{"id":12253,"date":"2016-11-02T21:02:17","date_gmt":"2016-11-02T21:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artzealous.com\/?p=12253"},"modified":"2016-11-02T21:02:17","modified_gmt":"2016-11-02T21:02:17","slug":"performa-gala-stuns-once-again-with-beloved-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/performa-gala-stuns-once-again-with-beloved-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Performa Gala Stuns Once Again With ‘Beloved Country’"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, November 1st, over 400 guests gathered at New York\u2019s Altman Building<\/a> in the heart of Chelsea for Performa\u2019s<\/a> annual gala. This year the gala honored acclaimed curator, museum director, and writer Okwui Enwezor. Performa was founded in 2004 by art historian and curator RoseLee Goldberg and is the leading organization dedicated to exploring the critical role of live performance in the history of twentieth-century art.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Okwui
Okwui Enwezor<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bringing together art world tastemakers and influencers alike, the gala appropriately titled ‘Beloved Country,’ paid tribute to the rich history and power of the visual arts and performance in South Africa. The gala was also the perfect time to announce the first wave of Performa Commissions for the Performa 17 biennial which will include Yto Barrada, Julie Mehretu in collaboration with Jason Moran, Zanele Muholi, and Kemang Wa Lehulere.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"3move-1-of-1-152\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The evening was filled South African inspired cocktails and fare. Though, the highlight of the evening was a\u00a0performance by Athi Patra Ruga entitled Over the Rainbow<\/em>, which he performed as his newest avatar,\u00a0Queen Versatile Ivy, drawing inspiration from a wide range of sources from the Wizard of Oz and Gay Pride to Xhosa culture and post-Apartheid identity. The performance was accompanied by sound design from Cape Town based producer and performer Angel-H0, performance by rapper Dope Saint Jude<\/a> and a choir led by award-winning jazz vocalist Vuyo Sotashe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Athi-Patra
Athi Patra Ruga<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Guests included\u00a0RoseLee Goldberg, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, Rashid Johnson, Sarah Arison, Cindy Sherman, Richard Chang, Mel Chin, Lorna Simpson,\u00a0Klaus Biesenbach, Thelma Golden, and\u00a0Jeffrey Deitch.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Jeffrey
Jeffrey Dietch, Sarah Arison<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Check out all the photos from the evening<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

photos \/\/ Hanna Hazel<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, November 1st, over 400 guests<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":12209,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,21,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12253"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}