Local interdisciplinary artists, educators, eco-sexual activists, Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle were guests for the October 12th KZSC’s Artists on Art radio show. It was a great pleasure to welcome Beth back onto to the radio program and speaking with Annie for the first time on the show via telephone.
Beth Stephens is a professor and former chair 0f the Art department at UCSC. She teaches performance, installation and sculpture. She has exhibited and performed in museums, galleries and festivals around the world.
Annie Sprinkle is an internationally known multi-media artist (writer, film-maker, porn star, champion of sex education and equal rights) whose work is often studied as one of the pivotal players in the 80’s “sex positive feminist movement.” She has a Ph.D. from the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco.
Their comprehensive collaborative website is the Love Art Lab.
We had a lot to talk about generally concerning their art, art practice, motivations, and particularly about their upcoming Purple Weddings. One of the most important motivations of their current work as eco-sexual activists is switching the metaphor of “earth as mother” to “earth as lover.” This is in hopes that they can help stem the tide of earth’s destruction by humans.
Beth and Annie’s Purple Wedding to the Moon takes place in Los Angeles, October 23 on the full moon beginning at 6:30pm. Currently, the venue is uncertain due to the LAPD and the LA County Parks canceling their rental contract for the Farnsworth Amphitheatre in Altadena citing “unsafe conditions”. Please look for updates for the location at Love Art Lab. Chances are high that this action was based on gender politics. Thankfully, Beth and Annie have a great lawyer, Terry Gross, that may help settle this issue as soon as possible.
On October 24th, Beth and Annie will be hosting a Ecosex Symposium Honeymoon at the Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, California starting at 3-6pm that involves a mixture of practice and theory with panels, performances and moon pies. Beth and Annie will also be hosting a the Purple Wedding to the Mountains at Galbreath Chapel, Athens, Ohio November 6th. These will be their ninth and tenth weddings in the past six years. The venerable Reverend Billy with the Church of Life After Shopping Choir will be officiating the wedding to the Moon. Mountain keeper Larry Gibson will do the wedding homily in Ohio. Everyone is invited to come and to co-create the weddings. Plus, you can collaborate with Beth and Annie by backing the LA wedding via Kickstarter.
Beth and Annie began this current art series, OUR SEVEN YEARS OF LOVE AS ART piece that incorporates the colors and themes of the chakras, (a structure inspired by Linda M. Montano’s 14 Years of Living Art) in 2005 with the Red Year - Security, Survival, Perineum. Moving up the chakra system; 2006 was the Orange Year – Sexuality, Creativity, Genitals; 2007 was the Yellow Year – Courage, Power; Belly, 2008 was the Green Year – Love, Compassion, Heart; 2009 was the Blue Year – Communication, Throat; 2010 is the Purple Year - intuition, Wisdom, Third Eye; and next year, 2011 will be the White and final year of the series – Union, Bliss, Crown. They have performed their weddings all over the world from Zagreb, Croatia to the Venice Biennale and UCSC Shakespeare’s Grove.
Even if you can’t make it to the weddings, you can still participate by helping them with Kickstarter (you will be rewarded). wearing purple, and sending the moon your love!
If you missed any of the live broadcast, please click below to hear the show in its entirety.
Posted by admin
June 13, 2011 Performance Artists Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens were guests for the first Artists on Art radio show at its new time noon on Mondays.
Connect with Artist on Art