Peoples Republic of Delicious Food @ The Museum of Contemporary Art
PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF DELICIOUS FOOD (PRDF) was an artist collective that operated through a list serve, when an event was proposed, e-mails and
phone calls went out. In some cases people showed up the night of and the event took the form of a happening. In other cases there would be two or three rehearsals before the event to generate a more sophisticated plan. This was one of the latter.
PRDF was contacted by EdMar at Lumpen to take part in a new inter/multi media event called VERSION. We accepted his invitation on the spot because it was to be held at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Myself being a contemporary Chicago artist, I couldn’t turn down such an offer. However, we were horrified to discover that we were double booked for that evening. We had already agreed to perform video art at another new event called Spundae, to be held at VISION, a converted cathedral nightclub downtown (recently named one of the best mega-clubs in the country by “URB” magazine).
VISION OR VERSION – so we called EVERYBODY including another arts group called MERCABA and at the first meeting, we divided into two groups. Half would concentrate on Vision, the other Version, though it was understood that everybody would contribute to both. I chose Version. The next two weeks were feverish as we collected artists wrote scripts and created artworks to tell one cohesive story in two of the best rooms in town on the same night.
DIGITAL FAITH became our theme. As we were depending on computers for EVERYTHING and we were performing in two cathedrals (one for God and one for art).
AT THE MCA, we created a Revival style performance (aka: the Peoples Revival of Digital Faith), a digital fashion show (aka: Our Sunday Best), a pulpit reading of a digitally created text by The Reverend DJ (Untitled) and we offered neuro-feedback sessions (to allow people to see if they had enough faith to connect a computer to their head via electrodes and see their brainwaves).
THE REVIVAL was the last of the evenings events at the MCA and the room was packed. Our revival was a success because we were able to convert the masses and convince them to follow us down the street to a hedonistic digital throwdown on the domed ceiling and from the smoke machine drenched balcony, overlooking 4 stories of dancing throngs in the main room of Vision. In all, more than 50 artists were involved with the two events.
I got this footage from the MCA, from Catan Volk a year later. He and Jeff Creath had by chance captured the performance from the front row.
IN MY VIDEO DOCUMENT
Kelli Spangler is doing a very analog meditation, dripping color into glass pitchers.
The Reverend DJ (Untitled) turns on a camera and light. The room lights up with video projection of the liquid. The meditation is now Electrical. As Kelli adds another color, the color of the room changes.
Aduni enters with two light stewards, (she has converted to electric) sees Kelli and wants to learn more from her, in order to spread her message.
Reverend J (with the Mohawk) enters with a mass of followers interested in conversion. Aduni and her TV and light stewards attempt to reproduce the beauty of Kelli’s analog meditation in electrical media.
WHEN THE MUSIC CHANGES IN THE VIDEO – As the revival progresses, the attempts to communicate the simplicity of the original message become more and more difficult, so Aduni adds digital media messages, to try and convince her followers.
Chaos ensues and miscommunication becomes rampant as electric followers of an analog meditation are accidentally converted to the digital faith. In desperation, Aduni calls out for Kelli Reverend J captures Kelli and she is offered as a sacrifice to the digital monster that has been created.