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Go Stand Next to the Mountain
Brief talk with Derrick Adams’ upcoming performance
Multidisciplinary artist Derrick Adams is concerned with monuments—metaphorically speaking. His latest performance at The Kitchen seeks to explore “the complex relations between man and monuments.” On May 14 and 15, represented by Collette Blanchard Gallery, Adams will premiere the installation-performance suite along with a group of collaborators.
The title of the performance, Go Stand Next to the Mountain, invites the audience to place themselves at the same “height” as this natural monument. This invitation is a metaphor that challenges the idea of how our social consciousness makes us feel about those people who are “social” monuments.
The piece itself is a sculpture installation, claims Adams, which just happens to have various performances that merge sound and bits of theater. He also incorporates pop culture, mainly TV references, while maintaining the structure of the educational program he drew inspiration from: The Electric Company. In the 1970s, this show was a multicultural education strategy that sought to help children read. It had a linguistic focus, but with humorous twists and a stellar cast, including Morgan Freeman, Bill Cosby and Rita Moreno, who said that her daughter learned to read from The Electric Company.
Go Stand Next to the Mountain ties this structural inspiration with the importance of art itself. Adams uses learning as both subject and object by aiming to educate those who are not in the field of art. The talented group of artists that collaborate with Adams includes Kenya Robinson, Philippe Treuille, Michael Chuapoco and Collette Blanchard, among many others.
For more information about the exhibit, which will also feature pieces by Narcissister, visit www.thekitchen.org.