Three years ago, Pegi Christiansen created a collaborative performance art show called "09/09/09." When she realized that 12/12/12 would be her last chance to do a date-related show this century – obviously there will never be a 13/13/13 – she decided to organize another event.
"Although I know December is all about 'The Nutcracker,' as far as I have seen the 12/12/12 show is the only Milwaukee event for this last dated opportunity for the century," says Christiensen.
When Christiansen decided to move forward with 12/12/12, she was renting space in a Riverwest building, 631 E. Center St., and planned to have the performance there. However, the building burned down this summer and Christiansen, along with many other artists, lost her space.
She decided to continue plans for the show and moved it to RedLine, 1422 N. 4th St. The show, aptly named "12/12/12," will feature 12 hours of simultaneously evolving installation and performance art from 12 p.m. to 12 a.m.
The cost is $5 or, for $10, people can get their hand stamped and return multiple times.
"I don't know if Milwaukee has ever had 12 installation and performance art pieces going on simultaneously for 12 hours," says Christensen. "All the pieces evolve. So what someone will experience at noon is not what they would experience at 6 p.m. or at 11 p.m."
Participating artists include Christiansen herself, plus Renee Bebeau, Sara Caron, Ashley Janke, Michael Kautzer, John Kowalczyk, Sarah Gail Luther, Kim Miller, Jennifer Morales, Wes Tank and Nomadic Art Center (Brad Fiore, James Pederson and Jessi Schleis).
Theresa Columbus and Joseph R. Reeves (whose birthday is Dec. 12) will be coming from other states to participate. Some of the artists were in the 9/9/09 show.
Luther will draw in the RedLine library for 12 hours, and Janke, with the help of artists, will adorn RedLine's front windows for 12 hours.
Morales will present a reading of 12 months of personal history based upon the entries found in her check register. Audience members will be encouraged to ask about expenditures and deposits that intrigue them and Morales will tell stories – true, false and somewhere in between – about these transactions and the ones that interest her the most.
Columbus will occupy a space – which is a combination of backstage, a painter's studio and a bedroom – where she will write, dance, draw and sing while conversing with audience members.
Kowalczyk will create a life-size Hummer out of papier-mâché and cardboard. The vehicle will be powered with the Stone Age "technology" of the Flintstones and participants will walk the Hummer throughout RedLine.
Christiansen, in the piece "The Last Haircut," will vent her frustration with Bebeau because she has quit hairdressing and will not cut Christiansen's hair anymore. While resolving this conflict, Christiansen will prepare 12 cranberry recipes and Bebeau will sculpt collected hair.
Miller will debut a 12-hour play that unfolds and doubles back on itself. Tank compresses 12 years into 12 hours through 12 chronologically time-stretched amalgams of poetry, video, sound and performance.
"This is not a sit-down show. Except for Theresa Columbus' performance, these are all pieces/art you will experience outside and as you roam through the three-story RedLine building," says Christensen. "This will be up close and personal art."
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
