Performance
Club 57 Society: Psychedelic Dada Day-Glo Happening (Sold Out)
Overview
TURN ON AND FREAK OUT
ACTS OF LIVE ART, SHORT FILMS, DJS, AND MORE!
TICKETS INCLUDE ACCESS TO THE BROAD’S KEITH HARING EXHIBITION
Featuring Ann Magnuson + Jackie Beat + DJ Chris Cruse + Dynasty Handbag + John Herndon + Dany Johnson + Page Person + Tom Rubnitz + Saturn Risin9 + Barry Shils + Tolliver + More!
In conjunction with the special exhibition, Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody, The Broad is teaming up with iconic denizen of the 1980s East Village art scene Ann Magnuson to revisit and celebrate the spirit and energy of the infamous Club 57, where she met and befriended Keith Haring while managing the club. Club 57 Society: Psychedelic Dada Day-Glo Happening is inspired by Haring’s Party Of Life birthday celebrations, his 1982 Black Light installation, and events that took place at the original Club 57 including some of Haring’s earliest performances and exhibitions. Our rousing and raucous homage features performances by and tributes to now-legendary artists who were part of the original Club 57 and knew Haring personally, as well as subsequent generations of artists that offer new examples of the grit, glitter, and experimentation that proliferated in this seminal venue.
know before you go
Tickets include one-time free access during regular museum hours September 16–17 to The Broad’s special exhibition Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody and the museum’s third floor galleries which includes works by collection artists Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kenny Scharf, and Andy Warhol. Please note that this event is off-site at Zebulon, located at 2478 Fletcher Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90039. Street parking is limited. Rideshare encouraged. Event is 21+ with ID.
Access to Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room—The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away (2013) is not included and must be booked separately here.
For information on The Broad's current health and safety policies, visit Know Before You Go & FAQ. Visitor policies are subject to change.
Schedule
Biographies
Ann Magnuson
In the 1980s NYC East Village art scene, Ann Magnuson showed her artwork in exhibitions curated by Keith Haring, managed the infamous neo-Dada cabaret Club 57, and performed at CBGB, Danceteria, Mudd Club, Pyramid Club, AREA, The Kitchen, and Joe’s Pub. She has since released three solo albums and multiple EPs; her bands include Pulsallama, Bleaker Street Incident, Vulcan Death Grip, and Bongwater, which released five albums and has toured internationally. She currently performs and records with Alejandro Cohen from the Los Angeles based music collective dublab. Magnuson has acted in numerous movies and television shows, has performed in many Off-Broadway productions, and has presented her performance pieces at Lincoln Center, BAM, LACMA, REDCAT, Hammer Museum, Walker Art Center, and the Andy Warhol Museum as well as internationally in Canada, Italy, Japan, and Sweden. She has contributed articles to Art Forum, Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Bust, Time Out New York, and Conde Nast Traveler, and has written forewords and essays for a variety of books, as well as a monthly column for Paper from 2000-2008. Ann Magnuson is married to architect John Bertram and they reside in Los Angeles, California with their feline daughter Lucy. annmagnuson.com
Photo credit: Steven Love Menendez
Jackie Beat
Drag superstar Jackie Beat has been entertaining audiences in the U.S. and in Europe for over 25 years. Her music videos on YouTube have been seen by millions of people. Her one-woman show “Jackie Beat Is A Whole Lotta’ Love” ran a record 18 months at NYC’s premiere cabaret, Fez, and she returns to The Big Apple every year with her award-winning, standing-room-only holiday show. Her scathing song parodies have been featured on America’s Top Forty with Ryan Seacrest, The Howard Stern Show, Much Music TV, Yo on E! and PerezHilton.com. She has appeared on TV shows such as “Sex and the City” and in movies including Flawless with Robert DeNiro, Wigstock The Movie and the camp cult horror favorite Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver. Jackie has also been in many off-Broadway productions, performed on countless cruises ships, toured with Roseanne Barr as her opening act, has enjoyed a sold-out 8-week run in Provincetown in summers past, and is lead singer of the popular electro-rock band Dirty Sanchez. Jackie Beat is also a proud Writers Guild member who has worked on The WB sketch comedy show “Hype!,” the Sci-Fi Channel original series “Tripping The Rift,” E Entertainment TV’s “Fashion Police,” The HuluWeen Dragstravaganza and her very own series for OUTtv, “Dr. Jackie: Unlicensed Psychotherapist.” Jackie’s latest venture is impersonating the one and only Bea Arthur in the stage version of The Golden Girlz Live (over 200 sold-out shows!) and as part of The MisMatch Game at the LA Gay & Lesbian Center to benefit homeless LGBT youth. Jackie currently lives in beautiful Altadena, California with her furry children Miss Toni and Darlin’. Jackie Beat is your “girl!”
Photo courtesy of the artist
Chris Cruse
Recent Berlin transplant Chris Cruse is the founder and resident DJ of the queer Spotlight party that began in Los Angeles, as well as the annual Club Toilet Event in Detroit. These days you can find him playing at Berghain/Panorama Bar in Berlin, and in underground clubs and festivals around the world. Cruse is the founder of the Queer Maps project, an explorable archive that maps LGBTQ spaces and organizations in Los Angeles from 1871 to the present. He recently recorded a podcast with journalist and fellow nightlife freak Michelle Lhooq from Rave New World to chat about why queer folks gather, why the mainstream try to stop us from gathering, and why our collective unmapped history actually does matter. queermaps.org
Photo courtesy of the artist
Robert Dayton
Robert Dayton is a multi-disciplinary artist, writer, and performer originally from Fort St. John, British Columbia.His previous book The Empty Bed published by Impulse[b] is a pen-and-ink humour book about heartbreak. His next book Cold Glitter: The Untold History Of Canadian Glam will be published by Feral House in 2024.He is currently hosting the live variety show The Birthday Experience in Los Angeles. He has acted in various films, including one called Male Fantasy. His collaborative musical performance and recording projects include song-and-dance duo Canned Hamm, July Fourth Toilet, Points Gray, and Hallmark. As The Canadian Romantic, he manifests as a series of videos, live performances, a doll, an art book published by PITT Projects, and a winking photo to make people feel more attractive. Robert holds an MFA from the University of Waterloo. Feel free to visit: www.robertdayton.com
Photo courtesy of the artist.
Kari French
Kari French is a Los Angeles based performance artist, designer, ‘60s radio DJ, Barbie doll artist and collector of all things groovy. She lives in an around-the-clock visual world in her themed toy infested art installation house where she has resided for almost forty years. She got the performance bug after attending Perfo D in Rotterdam in ’86. Her work had a similar energy to the Club 57 vibe but on the opposite coast. She created the Glitter Spasm Performance series in the ‘90s which is where the Day Glow Pussy Print-cess act was born. It was done as a stage show, a clown theme, an installation with 707 prints with a giant labia door, and to raise money for various causes. In the late ‘90s she was bicoastal, performing at NYC night clubs under the name Kari Kaos. She has curated many gallery shows, culminating in a solo show at Cal State LA. In the early ‘00s she started DJing at LuxuriaMusic.com, an internet radio station where she is still playing obscure ‘60s music as Agent Kari of the K.A.O.S. a GoGo show Fridays 7-9 PTD. She’s brought her grown up teen dance party to night clubs, galleries, and events, including venues in Europe. She’s also collaborated with the LA Cacophony Society and was a member of the Velvet Hammer Burlesque Troupe. She has film and tv credits, has dabbled in mod clothing design and most recently has created two Pop Art themed Air BnBs. Kari brings a piece of her colorful psychedelic world with her wherever she goes.
Photo by Dean Lent
Dynasty Handbag
Jibz Cameron is a gayyyyy performer, visual artist, and actor. Her multi-media performance work as alter ego Dynasty Handbag has spanned over 20 years and has been presented at arts venues such as The New Museum of Contemporary Art, The Broad, The Hammer Museum, REDCAT, BAM, and Centre Pompidou among others. She has been heralded by The New York Times as “the funniest and most pitch perfect performance seen in years” and “outrageously smart, grotesque, and innovative” by The New Yorker. She has written and produced numerous performance pieces, a bazillion video works, and two albums of original “music." Jibz has acted in live theater, films, many unseen web-series and exactly one television show - Apple TV’s Dickinson, playing a gay dandy painter. She does some great cigarette “business” and has a modulated voice and moustache. Jibz produces and hosts Weirdo Night, a monthly comedy and performance event in Los Angeles showcasing misfit talent for freaks and their allies. Jibz often collaborates with her partner, filmmaker Mariah Garnett. Together they have made multiple video works, including Masterpiece Weirdo, a recap show of Weirdo Night highlights, and Weirdo Night (the movie) which is a 2020 Sundance Film Festival selection. In 2020, she sold a short series to FX called Garbage Castle, created with her long-time writing partner Amanda Verwey. It was cancelled because of Covid. Smart move, Covid! Her latest project, Titanic Depression, was co-conceived with artist SUE-C as a send up of James Cameron’s 1997 Hollywood hit, reimagining it as a hilariously bleak parable of human arrogance in today’s era of runaway, consumerism-driven climate change. It was presented at Pioneer Works in New York in May 2023.
Photo courtesy of the artist.
John Herndon
John Herndon is a drummer, music producer, and founding member of the musical group Tortoise. Discography includes work with Isotope 217, Starlicker, Exploding Star Orchestra, Pulsar Quartet, and A Grape Dope. He is a visual artist with a body of work that includes painting, illustration, embroidery and tattooing. Herndon’s recent solo exhibition Luck and Trust Issues was presented at The York, and he recently participated in the group exhibitions Tom of Finland Art & Culture Festival-Tom Unites!, Paper Work at & Pens and Plots Thicken at A Blank White Box. John lives in Northeast Los Angeles.
Image: Still from Roll Buddy Roll, 2023. TRT 2min 34sec.
Dany Johnson
DJ/Percussionist Dany Johnson got her start as resident DJ at Club 57 and went on to DJ at other iconic downtown Manhattan clubs, including the Mudd Club, Area, and the Pyramid. With Ann Magnuson, she was a founding member of Pulsallama, the all-girl percussion spectacle of the early 1980s. Dany was editor of Sister, the lesbian side of Les (Linda) Simpson's My Comrade zine and partnered with him for the Channel 69 weekly party of the early 90s. Dany created the Dyxploitation webzine that ran from the late 90s to 2001. She was the long-time stage manager of the Wigstock festival, seeing it grow from Tompkins Square to the westside piers. She still DJs for pop ups and special events like the Club 57 opening at MoMA and the Keith Haring opening at Bozar Brussels. Dany is a founding member and assistant director of Fogo Azul NYC, the 100 member all-women and nonbinary samba reggae drum line. She still lives in the East Village with her wife, photographer Ande Whyland, and kitty Gigi.
Photo credit: Robert Carrithers
Page Person
Page Person (they/she) is an artist, a drag performer, and, most importantly, a person. They received their BFA from Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta, GA. Their most recent solo exhibition, How I Became a Person, was presented at Art By DTLA Proud. Their most recent solo performance, The Ear, was performed at Human Resources LA. They have participated in group exhibitions internationally and have had solo exhibitions at the home of Elliott Hundley and 4026 Figueroa in Los Angeles; Deitch Projects in New York City; Modern Art Inc. in London; and Peres Projects in Los Angeles and Berlin. They have hosted and performed in drag shows wearing their own hand-tailored gowns at venues and events including Club sCum, Chardogay, Human Resources, Punxure, Redline, and Upstairs at Paul’s in Los Angeles. They host the regular online and in-person art class Draw With Person. Page Person is included in Made in L.A. 2023: Acts of Living, the sixth iteration of the Hammer’s biennial exhibition highlighting the practices of artists working throughout the greater Los Angeles area opening October 1, 2023.
Photo courtesy of the artist
Tom Rubnitz
A quintessential New York underground film/video artist, the late Tom Rubnitz took a bite out of the Big Apple and spat it out in a wild kaleidoscope of unequivocal camp and hallucinogenic color. Ann Magnuson, the B-52s, The “Lady” Bunny, and the late John Sex are but a few of the stars that shine oh-so-brightly in Rubnitz’s glittering oeuvre. A genre artist par excellence, Rubnitz treated the sexy-druggy-wiggy-luscious-desserty qualities of the ’80s downtown club scene with the loving care only a true hedonist could show. Rubnitz died from an AIDS-related illness in 1992.
Image: Still from Pickle Surprise, a short, hilarious cooking mantra, featuring Sister Dimension, The "Lady" Bunny, RuPaul, David Dalrymple, Lahoma Van Zandt, and Maria Ayala. "Where's the pickle? That's the surprise!" 1989 | 00:01:40 | United States | English | Mono | 4:3 | Video | Screening rights: Video Databank
Saturn Risin9
I am champion of androgynous self-expression, a vibrant dancer, and a self-styled fashion icon who makes music, film, and performance. My name is a spell that I cast with the audience every night. I continually rise and that has been the story of my career. It is also my life mission to grow, and my music is an expression of that growth. My “Darkest Dream” EP from 2017 is a moody R&B experience turned upside down and inside out and outlines the pains of love, life, and my pursuit of artist growth, all set to an atmospheric and intimate club aesthetic. After two distribution deals, I went independent and released the cathartic “Venus Virgo” EP in 2020, followed by the “Venus Virgo Expansion Pack” in 2023. Now I’m more confident, vulnerable, and gracious, which sharpens my vision as an avant-soul artist. My first ticketed headlining show was at Golddiggers in LA in April 2023.
Photo courtesy of the artist
Barry Shils
Barry Shils is a ground-breaking independent film director who is best known for his award-winning documentary about drag culture, Wigstock: The Movie. He directed the indie feature Motorama, starring Drew Barrymore, Flea, and Meat Loaf and he produced the dark comedy Vampire’s Kiss starring Nicolas Cage and Jennifer Beals. Barry directed and produced twelve episodes of HBO’s hit reality series Real Sex, including "For Swingers Only," "The Folsom Street Fair," "The Bindlestiff Erotic Circus," and an episode about the pioneering female sexploitation director, Doris Wishman. Barry has also produced and directed numerous music videos, dance films, and social issue documentaries. Beehive, his collaboration with painter Frank Moore and choreographer Jim Self, won the Bessie Award for Best Dance Film, and is distributed by the New Museum of Contemporary Art in NYC. Shils has also led production workshops for teens in the LA public schools through a Department of Cultural Affairs grant.
LOVE COMIX (1983, TRT 9 minutes) is a satire inspired by romantic comic strips of the 1950s, in which a bohemian female protagonist, played by actress and performance artist Ann Magnuson, falls in love while questioning conservative values, marriage, and monogamy. Featuring colorful visuals and an ironic, melodramatic acting style, LOVE COMIX grew out of a collaboration between four young artists, living and working in the East Village during the early ‘80s, who frequented the infamous Club 57 on St. Marks Place: actors Ann Magnuson and Andy Rees, director Barry Shils, cinematographer / editor Steve Brown. The psychedelic club scene in LOVE COMIX was shot at Club 57. The video features original music by Man Parrish and Evan Lurie; and appearances from influential NYC downtown artists and performers including Kenny Scharf, Lypsinka, Dany Johnson, and John Sex.
Image: Title artwork by April Palmieri.
SKYNSUIT
SKYNSUIT is an elemental conduit and entity, conjured to transmute and transmit the pain, catharsis, and joy of a post-human query. Their human host is an interdisciplinary performance artist whose family founded a dance and performance art community in The Berkshire mountains. They have collaborated or performed with Wolfgang Tillmans, Rafa Esparza, Peaches, David Amram, Sia, Devendra Banhart, Joey Soloway, King Princess, Our Lady J, Millie Brown, Ryan Heffington, Zackary Drucker, Mykki Blanco, Zemmoa, Brontez Purnell, Alberto Cortes, Dia Dear, Mecca Vazie Andrews, Sofia Moreno, Benjy Russell, and more. Their work has been featured at the Broad, Movement Research NYC, S & S Projects (Chicago), 700 B in Portland, LA >< ART, the ICA LA, The Hammer, the Tom of Finland House, Human Resources LA, with Rhonda and Soho House International, RK Projects, Art Basel Miami, in Refinery29’s 29 Rooms project, and at dozens of nightclubs and warehouses internationally.
Photo courtesy of the artist.
Zachary Street
Zachary Street grew up in Deal, Kent in the United Kingdom. He received a BA with Honors in Acting at the Courtyard Theater Training Company in London in 2008. His breakout role was in the British feature film Fallen Soldiers in 2015. Zachary has performed in over 100 plays, including many performances at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He has featured in a number of commercials for major brands across Europe, Switzerland and the UK. He has also been cast in lead roles for the BBC, Channel 4, Film4 and ITV, including the American opera Vanessa directed by Keith Warner which was live broadcast to cinemas across the UK. In 2019 Zachary wrote, directed and starred in the music video Bunking the Midnight Train in which he collaborated with his brother, musician and songwriter Carl Street. In 2020 he voiced the role of Herzog the Hedgehog for Ann Magnuson’s web series WTF2020. Other notable roles include his work for the award-winning HBO series Chernobyl as a Liquidator, in which his image was used for the acclaimed series’ worldwide marketing campaign. His range is broad, and Zachary Street has become known for his ease of versatility in playing multiple types of characters in all genres within the entertainment medium as a whole.
Photo courtesy of the artist.
Tolliver
Chicago bred, LA-based Tolliver has performed at The Broad for Lykke Li’s U & EYEYE vocal ensemble, KCRW Summer Nights, the 2022 Exotic Fruits festival (and is on the bill again for 2023), the Late Late Show with James Cordon, and for a month-long residency at The Goldfish. is the shimmering sequin-loving son of a cowboy-obsessed pastor and a gospel choir singer. Growing up immersed in the church, Tolliver witnessed his father’s death at 11 years old and life shifted. Spending over a decade living in the shadow of worrying that his father would condemn his lifestyle—a broke, gay, super-hot musician—Tolliver reconnected with his brother and learned of his father’s own faults and promiscuities. Cue the birth of the Daddyland EP, a letter to his father from the void, to their relationship, and the self that Tolliver has grown to be. Recorded at a home studio in Glendale, CA with the help of producer Jake Bowman (Kendrick Lamar, Ryan Beatty, Burna Boy), Teddy Roxpin on drums and percussion and Todd Simon on trumpet, Daddyland is a vibrant, sassy, challenge to appreciate and love your imperfections.
Photo courtesy of the artist
