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Milcah Bassel
DIVIDER, REVISITED (AFTER LYGIA PAPE)

first performed on April 20, 2013
White Box, New York, NY
performed twice in 2013

MILCAH BASSEL

Jersey City, NJ

www.milcahbassel.com

DIVIDER, REVISITED (AFTER LYGIA PAPE)
MILCAH BASSEL

The audience is invited to partake in wearing a giant rectangle of fabric that can accommodate up to 36 heads.

This participatory performance is an homage to Brazilian artist Lygia Pape (1927-2004). Pape was a founding member of the Neo-Concrete movement, which was dedicated to making “art that had social and spiritual impact, art that would destroy the boundaries of art and life” (from the Neo-Concrete manifesto).

Pape’s initial gallery proposal for Divisor (“Divider”) in 1968 was never realized and she ended up taking the piece to a favela near her house for children to use. Although the piece was initially intended to include a mirrored gallery and other particular elements, I chose to bring it to life in its most simple and elemental form. Through the enactment of this collectively dressed procession within and outside the walls of various galleries, both the individual and collective body become activated, divided, and united.