Genevieve Belleveau – The Church of gorgeousTaps and the Reality Show
Genevieve Belleveau
The Church of gorgeousTaps and the Reality Show
Performance: March 7-14, 2010
Participants: Genevieve Belleveau, forty people from Malmo, 1 organist, 1 choir, a jazz band, a rapper among others. Duration: 1, 5 hour
Performances and themes:Irony: March 7, Ennui: March 8, Fame: March 9, Obsession: March 10, Narcissism: March 11, Confession: March 12 at 7 am & 7 pm, Catharsis: March 13, Revelation: March 14.Lilith Performance Studio is transformed into Genevieve Belleveaus´s real home and backyard in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York. The audience enters an anonymous stairwell and is welcomed into Belleveau’s apartment; a minty green colored bedroom, a pink bathroom, a kitchenette and a long corridor that leads down to the backyard. In the presence of a small group of visitors, the congregation, Belleveaus´s alter ego gorgeousTaps invites them all to a reality show, a sanctuary, a performance- The Church of gorgeousTaps and the Reality Show.
To celebrate the creative process rather than the final outcome Belleveau holds nine masses on different universal themes. She invites her newly made friends from Malmo, the parishioners, to examine the creative power and create the masses with her. In a serene and honest circumstance, in between documentary and fiction, the parishioners share their inner thoughts, confess their secrets and show hidden or completely obvious talents. The masses utilize the structure of a traditional Lutheran church service with fundaments like joint prayer, hymns, Holy Communion and collection. Each mass have a special music genre connected to the theme; from churchy organ music, jazz, rap, acoustic Guitar, choir to 50´s doo-wop music. Instead of regular collect the congregation is asked to bring an offering, specific for the mass to which they attend. Genevieve Belleveau (b. Bemidji, MN, USA in 1984) currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY) explores and questions the world around her by pushing the borders for ingrained social behaviors.
Her pieces contain elements of live performance, theatre, video and installation environments, which create a heightened sense of drama in both conventional and ceremonial settings.