Torches: 30+ Years of Downtown Performance in NYC (1990s–2020s) at Kristin Marting / HowlRound

TORCHES 

 30+ Years of Downtown Performance in NYC (1990s–2020s) launches January 12, 2026 

Featuring 30+ NYC Artists and Arts Leaders Lists Including John Collins, Misha Chowdhury, Heather Christian, Taylor Mac, Qui Nyguen, James Scruggs, Basil Twist and Peer Interviewer Kristin Marting

TRAILER

On Monday, January 12, 2026 at 1:00 PM, TORCHES will launch its first conversation on torchesnyc.org  and howlround.com.  Weekly Releases will continue for 36 consecutive weeks, wrapping up September 14, 2026.

As co-founder of HERE Arts Center – described by the OBIE committee as “a lasting home for the weird and wild in downtown performance” –  Kristin Marting spent the past three decades immersed in making, witnessing, and supporting groundbreaking performance in NYC. TORCHES is a much needed exploration of New York City’s unique and influential downtown performance world. 

Part memoir, part oral history, and part cultural inquiry, TORCHES weaves Kristin’s personal journey as a downtown artist and arts leader with in-depth conversations with 30+ of the most imaginative and boundary-pushing artists working in the field today.

Using intimate artist conversations as a jumping off point to explore themes like identity, risk, scarcity, collaboration, and activism, the project hopes to illuminate the choices and challenges artists face today—and to spark a deeper dialogue about how art evolves in the crucible of NYC, the impact of that work on the field at large, and the role of art in our culture.  

Inspired by Gloria Steinem’s words — “There is no one torch; I’m using my torch to light other torches”—TORCHES is both a living archive and an offering for the future. Learning about these artists and their work is not just looking back; it can ignite what’s coming next. They are not only inventors of form—they are keepers of community, fire-starters for our future.

In the first phase of this project, the Video Oral Histories, peer interviewer Kristin Marting  will conduct hour-long video interviews with 35+ artists and arts leaders that she collaborated with during her years at HERE. Confirmed artists and arts leaders include Joey Arias, Purva Bedi / Mariana Newhard, Gelsey Bell, Mallory Catlett, Misha Chowdhury, Heather Christian, John Collins, Eisa Davis, Machine Dazzle, Faye Driscoll, Robin Frohardt, Abigail Gampel, David Herskovits, Melanie Joseph, Chanon Judson, Trey Lyford / Geoff Sobelle, Robert Lyons, Taylor Mac, Ellen Maddow/Paul Zimet, Beth Morrison, Qui Nyguen, Aya Ogawa, Anne B Parson, Paul Pinto, Clint Ramos, Brian Rogers, Ayumu Poe Saegusa, Kamala Sankaram, James Scruggs, Normandy Sherwood, Niegel Smith, Maria Striar, Hanne Tierney, Basil Twist, Jeanette Yew and more. Interviews will be conducted in person, shot in 4K video and edited by longtime downtown documenter Moti Margolin incorporating still photos and video clips.  Video oral histories will be released weekly starting January 12, 2026 for 36 consecutive weeks on our TORCHES website as well as with our distribution partner HowlRound.

With the second phase of the project, the Book, Kristin will synthesize the completed interviews into a thematically structured book (on topics like activism, advice, failure, identity, legacy, resources, and risk). Each of the thematic chapters will consist of personal reflections, archival images, historical context, and provocative quotes excerpted from the conversations with the 35+ artists.

Why This, Why Now:

NYC downtown alternative performance is a relatively young field, born in the 1950’s with Joe Cino’s café on Cornelia Street. The forebears are only one to two generations from the artists and works examined in TORCHES. Yet today, the ecosystem faces growing precarity, shrinking free expression, undervalued creative labor, vanishing venues, and fragmented audience attention – amid widespread anxiety about the future of art (and of democracy itself). But the artists are not despairing.  With this seriesshares This series sharestheir vision, ambition and resilience – their ability to create transformative work (often with limited resources) that goes on to reverberate widely in our culture. TORCHES seeks to counter scarcity with abundance, to testify to the artists’ impact and to hopefully fuel a vibrant future for the field. By lifting up artists who just keep on manifesting, Torcheswe makes visible their significance, and inspires the next generation of artmakers light their own flames.

More about the project can be found at torchesnyc.org. 

TRAILER
Video Oral Histories premiere weekly
Monday, January 12 - September 14, 2026
1pm-2pm
howlround.com and torchesnyc.org
Free