Many people know Art21 for its amazing television program that includes in-depth profiles of prominent contemporary artists, but that is just one of the many projects that this groundbreaking organization does. This weekend on Sunday May 6, Art21 will be hosting its first ever Telethon, which is an artist-initiated project and fundraiser that will consist of eight hours of continual programing including interviews, performances, comedy, and much more. Telethon will be hosted by artist Ronnie Bass, who developed the project with Art21, as well as artist Tommy Hartung and curator Miriam Katz.
Telethon is modeled after traditional telethons in that attendees and other supporters can call in or go online to make donations at any point during the 8 hours of activities. There will be several artists participating who Art21 has not featured in their video projects like Dirty Mirrors (Jennifer Coates, David Humphry, Jon Kessler, John Miller, Aura Rosenberg, Dan Walworth), MC Squared, Kate Berlant, DAS, Mike Dobbins, Ryan McNamara, Maria Petschnig. Expect to also see several performances by artists from Art21’s new documentary series New York Close Up, including Mariah Robertson, Kalup Linzy, Shana Moulton, and Mika Tajima. New York Close Up is a very exciting new project from Art21 that will follow New York-based artists in the first decade of their career in the form of short experimental videos hosted on Art21’s website that “imagine new ways of telling stories about their creative process, political and aesthetic philosophies, personal backgrounds, and community perspectives.”
If you’re free Sunday, be sure to stop by this very exciting event, and support one of our favorite non-profit organizations! Telethon will be hosted at Algus Greenspon Gallery from 3 to 11pm.
Check out available work on Paddle8 from some of Art21’s New York Close Up artist Kalup Linzy.
video from Art21′s series New York Close Up. Courtesy of Art21.