Celebrated performance artist Karen Finley presents Venus in Retrograde, a performance in two parts — Grabbing Pussy and Parts Known — that expands on Finley’s career-long pursuit of performatively articulating the injustices committed by the U.S. government and society at large. The performance examines loss of love, dignity, and humanity, and issues a call to beat back with an exquisite heart. Standing against a backdrop of film projections, Finley narrates a poetic call to action in resistance to today’s times. In Grabbing Pussy, Finley considers embodiment and the invasion of the self, featuring selections from her provocative recent book of the same name. In Parts Known, the political is personal, the personal is political — she examines the price and pain of personal tragedy amidst a political landscape of psychic dimensions.

Karen Finley is a performer, artist, writer, musician, poet, teacher and lecturer, and recipient of two Obies, two Bessies, a Guggenheim, and multiple grants from the NEA and NYSCA. In 1990, Finley became an unwilling symbol for the NEA when she, along with Tim Miller, Holly Hughes, and John Fleck, sued the NEA for withdrawing grants on the grounds of indecency. The controversial case went all the way to the Supreme Court. She has toured and exhibited internationally, published eight books, and her art is in the collection of the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, among other places. Finley is a professor in the department of Art and Public Policy at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.

The September 5, 2019, performance at UMBC will be immediately followed by a talk-back discussion with the artist, and then a book signing and reception.

TICKETS:
General Admission / Seniors: $10; free ticket reservation online with UMBC ID. Tickets will be released online beginning August 16.