Freak Chic

No one ever accused Llewyn Máire and Lisa Newman of timidity. The co-founders of gonzo arts group 2Gyrlz Performative Arts, Máire and Newman are currently mounting the city's fourth annual—and final—EnterActive Language Fest. That's the sprawling event that introduced Portlanders to such whacked-out happenings as ritual meathook suspensions, trippy "alpha-wave" sleep-ins, and the spectacle of mad Frenchmen running naked through a local club, pissing on audience members and impaling one another's pecs with shish-kebab skewers. For Máire and Newman, both performance artists themselves, mounting the fest has been a labor of love, not a profit-making venture ("One year we broke even, plus 34 cents," Máire recalls), and has provided a forum to explore their interests in communication, interactivity and a democratic approach to the aesthetic experience. As a recent 2Gyrlz flier proclaimed, "We believe that art is a basic human right, not a privilege."

Following in the transgressive footsteps of previous years' offerings, EL-fest '05 will serve up a monthlong, 16-event program of local, regional, national and international artists, actors, dancers, deejays and other, less label-able presenters.

Among the highlights will be L.A.-based dance troupe "osseus labyrint," whose completely hairless members sometimes perform submerged in vats of electrified gel. For EL-fest, they will explore the stylized movements of insects and bats as they hang from platforms above the stage. Blending high camp and goth-flavored melodrama, Portland/Seattle troupe Societas Insomnia will treat—or subject—audience members to what its press kit calls "an endless nightmare of fire, sex, pain, and horror...." Jamie McMurry, who has been known to stab himself in the stomach in the middle of performances, hasn't told EL-fest coordinators what he's planning to do during his star turn—all he'll say is that it will involve a refrigerator. Another performer at McMurry's event, Micah Perry, will invite audience members to tattoo their signatures on his body.

Think of it as a Halloween night that lasts an entire month.

Not every night of EL-fest will be quite this radical. Kaosmosis' rowdy multimedia circus will probably seem downright tame by comparison, as will the fest's visual-arts expo featuring painter Jesse Pepér and photographer Autumn Swisher.

Overall, however, EL-fest aims unabashedly to provoke. To its organizers' credit, it has generally succeeded in provoking thought and discussion in addition to the baseline shock and cheap thrills. And yet, an unavoidable consequence of its transgressive focus is that EL-fest has never attracted the relatively large crowds enjoyed by PICA's TBA Festival, much less the mainstream audiences that stream into Keller Auditorium to see, say, The Lion King. One wonders what ratio of solipsism to evangelism the Gyrlz are shooting for, and to what extent they are preaching to their established satanic choir rather than reaching out to people out of the loop (but potentially receptive to mind-opening experiences).

"To a certain extent," Newman is quick to point out, "we have been accepted by the mainstream. The Heathman Hotel has donated rooms for our performers. We do events in their Tea Court. A lot of small businesses support us: Wild Abandon, Lauro Kitchen, the Jupiter Hotel. But yes, sure, it's true that we're known for not compromising artistically."

"We don't want to do a show sponsored by Red Bull," Máire adds. "We don't believe art should be branded. So whether five people or 500 people come to an event, we're pleased with the crowd. There's an integrity to letting artists do work that isn't mediated by funding, that attracts audiences who are looking for sincerity and truth, who don't just want to be fed."

Newman chimes back in: "The people who come to our shows are not the type that leave quietly. If they hated it, they'll come up to us afterwards and say, 'That was shit!'"

Alas, as previously mentioned, this is the last year that E-L will provoke such passionate reactions. Máire and Newman are planning to move to England next year so Newman can study performance and cultural studies at Dartington College of Arts. While in the U.K., the couple wants to mount a fresh, reconfigured version of EL-fest. Granted, that may be great news for European fans of the cutting edge, but it'll leave Portland with a gaping deficit of freak-chic.

Says Máire: "If anyone here wants to step up to the plate and take over an incredibly underfunded radical festival, have at it!"

Any takers?

2Gyrlz EnterActive Language Fest runs Oct. 27-Nov. 27. For complete performance schedule, visit www.2gyrlz.org .

Opening night: Language of Nightshades, 6-9 pm Thursday, Oct. 27, at Optic Nerve Arts, 1829 NE Alberta St. Free. All ages.

WWeek 2015