LPV TV

The opening for every episode, plus a little extra something at the end.

A nonlinear trip spanning 2001-2005 from Petit Versailles’ Lower East Side location to Amsterdam. The program begins in 2001 when flowering dogwood trees are planted in the garden, dedicated to the lost rescue wokers from the neighboring firehouse on Second Street. We flash back to the events of the previous year, viewing the fall of the Trade Towers. Swept into the streets below the rooftop vantage of the gardeners, the shock of immediacy becomes an international trauma as responses to ensuing war and the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York pervade parks and gardens across the city. Back at LPV, the outcry is expressed in multimedia projections by Serhat Koksal, a media artist from Istanbul. The episode concludes with a rendition of John Lennon’s “Give Peace A Chance” by old school borscht belt entertainer Jackie Kaye.

This segment is a collage featuring LPV's early years—the formation of the garden and its programs. Peter Cramer describes the struggles gardeners face as then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani auctioned off public gardens. A segment featuring Shelley Marlow reading reflects a glimmer of hope. We have a glimpse of yoga classes held at LPV against a montage of florals in a garden walk-through. We then flash back to an early hearing at City Hall as gardeners from all boroughs petition to save urban gardens, followed by Ingo, AKA Grrrr, painting a mural on the front of the building that flanks the garden. This mural is a view looking west from the Houston side of LPV. After a dinner to benefit the garden with friends, neighbors, supporters Philli, Rajendra Roy, Patrice Lorenz, Susan Salinger, Fred Kahl, Mike Diana, Jim Hubbard, and Carl George, the show concludes with Brandon Olson as Lewis Carroll's Alice singing The Jefferson Airplanes' "White Rabbit".

This episode features Cinesonic, with DJ Econ and projections on multiple screens by Stephen Kent Jusick. Highlights include: Threat (Jules A and Nelson Rockwell), Madhappy (Mike Ill and Rivka), Tim Doody fire twirling, CEO (Chronic Electronic Orchestra): Teressa Haefele, Avatar, and Massa. Mara Zusman introduces musical guests Andrew DeAngelo and Be More Naked (Mike Pride and Yosuke Inaway) at Spettacolo Provolone, a performance by DanceTube at Theater For the New City. The show closes with Kembra Pfahler, Samoa, and the The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black at Deitch Projects Art Parade.

This week focuses on art exhibitions that have stimulated the garden space. It begins with 2003's “The Thickening Place,” a sound installation and concert by Paul Hogan during the “CAMP” exhibition, and then we chat with Ian Pedigo about his roving “Variable Plot.” Then it gets hot and steamy as we enter “Overhead Underground: Reimagining the Faerie Landscape,” curated by Derek Jackson, with more than a dozen artists as Ragas for Peace. Bill Buchen and Alok Dutt ease our minds and bodies. HEX gives vision to works expressing our contemporary nightmares, fears and paranoia. Late 2003 and 2004 take us into the world of “The Wailing Wall” by Kembra Pfahler and “ReCycles of Life” with Jennifer Paul and Naz Shahrokh. Fast-forward to 2005 and UuDam Nguyen and his L.E.D. Installations “THINKING ROCK + Love Bubbles + Honey.” Finally we return to 2002 and our first exhibition “Dogwoods under the Berry Moon,” in cooperation with Visual AIDS.

Highlights the performances of some of the outrageous and the sublime gracing Petit Versailles’ stage and garden! “The Once and Future Whore” by Psycick Slutz is a ritual performance to heal the split of sex and spirit, in which we honor and embody sacred whores throughout time. Living Room Living Room (Arturo Vidich, Lily Skove, Aki Sasamoto), a site-specific living installation for three performers investigating definitions of domestic spaces and the dichotomy between private and public arenas, such as a privately-owned garden that people can look into from the street. The performers use their bodies as a medium, interfacing with their surroundings, with their minds following along for the ride. Steve Sandberg and Reinaldo Cotia Braga—transcendent Music and Dance/Mime. And from 2002—“Beyond Bollywood!” curated by Miss Kelly Webb. MANGINA—beyond description! DanceTube—“River of Blood” with Peter Cramer, Andy Hamlen, Brian McPhee, Wells Pollock, Carlo Quispe, Jack Waters, and Mara Zusman. Body painting by Grrrr.

LPV TV Episode 6 highlights and focuses on film, video, and digital makers that seduce, delight, and educate our audiences at Le Petit Versailles garden. This week we present Barbara Hammer’s May 2005 presentation of “History Lessons,” MM Serra’s Avant Garde(n) curation “The Beast Within” for Howl Festival 2004, our internet chat and viewing of webworks by Shirin Kouladjie in 2003, and Katrina del Mar’s 2005 NYFA Artists and Audiences presentation of her videos Gang Girls and Surf Gang.