The Museum of Contemporary Art announced that singer-songwriter, actress, fashion muse, front woman for Blondie, and icon of popular culture Deborah Harry will collaborate for the first time with Marina Abramović, celebrated performance artist and the artistic director of MOCA’s gala, An Artist’s Life Manifesto. The highly anticipated event will be held Saturday, November 12, 2011, at MOCA Grand Avenue, Los Angeles.
Harry introduced the world to a new fusion of music, art, and fashion. In addition to being one of the greatest musical performers, she is also an outstanding actress and an inspiration to artists ranging from Andy Warhol to Robert Williams. Her spray-paint portrait by New York artist Lee Quinones and Blondie’s influential music video Rapture, featuring artists Jean-Michel Basquiat, Fab 5 Freddy, and Quinones, were featured in MOCA’s recent exhibition Art in The Streets. Rapture was the first music video to introduce rap to the MTV audience, and to link wild style graffiti to hip-hop, and had a strong influence on the development of current music and fashion, including singer and performer Lady Gaga.
“Deborah Harry is an icon of music, art, and fashion, and one of the most influential people in contemporary culture,” said MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch. “We are very excited that she and internationally acclaimed performance artist Marina Abramović will collaborate for the first time at MOCA’s gala this year. Her musical performance at the museum follows notable gala performances by Kanye West, Lady Gaga, Devendra Banhart, Beck, and Caetano Veloso.”
MOCA is a leader in creating a new kind of gala—introduced in 2007 by a collaboration between Takashi Murakami and Kanye West at the © MURAKAMI gala—as a single-evening, experiential artwork conceived by some of the most outstanding visual artists working today. In 2009, one thousand guests attended the MOCA New Gala, a performance conceived by artist Francesco Vezzoli, starring Lady Gaga and dancers from the Bolshoi Ballet. Following the performance, a Steinway & Sons piano customized in pink and blue butterfly motifs by celebrated artist Damien Hirst, which Lady Gaga played during the world premiere of her song Speechless, was auctioned live, fetching $450,000 in support of MOCA. Last year’s gala, The Artist’s Museum Happening, presented a special collaboration with artist Doug Aitken, who envisioned an evening-long experience featuring live performances by musicians Devendra Banhart, Beck, and Caetano Veloso. A highlight of the evening, directed by Aitken, included the emergence of six rural farm auctioneers and one cattle-whip performer along with the Los Angeles Gospel Choir. The gala drew more than nine hundred notable international guests and raised more than $3.2 million.
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