BABEL @ GalataPerform, March 7, 2007

Curated by Jeffrey Baykal Rollins, “Babel” is an evening of student performance works exploring issues of art and language, with an emphasis on the spoken-word. Over the course of the event individual works will evolve into a collaboration amongst all the participants, bridging differences in culture, language, media and a variety of art disciplines.

Performance art is art in which the actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time constitute the work. It can happen anywhere, at any time, or for any length of time. Performance art can be any situation that involves four basic elements: time, space, the performer's body and a relationship between performer and audience. It is opposed to painting or sculpture, for example, where an object constitutes the work. Of course the lines are often blurred.

Although performance art could be said to include relatively mainstream activities such as theater, dance, music, and circus-related things like fire breathing, juggling, and gymnastics, these are normally instead known as the performing arts. Performance art is a term usually reserved to refer to a kind of usually avant-garde or conceptual art which grew out of the visual arts.

Spoken word is a form of literary art or artistic performance in which lyrics, poetry, or stories are spoken rather than sung. Spoken-word is often done with a musical background, but emphasis is kept on the speaker.

One of the most common sorts of spoken word performances is performance poetry, where a poet either reads previously-published poems, or reads poems specifically written to be performed aloud. Another kind that has gained popularity in recent years is political and social commentary, done in such a way that it is, while still prose, somewhat more artistic than a typical speech. Spoken word artists are often poets and musicians. Spoken word gained notoriety in the late 1980s and early 1990s through the emergence of "poetry slams," where spoken word artists would square off in cabaret-style duels.



Babel (Hebrew: בָּבֶל; Bavel) is the name used in the Hebrew Bible for the city of Babylon (Akkadian Babilu), notable in Genesis as the supposed location of the Tower of Babel.
In Gen. 11:9, the name of Babel is etymologized by association with the Hebrew verb balal, "to confuse or confound": Balal is regarded as a contraction of earlier *balbal. The name bab-ilu in Akkadian means "gate of god" (from bab "gate" + ilu "god"). The word "bab-el" can also be seen to mean "gate of god" (from bab "gate" + el "god").

According to Genesis 11:1-9, mankind, after the deluge, traveled from the mountain where the ark had rested, and settled in 'a plain in the land of Shinar' (or Senaar). Here, they attempted to build a city and a tower whose top might reach unto Heaven, the Tower of Babel.
The attempt to build the Tower of Babel had angered God who, in his anger, made each person involved speak a different language which ultimately halted the project and scattered and disconnected the people across the planet.

Guidelines for Work
For this event, student works are invited that explore issues of language and visual culture. This can include, but is not limited to foreign language, multi-language, text-based, poetry, spoken-word, translation, and the ways language unites or disconnects humanity. Intermedia works are encouraged but not required, and can include virtually any art form.

While developing your works, you are encouraged to consider the site where the event will take place: not only is GalataPerform next to the Galata Tower, it is also in the heart of what is probably the most multi-ethnic part of the city.

www.galataperform.com

Proposals must be given or e-mailed to Jeffrey by January 30, 2007 for full consideration at: baykalrollins@gmail.com