Grappling and fighting with death every day. Performance piece and CD

 

 

 

THEM is an audio recording of a performance piece by Chris Cochrane, Dennis Cooper and Ishmael Houston-Jones, originally presented at PS122 in the East Village in New York City. Recently revived by its creators, it has been performed in the U.S. and Europe to great acclaim.

“In 1985, as many of our friends and colleagues were dying of HIV/AIDS-still a new phenomenon at the time – we created a performance piece investigating how men interact with men,” explains co-creator Chris Cochrane. “THEM combined Ishmael’s dancing, Dennis’ words, and my music into a work of bracing, collaborative art.  The lives of our friends and community  - the loss of their lives-grew to became part of the piece.  The infamous final scene, in which Ishmael dances with a dead goat, became a symbol of what we were all going through: grappling and fighting with death every day.”

The CD is comprised of the music and narration of THEM. Cochrane’s music is raw and edgy, the perfect sonic description of the improvised, entangled struggle of bodies in this historic performance piece. Death, decay, loss and innocence all take turns in this disturbing yet poetic masterpiece.

Cochrane co-produced this CD with Kato Hideki. The CD unfolds in “real time,” following the time frame and structure of the performance piece.Dennis Cooper reads his text.

Chris Cochrane is a guitarist, singer, songwriter, improvisator and producer. He has performed regularly in bands and improvised with hundreds of artista. He has composed music for John Jasperse, Nayland Blake, Jennifer Monson, Circus Amok, and others.

Dennis Cooper is an American novelist, poet, critic, editor and performance artist. D Cooper’s novels include Closer, Frisk, Try, and Guide. His novel The Marbled Swarm will be published this month.

Ishmael Houston-Jones is a performer, choreographer and writer of fiction and essays, and a curator of dance and performance. He has lived and worked in New York City since the early 1980s.

THEM can be purchased on iTunes and Amazon.