CRACK NERVE BOOGIE SWERVE: Alexis Blake Performs On The High Line

Join High Line Art for the US premiere of Alexis Blake's Crack Nerve Boogie Swerve on September 5-7. Performances begin at 7 PM on the High Line's 14th Street Passage New York, NY 10011. 

In her first performance in New York City, Blake presents a new iteration of Crack Nerve Boogie Swerve, a work that takes up glass and breaking as metaphors for the fragility and strength of the individual and collective body. Both an installation and a performance, the work starts with sheets of glass nestled in moveable steel bases.

The performers, who are a percussionist, two sound artists and four dancers coming from different dance genres such as breakdance, hip hop, contemporary, ballet, West African, and tap, activate the glass to explore transparency, resistance, resonance and breaking—breaking free from constraints and liberating oneself from the confinement of oppression.

On the High Line, Blake's work engages with dance practices born in New York City, as well as the architecture of the surrounding buildings, pointing to the brick factories and warehouses newly replaced with glass-and-steel skyscrapers and residential buildings. Blake takes the crew's varying forms of expression as a starting point for collaboratively probing how to learn from, come close to, and empathize with one another.

Advance registration is encouraged; performances will happen rain or shine.

 

Please note that during the performance, loud low-frequency sounds will be played which may affect pregnant people as well as people with epilepsy and heart conditions.

DATES:                     September 5-7, 2023

TIME:                        7 PM

LOCATION:             The High Line
On the High Line's 14th Street Passage
Manhattan

COST:                        Free, Registration Encouraged

The High Line is both a nonprofit organization and a public park on the West Side of Manhattan. Through our work with communities on and off the High Line, we're devoted to reimagining the role public spaces have in creating connected, healthy neighborhoods and cities.

Built on a historic, elevated rail line, the High Line was always intended to be more than a park. You can walk through gardens, view art, experience a performance, savor delicious food, or connect with friends and neighbors-all while enjoying a unique perspective of New York City.

Alexis Blake (b. 1981 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) lives and works in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Blake's work has been featured in exhibitions at institutions including KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany (2023); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2021); Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin, Ireland (2019); and TENT, Rotterdam, Netherlands (2019). Her performances have been presented at festivals and institutions including Holland Festival at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2022); Performatik19: The Brussels biennial of performance art at BOZAR: Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels, Belgium (2019); British Museum as part of Block Universe Performance Festival, London, UK (2016); and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2015). Blake has participated in major international exhibitions, including the Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art, Riga, Latvia (2018), and XXI Triennale di Milano, Milan, Italy (2016). Blake was an artist-in-residence at WIELS, Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels (2020+2021), the Delfina Foundation, London (2016), Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht (2014–15), Fondazione Antonio Ratti with Yvonne Rainer (2015). The artist's work, rock to jolt [ ] stagger to ash, was awarded the Prix de Rome in 2021.