"Bushwick Farms Presents…"
By Kim Carpenter
Bushwick Farms, 2004
"Step right up! You won’t believe your eyes!
Free popcorn, free lemonade! Come one, come all!"
This is hardly the type of greeting one expects when attending a performance art piece, but the Bushwick Farms folks are not exactly your ordinary performance artists. Based out of a 1968 trailer, married couple Tara Cuthbert and Stuart Solzberg first conceived of their fictional farm when living in the industrial wasteland of Bushwick, Brooklyn. While studying photography in Las Vegas, they developed characters for their photos, characters who took on a life of their own. A dense narrative of a farm family whose youngest son Joe took off with his sweetheart Violet for parts unknown soon evolved. Soon Cuthbert and Solzberg in the guise of their new personas began traversing the U.S., stopping in out-of-the-way places to present their unique vaudeville show to unsuspecting bystanders.
With this presentation, however, the couple succeeded in taking their extravaganza to the next level. "Bushwick Farms Presents…" was the culmination of an artist-in-residency grant at the Bemis Center, and this performance was the most elaborate the duo had ever undertaken. They transformed studio space into a traveling carnival, complete with stands, stages, and souvenirs. The scent of freshly popped corn and cotton candy hung heavily in the air, while "carnies" worked the crowd. Looping slide shows projected the couple’s black-and-white photography onto white screens while an accordion player squeezed out hokey tunes.
For anyone who’s ever visited a traveling carnival, the atmosphere felt uncannily familiar yet eerily alien. A droll commentary on living in the modern world, this vaudeville show served as a literal and metaphorical stage for exploring contemporary fears, fantasies, and struggles. Yet for all this exploration of the modern condition, Bushwick Farms’ gritty kitchiness lent a retro feel to the production. There was a bit of the Wizard of Oz, a dash of The Greatest Show on Earth, and a whole lot of Blue Velvet. Twenty Omaha "extras" participated in the performance, and colorful, costumed cast of characters including the "Double-Headed Monstrosity," "The Popcorn Gals," and "Oulaf, [the] Horse-Headed Erotic Sensation" represented society’s freakish outsiders. These characters are as American as apple pie, but with several razor blades baked inside. Such figurative figments stem from our collective consciousness; we’ve seen them before, although we can’t quite recall where. Just maybe, inside ourselves.
Open to the public, Bushwick Farms drew a receptive crowd of well over one hundred, and visitors milled about the setting captivated by the carnival-like clime. Fictitious lines became blurred as Cuthbert and Solzberg along with the supporting entourage morphed into their characters. Additionally, both viewers and performers interacted, collaborating to transform the surreal into the real. Perhaps most intriguing, children, not usually involved with performance art, added a rambunctious element to the show, squealing in delight as the "Double-Headed Monstrosity" wowed the crowd with his primal shaking and keening. For the adults, "Hope and Fear" served as the show’s centerpiece. Cuthbert and Solzberg wore black masks, which rendered them both anonymous and accordingly "everyone." Seated in wooden chairs, they confronted the audience with flashcards commenting on and questioning universal hopes and fears. It was ironic, poignant, and, perhaps somewhat surprising to the couple themselves, humorous. The crowd, bound in rapt attention, remained silent, except at lines such as "I’m Afraid to Die Alone….Me, too!" For the grand-finale, the "Aerial Trickster" (Solzberg kitted out in crash helmet, goggles, and Icarus-style wings), pulled by ropes, slowly ascended to the "sky." At the apex of his flight, the "Trickster" gently touched a cotton cloud with the tip of his wing. The audience went wild, clapping, cheering, and releasing colorful streamers with celebratory pops of noisemakers.
Bushwick Farms, "Farm Fresh to You," is on a wonderful, weird journey. If you’re lucky, Cuthbert and Solzberg may very well stop in your town in the near future. You might even consider leaving everything behind to run off and join the show. Just don’t feed the "Double-Headed Monstrosity" and whatever you do, don’t stare at the "Knife-Wielding Mexican Children."
Hurry, tickets are selling fast!
