Janie 1978-1982 a.k.a. Blood and Guts in High School. A multimedia installation inspired by Kathy Acker's influential novel. This is the first public presentation of this work in its entirety, and will be accompanied by a series of events organized in conjunction with the publication of the artist's screenplays.
From March 4 - 29, 2009, on the occasion of the PARTICIPANT PRESS publication
of Blood and Guts in Hollywood: Two Screenplays by Laura Parnes, PARTICIPANT INC is
proud to present Laura Parnes’ Janie 1978-1982 (a.k.a. Blood and Guts in High
School), a multimedia installation inspired by Kathy Acker’ s influential novel.
This is the first public presentation of this work in its entirety, and will be
accompanied by a series of events organized in conjunction with the publication of
the artist’s screenplays, with an introduction by Chris Kraus.
In appropriating Blood and Guts in High School, Parnes pays homage to Acker’s
radically inventive use of literary appropriation and intertextuality. As in
previous video works (such as Hol lywood Inferno (episode one); Heidi 2, a
collaboration with Sue de Beer, 2000; and No Is Yes, 1998) a narrative thread is
maintained while structure and language become unstable, invoking the schizophrenic
culture that Acker attempted to write into her work. Acker’s novel imagined the
sexual life and endurances of the adole scent outsider, Janey Smith. Parnes
re-imagines Janie through a video series that explores chapters in her life between
1978 and 1982. Set in New York at a time when Reagan was coming into power an d punk
was emerging, each episode presents a day in the life of Janie, interrupted by news
events that surreally meld into her personal20experience, as well as eerily presage
current world affairs. The installation includes life-size portraits of the many
sides of Janie’s personal ity, as well as a display of Parnes’ interpr etive
material based on Acker’s novel.
Laura Parnes has screened and exhibited her work widely in the US and
internationally, including Turin GLBT Film Festival, Turin, Italy; Schroeder Romero,
NY; Kunsthalle Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland; Akademie Schloss Solitude,
Stuttgart, Germany; Cinematexas, Austin, TX; Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley Art
Museum, Berkeley, CA; John Connelly Presents, NY; Vtape,20Toronto; Contemporary Art
Center, Vilnius, Lithuania; Museo Nacional Centro De Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid,
Spain; Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New
Zealand; PS1 Contemporary Art Center, a MoMA Affiliate, NY; Miami Museum of
Contemporary Art, Miami, FL; and Brooklyn Museum, NY. Her solo exhibitions include
Alma Enterprises, London; Locust Projects, Miami; Upstream Gallery, Amsterdam; Los
Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, LA; Participant Inc, NY; Deitch Projects, NY; and
in a two-person screening at The Museum of Modern Art, NY. Parnes has been awarded
residencies including the Sally and Don Lucas Artists Programs at the Montalvo Arts
Center; the Wexner Center; Cuts and Burns Residency at The Outpost; and
Harvestworks. Her work has received the support of the Experimental Television
Center and the New York State Council on the Arts. She is the co-founder and current
board president of Momenta Art, Brooklyn, NY. Parnes has held teaching positions at
New York University, The New School, and currently teaches at Bennington College.
She received her BFA from the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, and lives and
works in Brooklyn, NY.
Kathy Acker’s Blood and Guts in High School is reproduced with the generous
cooperation of Matias Viegener, Director of the Kathy Acker Literary Trust.
For their generous support of this project, the artist would like to thank The
Outpost’s Cuts and Burns Residency Program, Brooklyn, NY; Bennington College; and
The Experimental Televis
ion Center’s Finishing Funds Program that is supported by the EM&F Program at NYSCA.
Opening reception and launch of Blood and Guts in Hollywood: Two Screenplays by Laura Parnes: Sunday, March 8, 7-9pm
Participant INC
253 East Houston Street - New York
Gallery Hours: Wednesday-Sunday, noon-7pm