Iowa City has long been known as a mecca of the strange in the Midwest, but tomorrow, Lydia Hartunian and her creative crew are planning on pushing the weirdness to the extreme with her planned 'Avant Art Festivity'.
As someone quite adept with being interviewed for her wild events and personality, including the darkly-theme 'Goth Prom A Gogo' which happened earlier this year, Hartunian laid out her statement almost before the questions could be spoken. So let's sit back and enjoy a tale of where's she's been and what further madness she has in store for us:
"I lived in NYC for a long
time, a place where one could find a variety of festive "happenings"
somewhere in the city on any given night. While I love Iowa City, it is small,
hence opportunity for new or different kinds of activities are not readily
accessible. There are really only a handful of places that host musical acts
and/or performance art, and the formulas tend to be predictable; they have to
be. I'm not saying that's bad as I love what Iowa City does offer, I just have
a penchant for orchestrating events that might not typically or otherwise
transpire.
"For example, partly
in need to shoot a music video for a band in Detroit, I needed access to a
church basement, and a cast of characters all decked out in goth attire. The
Unitarian church graciously rented me their basement, and what really only
needed to be 30 minutes of filming turned into a five hour party with 5
distinct bands playing, decorated atmosphere, and that which we called "GOTH PROM A GOGO". It was a blast.
"The June 27th
"Avant Art Festivity" is inspired in a similar vein. A friend of mine
is living in a beautiful mansion this summer with the place to himself. I know
lots of visual artists who don't always have the opportunity to publicly show
their work, Cameron Perry for one, an extremely talented visual artist of
paintings and video, as well as writings, and I also know people who love to
play music but might like to do so in a less time constrained fashion as bars
might require, hence, a party like this allows for more spontaneity. Then you
add open, large basement space, a team of artists who went in and decorated the
place head to toe, our friend Daniel Lane who has expertise in designing light
and sound shows, our other friend Anna McDermott, a professional, experimental
film maker with films to show through the VGA, more enthusiastic musicians,
performance artists like Spider Monkey Lady, and various other talent and...
BOOM! You have an instant happening that is fun, festive, sophisticated, and
provides a unique kind of experience for attendees.
"Setting the date was
difficult as we had to work with a number of people's schedule, and did not
want to overlap with the Iowa City Firecracker 500 festival, so June 27 was the
day, from 8 PM to midnight. A well-behaved, arts appreciative crowd is
expected, those who may also like things to be a little more on the avant garde
side of art.
"The order of acts
(with surprise guests in between) and all of whom are theater and musically
driven is:
Techno Lincoln and
the Technicolor Union
The Dead God's
Concussion
Spider Monkey Lady
Because the event
is in a private home, we'd like to keep the address available to committed
attendees only. Interested parties can send a quick email to the following
address and get a quick reply regarding details: gothpromagogo@gmail.com.
It's really just a
chance for summer fun in Iowa City; a chance for local talent to join forces
and spontaneously create a new kind of scene. Oh yes! The event itself is being
filmed and will be incorporated into a larger film script/film to be completed
by summer's end. So the party will continue even after the people leave, and
maybe even spawn similar events in the near future.... stay tuned."
You heard her, kids! Start emailing her so you can be a part of the tripped-out, decked-out, interactive art music bash going on tomorrow night from 8p-Midnight!