Apocalypse Later – Performance Artist with a World View.
Possibly the perfect rite of spring is Iris Rose’s The End of the World, a performance piece full of wild gesture,
scientific speculation and apocalyptic ambiguities. “So maybe we are all going to die in the next twenty
years,” says Rose, “but maybe not. There are lots of possible endings to the story.” Talk about rejuvenation.
Rose has performed at 8 B.C., Pyramid, Franklin Furnace and Danspace; World at P.S. 122 is her most
ambitious project yet. It’s a sustained cycle of meditations on nature, science and art inspired by the
“boiled-down popular science of the Times’ ‘Science Times’ section,” and worked out by three performers:
Kurt Fulton, Maggie Siena and Kim X Knowlton. The trio dance, chant, crawl and entwine to explicate toxic
waste, evolution, libidinal desires and more. James Siena’s “score” uses a toy piano, ukulele, concertina
and xylophone for dissonant accompaniment, while Rose presides as “spokesmodel.” “I have ministers on
both sides of my extended family, and always had a burning desire to be a preacher.” Hence her
pontificating ringleader in World.
In some other piece, these concepts might seem ponderous, but here, punchy puns and wacky gyrations
fill World with life. Iris Rose sees the serious in the campy and vice versa – her next project is a history of
Woolworth’s. “Look,” she says. “They invented shopping as we know it today.”
The End of the World can be seen midnights at P.S. 122, May 2 to 4, and May 8 to11.
– Katherine Dieckmann
Photo by Mark Babushkin