THE BEST NEW WORK: AVANT-GARDE AND KITSCH (2015)
In The Best New Work, professional actors learn canonical essays in art criticism and perform them as personal monologues, wandering around museums speaking to themselves or anyone who will listen. The performance takes place on a loop for 4-6 hours each day. Actors may use the entire institution, from galleries to gift shop to stairwells, cafés and bathrooms. This iteration used Clement Greenberg's 1939 essay, Avant-Garde and Kitsch, and was commissioned for the exhibition Hotel Theory at REDCAT. It was performed by Jessica Ires Morris (above) and Laura Beckner. Subsequent iterations have taken place at the Princeton University Art Museum (2016) and the Harvard Art Museums (2018).