The Frye Museum in Seattle is recruiting 35 participants for Oliver Herring | Task, a dynamic performance by Season 3 artist Oliver Herring and organized by the Frye, The Seattle Public Library, On the Boards, and Tacoma Art Museum. The performance will take place at The Seattle Public Central Library on Saturday, June 28, from 10 am to 5:30 pm. This will be the first of Herring’s Task performances to be staged indoors, and the first involving multiple organizations.
Applications are currently available on the Frye Art Museum website and will be accepted through April 1, 2008. Completed applications and/or questions should be sent to: task@fryemuseum.org.
Applicants, who must be at least 14 years old, should possess: an interest in creating, interpreting and executing tasks over the course of a day; an interest in exchanging creative ideas and developing a sense of community through the arts; a willingness to work with a group of 35 people while an audience observes and photographers document the process; availability from 9 am to 7 pm on Saturday, June 28. A brief orientation session with the artist precedes the performance. Participants are also invited to attend a reception after the performance and discuss their experience with the Task audience.
Participants will be selected by Oliver Herring, and will be notified by the Frye by May 1. Participants will be required to sign a waiver. Opportunities for individuals interested in volunteering (not performing) during Task will be posted on the partner websites in May and June.
[more about Task after the jump]
Task brings together a group of participants of diverse ages, professions and backgrounds to create a unique improvisational artwork. The performance begins with Herring providing written tasks for participants, who then perform those tasks on stage using an array of simple props. After these initial artist-assigned actions are completed, participants invent and write down their own tasks, placing them in a “task pool” to be selected and performed by fellow participants on stage.
Inherent to the Task performance is its unpredictability: the artwork is created by the ideas of those on stage, as well as the relationships formed with one another. Therefore, the nature of the tasks depends on the participants’ decisions and how they use the props.
Oliver Herring | Task in Seattle is a collaboration between: Frye Art Museum, The Seattle Public Library, On the Boards, and Tacoma Art Museum.