Next Tuesday, the Guggenheim (NY) will play host to two rare performances by some of the most politically engaged, entertaining, and rapidly emerging artists in the media arts community. Both the Yes Men and Tara Mateik will present performative lectures that position pedagogy as an art form while instigating protest-oriented tactics that employ comedy in the service of more serious cultural critique. Their shared event, entitled 'Show & Tell,' was organized by Rhizome Editor & Curator Marisa Olson, in conjunction with the organization's 10th anniversary of supporting the new media community. This collaboration with the Guggenheim continues the museum's long-standing commitment to supporting contemporary, risk-taking, avant garde work. Mateik, founder of the Society for Biological Insurgents, works to 'overthrow institutions of compulsory gender… through performance, video, and intervention.' In 'Putting the Balls Away,' he will reenact the legendary 'Battle of the Sexes,' Billie Jean King's 1973 defeat of the former Wimbledon men's champion, Bobby Riggs. By playing both roles in a video version of the match, and reviving remarks by sports commentators Howard Cosell and Rosie Casals, Mateik recalls the controversy sparked by the most watched televised sporting event of the era. Meanwhile, The Yes Men, an 'identity correction' collective, will demonstrate their use of information and 'disinformation' to shift balances of power. The artists will present the first public demonstration of their SurvivaBall, an 'advanced new technology designed to keep corporate managers safe, even when climate change makes life as we know it impossible.' Recently unveiled at a corporate conference by Yes Men masquerading as Halliburton executives, the SurvivaBall is 'designed to protect the corporate manager no matter what Mother Nature throws his or her way.' Please come support Rhizome and these important artists in their collective, fun, media-based efforts towards social change. - Rhizome.org
