Author Archives: jacob hellman
The Absurd critique and the materialist critique at the Fringe.
By jacob hellman | September 16, 2009 | 0 Comments
There is a general law of cultural consumption that you must sort through disappointing stuff in order to find gems. The law has graver implications for performing arts than for gallery and museum visits, because of ticket prices and the captive nature of being audience. The Fringe Festival is among those annual events whose [...]
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Battle Hymn at the Armory and other Hidden City offerings
By jacob hellman | June 21, 2009 | 1 Comment
Large and particularly bland office buildings line the gradual ascent of Market Street westward, as it prepares to cross the Schuylkill. I was headed to the First Troop Armory; I’d read the address, but couldn’t quite remember it. My eyes were out for the blue easel which sits on the sidewalk and marks all Hidden [...]
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Dali’s Liquid Ladies
By jacob hellman | May 27, 2009 | 0 Comments
At its essence, Puppet Uprising is not a consortium of puppeteers from up-beat Philadelphia, but a presenting company – a core of people tapped into the traffic of alternative performers circulating the country, who find venues and assemble audiences for these pieces. They make it possible for the inclined public to see work that would [...]
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East Africans in India in Philadelphia
By jacob hellman | May 14, 2009 | 1 Comment
On Wednesday, Leslie Rogers called. A mad puppeteer, among other things, also sells her labor-power to Painted Bride. She was promoting an African-Indian dance troupe the coming weekend. At that point, it was still uncertain: “we’re having a hell of a time worrying if these guys will get here or not.” Painted Bride was in [...]
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Six!
By jacob hellman | April 14, 2009 | 5 Comments
Ahem, attention please. This is your contributing writer Jacob speaking. Know how some people don’t bother telling others it’s their birthday? Well, I happened to mentioned artblog’s age in passing, and here’s what I received in response:
On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 6:44 AM, roberta fallon <robertafallon@gmail.com> wrote:…
> artblog celebrates its 6th birthday …OMG….today! April [...]
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Volunteers needed-apply at Hidden City!
By jacob hellman | April 8, 2009 | 0 Comments
You may have caught word of the month-long event called Hidden City — Peregrine Arts has been planning it for years (literally), and artblog covered a trial performance at Girard College last May. Finally, in late May and June, we’ll get to see a slew of site-based works and performances commissioned for normally inaccessible spaces, [...]
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Pilgrimage to D.C.
By jacob hellman | February 25, 2009 | 0 Comments
Watch it if you take the 5pm Chinatown bus to D.C.; it will not get you there quite on time for the curtain call of Hell Meets Henry Halfway. You also might read up on Polish dissident Gombrowicz. His texts were the conceptual bedrock for the two most forceful performacnes at the 2006 and 2007 [...]
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Radical Cartography at Basekamp
By jacob hellman | January 24, 2009 | 0 Comments
A stack of monochrome marker drawings, with a common motif of stick figures linked by arrows to “$” icons and symbols of economic hardship: a boarded-up art gallery announcing “For Rent”; elsewhere, under a list titled “Basekamp costs”, the stratagem “Steal materials from construction sites.” These drawings were the fruit of a 2-hour workshop held [...]
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The Architecture of Inflated Spaces
By jacob hellman | December 11, 2008 | 0 Comments
Artblog last covered the grandly-named Philadelphia Institute For Advanced Studies (PIFAS) during ‘Each One Teach One’ this summer. Among other virtues, the Institute subcontracts out their event-planning to enthusiastic involvees. Melissa J. Frost, a 26-year-old architecture student and West Philly homeowner, has organized a lecture series called ‘Architecture without Architects’ for several Thursdays beginning last [...]
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Uprising / Missoula Oblongata / Wham City
By jacob hellman | December 5, 2008 | 0 Comments
Except for the all-professional Mum Puppettheater, most puppet troops grace Philadelphia with only single-night runs. Artblog likes to tell you about things you can still go see for yourself – so consider these jottings from recent fringe theater as anticipation of the upcoming Puppet Uprising Cabaret, tonite 12/5 and Saturday [...]
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