Chiara Fumai: Channeling Jack Smith and Valerie Solanas

Microscope is very pleased to welcome Milan-based artist Chiara Fumai for her New York debut with a special evening of performance works live and on video.
For the US premiere of her performance “There Is Something You Should Know”, Fumai initiates the audience as the secret society SIS (Scuola Iniziatica Smithiana) in the form of an esoteric gnostic group seminar, in an attempt to bring back the spirit of the underground cinema pioneer Jack Smith, and channel one of his obscure performances through subconscious time-travel. The piece, which also involves slide projection, lucid dreaming practices, and audio from Smith’s “Flaming Creatures”, stems from a mysterious performance – title unknown – that Jack Smith staged in 1981 in Genova, Italy, allegedly inspired by the idea of Socialism as presented by Western culture and thought of as a way to pay for his return ticket to New York.
The night also includes a screening of Fumai’s performance for the video camera “Chiara Fumai reads Valerie Solanas”, in which the artist recites from the “Society for Cutting Up Men Manifesto” by Valerie Solanas (1967) sitting before a wall on which is hung in large characters the line “A male artist is a contradiction in terms”. Fumai – whose work often comments on the current status of the female in relation to popular and controversial figures from our recent past – here satirically draws parallels to Silvio Berlusconi’s first televised political announcement.

Program:
There Is Something You Should Know, 2016
Live performance by Chiara Fumai, approx. 35-40 minutes
Chiara Fumai reads Valerie Solanas, 2013
single-channel HD video, color, sound, 10 minutes 34 seconds

Admission $6
Students w/ valid ID $5
Free for Members!