Artists Reach Out: Laurie Berg

Dear friends,

Welcome to Artists Reach Out: reflections in a time of isolation. I dreamed this series of interviews out of grief for my work both as a documenting arts writer and curator of live performance. In this time of social distancing, we are called to responsibly do all we can to safeguard ourselves and our neighbors. It is, literally, a matter of life and death.

But there's no distancing around what we still can share with one another--our experiences, thoughts, wisdom, humor, hearts and spirit. In some ways, there are more opportunities to do so as we pull back from everyday busyness out in the world and have time to honor the call of our inner lives.

So, let me introduce you to some artists I find interesting. I'm glad they're part of our beautiful community, and I'm eager to engage with them again (or for the first time) in years to come.

--Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody

Laurie Berg

Laurie Berg
(photo courtesy of the artist)

Laurie Berg makes work in a variety of forms including dance, performance, collage and jewelry. She is co-organizer of AUNTS, co-curated the Movement Research Spring Festival 2017, was the 2016 recipient of “The Tommy” Award and a 2016-17 LMCC Workspace Artist-In-Residence. Recent works include EZ Pass (Roulette Intermedium), scape: Times Square (co-commission by Times Square Arts and Danspace Project), Ziegfeld Goes Down (as part of Charles Atlas Presents: The Kitchen Follies), Terrifying Times Call For Terrifying Jewelry (Dixon Place) and The Mineralogy of Objects (Danspace Project).

Whether working with dance and performance, collage, or jewelry, Berg draws on her interest in iconography, detail, humor, and absurdity to cultivate a collaborative, creative space that allows for rigorous play. Through complex choreographic structures and collaborations between people and objects, her performances conjure a space that is simultaneously structured and fantastical, layering together past, present, and future; bodies, objects, light, and space; imagination and knowledge; the real and the surreal.

scape: Times Square (2018)
(photo: Ian Douglas)

"Doll Ball," EZ Pass (2018)
(photo: Tony Sisco)

Do you have a current or planned project whose progress is affected by the pandemic?

I have lost a few gigs due to the pandemic, and the hope is these are just postponements and not cancellations, but right now it is hard to tell when we might all be able to gather again in a theater, bar, or gallery space. UPDATE: Between writing these responses and sending this in, George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis. Black Lives Matter activists and BIPOC leaders have led us into the streets in protest. Clear demands have been made. This moment is unprecedented. A revolution within a pandemic.

I’m supposed to have a show next Spring, which seemed far away. Now, it seems unlikely that we will be able to gather in a theater even next Spring. Honestly, the biggest project that was put on hold, was re-emerging from my art hiatus. I never completely stopped making things (jewelry, performance, a baby) and planning projects, but I slowed way down after the birth of my baby, Zelda (who just turned one). It was just two weeks before New York City shut down that I got childcare a couple days a week, so I could think about setting up rehearsals for a new project, and return to work without bringing Zelda along.

Briefly, tell me about how you got involved in the arts and in your particular practice.

Dance was a way to escape my shyness. Even when I was young, performing felt elevated. Time functioned in a different way. Every detail was important. I started taking classes in a strip mall dance studio in St. Louis, MO when I was 5 or 6. That studio was all I knew about the dance world. It was MY dance world and my dance family.

Finding myself where I am now was a long steady process of questioning what I was looking at, looking for more. It wasn’t until I got to college that I started to use the term “artist” to describe myself. That I was a dancer and an artist. A dance artist. I was also a misfit, and a weirdo, and proud of it. But that realization took time as well. The process of naming things, so I could move past the names and towards embodiment.

In a more specific way, what are you practicing? And what are you envisioning?

I’m practicing patience, compassion, flexibility (not the body kind--I’m so sore these days), and listening. I’m working towards a new project I’m calling :FOMO::DIPTYCH: but, right now, my attention is drawn to the conversations happening in dance and art communities all over the US. UPDATE: “Patience and compassion” also must include endurance and vigilance. “Flexibility” must include changing existing familiar and comfortable structures, de-centering whiteness, and centering BIPOC voices. “Listening” stays just that. I am practicing and learning ally-ship. This is an ongoing practice. I’m envisioning real lasting change. For me, as a white dance artist, maybe my new choreography needs to look something like this: look left, look right, step to the side, step back, and step up.

In mid-March the dance and performance platform I co-organize, AUNTS, decided to do a 15-day online series: AUNTS WPA micro-stimulus (a reference to the Federal Art Project as part of the New Deal). AUNTS WPA would be chain curated, so that we invite 5 artists, then those 5 artists would invite an artist and so on, to create 5 chains of 3 artists. Each artist would take over our Instagram account for one day and would do some kind of live broadcast. Artists choice! In the tradition of AUNTS, the artist could perform/broadcast--for 5 minutes or as long as instagram would allow--whatever they were working on or interested in sharing, and then we would pay them $75 via PayPal. It wasn’t a huge amount of money, but at least it could buy some groceries or pay part of a phone bill. Because of generous donations from individuals, instead of lasting 15 days, it ended up going for over a month with 42 artists participating. I never left my home and I met so many new artists!

How does your practice and your visioning align with what you most care about?

With AUNTS and my own choreographic work, my focus goes towards collaboration, resource sharing, and creating temporary and often permanent artistic families around each project. There is an opportunity in this particular moment to move towards radical change in how our arts institutions function. On all levels. I’m trying to envision what shape these potentially new structures could take. What should our institutions look like? Should we even have institutions? Trust artists! Can granting organizations fund artists instead of projects (allowing the money to precede the planning process)?

An artist receives a grant and pays their rent. Great!

An artist receives a grant, takes a risk, and fails, but everyone working on the project got paid. Great!

An artist receives a grant and the work receives many awards. Great!

“The system isn’t broken; it was built this way.” The truth is hard to swallow, and the change has to go deep. I’m ready to get out a shovel and dig down below the toxic rhizome that is capitalism and plant something new. This is work I have to do on myself as well as in my community. More content, less profit.

How does your practice function within the world we have now?

UPDATE: Honestly, I’m not quite sure at the moment. I’m going to wear comfortable shoes, stay ready, and bring snacks for everyone.

Briefly share one self-care tip that has special meaning to you now.

Enjoying this concentrated time with baby Zelda (who is a joyful, funny kid). I’m taking photography lessons from Zelda, who has a special iPhone photo technique which involves erratic (but also consistent?) hand movements--zooming in and out on the screen--while in panoramic mode to achieve a dual focus within a single photo. One half of the photo is in focus, while the other half is blurry, achieving the diptych form within the confines of a single image. I’m still working on it.

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DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve, at Gibney, as Senior Director of Artist Development and Curation and Editorial Director. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

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