bbox cabaret poster 2/13/2009
We are all especially excited for this Friday’s 14karat Cabaret at MICA’s new BBOX theater in the Gateway Building. If you ever wanted a reason to check out the inside of MICA’s newest addition, the 14karat Cabaret is most definitely the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. For one night only, the cabaret will be hosted at MICA– because a Laure Drogoul retrospective would not be a retrospective if it did not include one of her longest running projects–the 14karat Cabaret. Since 1989 Laure has been “La Hostess,” the organizer and host of reoccurring performance showcases which typically take place in the basement of the old MAP building on Eutaw Street in downtown Baltimore.
Le Chat Noir (The Black Cat), one of the most popular and well known cabarets, originated in bohemian Montmarte district of Paris France in 1881. Laure’s interest in cabarets originated exploring her own French heritage. In late 19th century Paris, the cabaret functioned as a place where everyone came as they were and expressed themselves through poetry readings, musical performances, often in front of a backdrop of artwork. The cabaret was a place where no topic was ever too taboo and members of aristocracy sat next to the slum of the gutter. It was a place where art and performances transcended the boundaries of class and social status at least for the moment.
In the first issue of Link: A Critical Journal on Arts in Baltimore and the World (1996), Kathy O’Dell describes some of the components of the cabaret as “that which floats as a piece of detritus in curbside muck (or that which could be found in a fine-arts gallery), that which gets talked about behind closed doors (or that which is being discussed openly in the upper echelons of society but without much nuance), that which is wrapped in tin foil (or that which is cast in 14k gold)-these are the things from which cabaret is made.”
This episode of the 14karat Cabaret will feature the works and performances of: Collaborators Naoko Maeshiba and Steve Bradley , Catherine Pancake, Mole Girl in the Chamber of Darkness, Martha Colburn, Snacks, Sarah Jennings, and Melissa Ultra Sharlatt.
The EDS class has been working together with Laure all week to bring the cabaret and all of it’s delightfully fanstastic essence to the BBOX. We hope to see you there!
-adl
*for more details about the 14karat cabaret at the bbox theater please visit http://digital.mica.edu/drogoul/calendar/index.htm
