Press release
Helsinki 24.9.2001
A decision to form The
International Association of Performance Art Organizers was made yesterday in
Helsinki.
The decision to form The International Association of Performance Art Organizers was made late in the evening 23.9.2001 in Helsinki after the end of the four day international Amorph!01 performance festival and the seminar included within it. This year, several well-known organizers of performance art from different countries have been invited to the Amorph!01 festival organized and curated by Irma Optimist. Most of the organizers of performance art events also work as performance artists. The forming of the association was decided by Sylvie Ferré from France, Ütö Gusztav from the Transylvania region of Romania, Jamie McMurry from USA, Denis Romanovski from Byelorussia, Boris Nieslony and Theodor di Ricco from Germany, Else Jespersen from Denmark and Irma Optimist and Roi Vaara from Finland in the presence of Dan McKereghan from USA, Adina Bar-on from Israel, Sylvie Cotton of Quebec, Santiago Reyes of Equador, Willem Wilhelmus of the Netherlands, Fumiko Takahasi from Japan, Christopher Hewitt of the UK and other artists participating in Amorph!01. The need to form this kind of association has been raised frequently amongst the people in the field over the last few years. Discussions at several festivals culminated in an intense dialogue at "Polysonneries" in Lyon earlier this year. These events led to this decision now made in unison in Helsinki. The purpose of the international association is to reaffirm the importance and legitimacy of the discipline of performance art, and to assist with realization of performance art events in different countries around the world. The ways by which the association will operate will be decided in the next meeting which will be held late January or early February, 2002. This meeting is currently planned to occur in New York.