#1 Hit by Denniston Mikalson
A part of Wanderings and Wonderings
Performed by the Lesbian and Gay Big Apple Corps
With arrangements by Chris Parrello
Saturday, July 23, 2016
Beginning at Maya Lin's Wavefield, Storm King Art Center
Number 1 Hit is a musical tour of four sculptures at Storm King Art Center. The Lesbian and Gay Big Apple Corps marching band will parade through the park, performing the Billboard Top 100 song for the corresponding year of each of these artworks.
The tour begins at Maya Lin's 2007 landwork Storm King Wavefield with Alicia Keys' "No One." The band heads next to Forrest Myers' 1969 sculpture Four Corners where they perform Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World." Continuing on to Mark DiSuvero's 1989 sculpture Mozart's Birthday, the band plays Madonna's "Like A Prayer." The last stop is Tony Smith's 1969 sculpture Source, with the Beatles' "Hello, Goodbye." To conclude, the band returns to the Storm King's museum building.
Collaboration and participation are essential modes of Denniston Mikalson's practice. Challenging the predominance of the singular author in contemporary art, in #1 Hit they shift the focus to collective creativity. By surrounding and confronting monolithic sculptures with popular music from the years in which they were made, they insist on framing the artworks both within the specific cultural context of their time and reclaim them as part of a diverse and affirming present. The music will be performed by the Lesbian and Gay Big Apple Corp, a nonprofit marching band based in New York City.
This program is supported by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency grant.
This work is presented with Storm King Art Center as part of their Wanderings and Wonderings series, made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
As seen first at the site-specific earthwork: Maya Lin, Storm King Wavefield, 2009, earth and grass, 240,000 square feet (11 acre site), Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, New York. © Maya Lin Studio, courtesy Pace Gallery; third from top: Forrest Myers, Four Corners, 1969–1970. Gift of the Ralph E. Ogden Foundation; fifth from top: Mark di Suvero, Mozart’s Birthday, 1989.