The second chakra, Orange is the color of security.  Montano's guide for the orange year was Teresa of Avila, the Spanish saint and mystic. It was fitting that Montano, as the Mother Superior of this festival, reinvoked St. Teresa through her clothing and her actions. The festival will conclude on Sunday night with a Sleepathon: An Overnight Glandathon experience at DFB.

VIDEO LIST RAPID PULSE

VIDEO  LIST(TENTATIVE)   RAPID PULSE


VIDEO LIST: RAPID PULSE
1. AS PEOPLE ENTER:   ONE LOVE


2. INTRO AND DANCE:  CHICKENARAMA


3. GLAND 1:  INTIMACY...PRIMAL SCENES


4. GLAND 2: SECUIRTY.... BOB DYLAN


5. GLAND 3: COURAGE: MOTHER TERESA 100TH BDAY


6. GLAND 4: COMPASSION  MY MOTHER ARTIST/TEACHER


7. GLAND 5: COMMUNICATION  STARVED SURVIVORS


8. GLAND 6: INTUITION: BENARES


9. GLAND 7: JOY:  ADDICTED TO LOVE

MEDITATION, IMPROV, FORCED CHUCKLING AND MORE AT GALLERY SLEEPOVER: KATE SIERZPITOWSKI

Galleries

Meditation, Improv, Forced Chuckling, and More at a Gallery Sleepover

• by Kate Sierzputowski on June 10, 2016

by Kate Sierzputowski on June 10, 2016

Participants choose cots before Linda Mary Montano leads the group in a series of laughter and crying exercises for ‘Sleepathon’ at Defibrillator Gallery (all images by the author for Hyperallergic)

CHICAGO — I bend my head down, eyes shut tight, and reach my hands up over my head towards the center of the circle. While flinging my arms upward I make a whooshing sound, starting low and gaining volume the further my fingertips stretch away from my core. Fifteen surrounding bodies immediately repeat my actions, myself standing still as I watch them recreate my improvised movements. Directly across from me is the artist Linda Mary Montano, her gray curls bouncing up over the blue temporary tattoo of a diamond at the center of her forehead. Gracefully she throws her arms up over her head, my whoosh now projected out of her mouth. She and the strangers around me present their own personalized movements, each of us reproducing what the other performed. These “self-portraits” are one of many group exercises that served as a precursor to Montano’s “Sleepathon” last Sunday, the culminating all-night performance/ceremony/art piece of the Rapid Pulse performance art festival at Defibrillator Gallery. 
Asked by Montano to bring a pillow, pen, piece of paper, and sleeping garments, all 15 participants came prepared to spend the night with the artist on cots that were temporarily set up in two neat rows against the gallery’s walls. The arrangement, which mimicked army barracks, orphanage chambers, or camp cabins, was a collaboration between Rapid Pulse Director Joseph Ravens and Montano. To Ravens, the set-up was a metaphor for finding family through community rather than blood, individuals joined together by their art rather than a given past. “Artists are often in this situation, especially queer or ‘othered’ individuals, who family has cast aside,” said Ravens. “Knowing someone ‘has your back’ is a very important thing, and without it we feel untethered. Finding a new family when one isn’t readily available is a testament to the human spirit and a product of our need to feel connection and communion with others.”

Linda Mary Montano post-“Sleepathon”

Montano led a series of exaggerated and guttural laughing and crying exercises to bond the group of mostly strangers. We were first instructed to walk intentionally through the space yet not create a conscious pattern, just glide through the room while passing and acknowledging each other’s energies. We were then asked to greet one another with high-pitched laughter and clasped hands, making sure to lock eyes before wandering to the next interaction. Forced chuckling from the group soon melted into genuine amusement, an act that seemed to me both contrived and profound as my abs became sore and the corners of my mouth began to sting.
After several iterations of these interactions, Montano had us lie down on our chosen cots, outlining a guided meditation of the seven chakras, a structure she incorporates into many of her performances, including one titled “An Interactive Lecture Honoring the 7 Glands of the Body” that was performed at Defibrillator for the public just prior to the “Sleepathon.” During the meditation I felt my root chakra, I felt my sacral chakra, I felt my solar plexus, I felt my body slip into sleep. Coming to just after the conclusion of the meditation, I slowly regained awareness as Montano instructed us to write a love letter to one of our chakras that needed healing or attention, and to read it out loud if we felt so inclined. I wrote mine to my sacral, while others wrote and read messages of love to their hearts, throats, and dicks. After listening to each other we drifted to sleep, our letters tucked safely under our pillows, attempting to pierce our dreams.

Holly Oakley Chicken Woman at performance GLANDATHON: RAPID PULSE FESTIVAL 2016:

 

Addicted to Linda montano @josephravens #rapidpulse — with Ashley Hollingshead, CV Peterson and Linda Mary Montano.

ELI GOLD INTERNVIEWS MONTANO: MARTYRDOM

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1jiyeige6ulciiy/MZ000024.mp3?dl=0

 

 

 

ELI GOLD INTERVIEWS LINDA MARY MONTANO AT  RAPID PULSE 2016 INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL