Vancouver Sun | Alien Sex: a transgressive work of the Oscar Wilde variety

Alien Sex: a transgressive work of the Oscar Wilde variety

BY ART SEEN Published Thurs, May 22, 2014ORIGINAL ARTICLE: http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/05/22/alien-sex-a-transgressive-work-of-the-oscar-wilde-variety/


ALIEN SEX has met its goal of $10,000 on Kickstarter. In fact, it raised a little more than that as the fundraising team persuaded 200 donors to pony up $10,297. It’s a tough way to bring performance to the stage in the contemporary world. Congratulations.

My previous post is below.

(Updated Thursday, June 5.)

* * *

David Bloom was on the phone. He sounded harried.  After saying hello, his first words were: “I’m just composing an email about Alien Sex to beg a friend to ask him for money.”

Then he added, really quickly: “I can’t tell you how much I hate doing that.”

Bloom is in the middle of raising $10,000 to stage the first performance of Alien Sex during the Queer Arts Festival later this summer. It’s the first time he’s been involved from the start in a crowd-funding campaign for the performing arts.

Some people have a knack for raising money. He admits he doesn’t.

“I’m much more comfortable performing,” said the actor and co-artistic director ofFelix Culpa.*

As of today, he’s not doing too bad as a fundraiser: with 10 days to go in the Kickstarter campaign, he’s already at $3,300 (That has increased to $3,882 as oftoday, Wednesday, May 28).

What Bloom and his team have going for them is a great name. Alien Sex is transgressive and naughty. It made me think of pushing boundaries on gender and sexuality which is pretty much what the project is all about. In fact, the title is so good it convinced me to write this blog post about it.

At this point in its evolution, Alien Sex is a title in search of a work. Led by Bloom who is described as the “instigator,” Alien Sex plans to be a collision of “speculative fiction that fearlessly explores, the strange, beautiful, and sometimes inexplicable territory of human sexuality,” according to the Kickstarter description of the project.

The cast includes a mix of performance poets, visual artists, writers, dancers, actors and performers. Taking part are Olivia B, Floyd VB, Eileen Kage, Sammy Chien, Robert Leveroos, and SD Holman. As well, it will include the writing of Linda Smukler/Samuel Ace and David Mamet.

The Alien Sex performance in August will be a presentation of a work-in-progress meant to evolve over time.

“This epic yet intimate collaborative project weaves together an original and contradictory collage by artists creating in words, images, movement and sound,” according to the Kickstarter description.

Queer Arts Festival 2014: ReGenerations takes place July 23 to Aug. 9.

Alien Sex

*Edited Friday, May 23.

For regular Art Seen updates, follow me on Twitter @KevinCGriffin

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