Curated by FADO Performance Art Centre and presented in partnership with Rendezvous With Madness
In Holler Rat, Anya Liftigâs recently published debut memoir, the writer and artist traces the many contradictions of her lifeâfrom her Appalachian childhood to her career as a performance artist, to a year-long period in which her life completely fell apart. Her story is a journey of catalysts, calamities, art-making and madness, and catharsis.
Using her own book as a performance document, in Holler Rat (the performance) Anya Liftig performs a six-hour reading of her memoirâthe typical author appearance at a book launch elongated to absurdityâwhile moving around and taking up various positions on a basketball court empty of players and gameplay.
FADO has invited writer Malcolm Sutton to compose a text about this performance. As this is a performance about (writing and then) reading a book, Malcolm’s process for writing will also take shape as a time-based activity. Malcolm will be presentâalongside the unfolding of the six-hour performanceâwriting an article about the reading of a book. Malcolm’s text will be published on this website at the conclusion of the performance. You can read it HERE.
Rendezvous with Madness, presented by Workman Arts, is the first and largest arts and mental health festival in the world. Using art as the entry point to illuminate and investigate the realities and mythologies surrounding mental illness and addiction, Rendezvous With Madness spotlights the human capacity for endurance in the face of great challenges. This yearâs tagline “Mind the Gaps” considers gaps in infrastructure and the systematic “cracks” people, particularly those with lived experience of mental health and addiction, fall through. It is a call to think through what is missing and how things could be better. This year the festival takes place from October 27âNovember 5, 2023
