Performance: Christina Catherine Martinez Reads from Six Scripts for Not I

For the fourth installment of the series of readings from the publication Six Scripts for Not I, Christina Catherine Martinez created a performance based on her text in lieu of a straightforward recitation of it. Martinez was filmed inside the galleries of NOT I, in the gardens of LACMA, and at her home engaging different voices, bodies, and characters with a sense of humor that is equal parts barbed and awkward. The resulting video, titled Who's To Say, documents a performance for the camera by a multifaceted artist commenting on aspects of ventriloquism, language, and the artworld.

Christina Catherine Martinez is a writer, actress, comedian, and author of the essay collection Aesthetical Relations, published by Hesse Press. Her live act has been described as “a great bridge between many different disciplines, including performance art, stand-up, and clowning.” She writes for Artforum, Art Agenda, Texte zur Kunst, and also for television, including The Eric Andre Show on Adult Swim, and the short-form comedy series Two Pink Doors on FX. She is a 2018 recipient of a Creative Capital / Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant, and was named a Comic to Watch in 2020 by Time Out Los Angeles, as well as a Comedian You Should Know in 2020 by New York Magazine.

Six Scripts for Not I features commissioned pieces by Darby English, Amy Gerstler, Sarah Kessler, Christina Catherine Martinez, and Alan Page Arriaga.

Please note this video may not be suitable for all ages.

About the Exhibition Not I: Throwing Voices (1500 BCE–2020 CE)

Ventriloquism relies on the confusion between sight and hearing, puppeteer and puppet, silence and speech. Issues of agency, authorship, and objecthood are at the core of even the most conventional ventriloquist sketch: Where is the voice coming from? How is that voice split into many bodies? Who is speaking on behalf of whom?

Using this popular form of entertainment as a guide, the exhibition stages dialogues across LACMA’s collections, focusing on the misdirection of voice, silence, and sounds. Ventriloquism—objects forced to speak on behalf of an entire culture, age, or region—resonates within the history and logic of institutions devoted to the dissemination of knowledge such as libraries and museums.

Learn more about the exhibition at: https://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/not-i-throwing-voices-1500-bce-2020-ce

A copy of the accompanying publication, Six Scripts for NOT I, can be purchased here: https://www.thelacmastore.org/collections/not-i-throwing-voices-1500-bce-2020-ce/products/six-scripts-for-not-i-lacma-exhibition-catalogue

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Видео Performance: Christina Catherine Martinez Reads from Six Scripts for Not I канала Los Angeles County Museum of Art