19/7/2002
(what in) the world
Bamboo, East Hampton
An Installation/Performance by Michael Counts. Counts will use his signature combination of visual art, installation and performance to transform the restaurant Bamboo and a 6,000 sq. foot tent (added for the night,) into a surreal environment replete with installations behind every window, performers around every corner and a vast videoscape high above the crowd.
GAle GAtes et al. presents
(what in) the world:
An Installation/Performance
By Michael Counts
For the 2nd Annual Guild Hall Jr. Benefit
July 20, 2002
Michael Counts, the artist that Black Book Magazine recently raved is, "Poised
to become one of his generations major artistic forces," is about to change the
face of one of this summer's hottest events. On July 20th category defying art
will meet the pomp and glamour of the Hamptons 2nd Annual Guild Hall Junior
Benefit, The Art of the Party, sponsored by Piaget, at the newly opened
restaurant Bamboo in East Hampton. Counts, with his company GAle GAtes et al.
of DUMBO fame, is known for creating massive scale installations inhabited by an
ever stranger cast of characters. Counts will use his signature combination of
visual art, installation and performance to transform Bamboo and a 6,000 sq.
foot tent (added for the night,) into a surreal environment replete with
installations behind every window, performers around every corner and a vast
videoscape high above the crowd. Entitled (what in) the world, this one night
only project will offer extraordinary vistas of otherworldly images that will
combine to form a vast and mysterious spectacle.
Simon Taylor, the Curator of Guild Hall first experienced Michael Counts' unique
and controversial style of installation performance in 1997 when he saw Counts'
acclaimed adaptation of Homer's Odyssey, Wine-Blue-Open-Water. Since then,
Guild Hall, the fine arts museum, professional theater and community center
located in East Hampton, has been courting GAle GAtes et al. and Michael Counts
in the hopes of joining forces. Counts' previous visionary creations of
site-specific works have transformed such venues as the steps of the Federal
Building, the grand entrance to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grand Central
Station, Hradcany and Vysherad Castles in Prague and even the side of a mountain
in the Alps of Japan.
GAle GAtes et al. is a non-profit performance and visual art company founded in
1995 by visual artist Michael Counts and performer/producer Michelle Stern.
Based in DUMBO at 37 Main Street, the company is dedicated to creating a new
dynamic that combines theater, visual art and new music. Over the past five
years the company has created five original works that have received extensive
international recognition. GAle GAtes et al. is now widely recognized as one of
the foremost emerging arts organizations in New York.
One night only: July 20, 2002 from 8:00pm - midnight
Ticket Information: Please contact Christine Albino of Guild Hall @ 613.324.0806
Location: Bamboo, 47 Montauk Highway, East Hampton