StorePeter Cramer is a multimedia artist that investigates performance, film, video and installations. He is co-founder, artistic & administrative director of Le Petit Versailles community garden in the East Village. former Executive Director of Allied Productions,Inc.1981- 2009, and former Co-Director at ABC No Rio from 1983-90 and Technical Director at Danspace Project 1990 -1999. With his 22 year collaborator, Jack Waters, projects include a video/photo installation "Pride 2001-We Remember" at the NY Public Library Donnell Media Center featured in an October nationwide broadcast of PBS's IN THE LIFE on WNET. Also created the 2005 exhibit "Lo Vamos a Hablar "- the first observation of World AIDS Day for the Centro de Cultura Contemporánea De Barcelona (CCCB) Collaborative film & video works with Jack Waters are subjects of a film/media restoration and exhibition project by The Estate Project for Artists with AIDS. Peter is a recipient of a 1986 NEA InterArts Fellowship, and a 1979 grant from US Virgin Islands Council on the Arts. Yaddo Resident Fellow- November 2001. Film works,installation and performances have been a part of the MIX NYC Festival since inception in 1986. His video/films distributed by the Filmmakers Cooperative in NYC http://film-makerscoop.com
... in NYC in 1978 as School of American Ballet scholarship student beginning my Introduction to downtown artists & club mileu of AREA,Pyramid,, Collaborative Projects, ABC No Rio, New Observations.Collective for Living Cinema, Millenium, Creative Time.
Created POOL performances as cooperative group with Jack Waters in 1981 and danced with choreographer Susan Salinger.
The 80's cemented a commitment to collectivist approaches and critical practice examining gentrification, social activism using art as a tool of engagement. After curating "7 Days of Creation" 1983 exhibition at ABC NO Rio, Jack & I became Co-Directors, creating films (Naked Eye Cinema), performance (Tilted Arc 1982), installations(Caza Moscas 1988) and exhibitons including 5th & 10th anniversary shows at NYC Department of Cultural Affairs 1985 & KuntslerHaus Hamburg Germany 1990, Our films were featured at the 1st and subsequent New York Experimental Lesbian & Gay Film Festival (now MIX) 1986. Co-Curated artist residency at Leonard Beach Hotel in Miami Beach with 20 artist decorated rooms 1989.
After the loss of friends and my own HIV diagnosis we reinvigorated investigation to AIDS, LGBT political struggles, sexual/racial identity and erotic subject into our films, videos, performances, installations and became subjects of preservation efforts by the Estate Project for Artists with AIDS. In 1996 to present I co-founded Le Petit Versailles garden and cable TV series LPVTV. reestablishing commitment to community art and activism curating seasons of free public art events and returned to dance "roots " mentoring university students as collaborators with DanceTube, His film, photography, installation, and performance work have been noted in LGNY, Der Spiegel, Stern, New York Times, Art & Antiques, Miami Herald, Paper Magazine, Gay Community News, Art In America: Annual, DanceMagazine, OCTOBER, ABC NO RIO Dinero - The Catalogue of a Lower East Side Art Gallery, and New Observations.
PETER CRAMER PO Box 20260 New York New York 10009-8971 212 529 8815 petmat@mindspring.com
Education Deerfield Academy 1972-74 Skidmore College - 1975-76 School of American Ballet, Merce Cunningham School. 1979-85
Employment Interdisciplinary Artist/Performer - 1980-2011 Co-Founder/ Director- Le Petit Versailles Garden 1996-2011 Publisher of PLOT Zine - 2006/2007 Executive Director - Allied Productions Inc.. 1987-2010 Co -Director - ABC NO RIO 1983-90. Technical Director - Danspace Project 1989-98 Lighting Design- 1970-2012
Film/Videos WORMHOLE - 2009 Giornalisti en Maschera* - Millenium Film Archives/Union Docs 2009/2010. One Way Empire. FRISE/Hamburg, PS 122, NYC 2009 Berlin Temps 2008 Two Gentlemen of Lucca*- Festival Côté Court à Pantin. Lucca Film Festival 2008 Whitney Biennial, Nova- NPR/Illuminated Corridor, New York, NY, 2008 Mousa'a Muse' - MIX Festival, New York 2008 Stag Nation- Issue Project Room New York 2008 Heidi HO! - Womanizer Show @ Deitch Projects 2007 Occupy My Ass, Not Iraq* - Berlin Film Festival. 2007 LPVTV *- 13 part Manhattan Neighbourhood Network cable TV series. 2005/06 Sacre Coeur 2001 MIX NYC Festival premiere Peter Palace Porn, 2001 MIX NYC Festival premiere Söma,Söma,Söma: Geoff Hendricks,William Pope.L, Patty Chang 2000 Short Memory/No History: AIDS Art Activism -2000, NewFest, OUTFest Remnants 1997/8 * MIX NYC Festival,Fringe Festival Cryonic Cinema 1996 -Fringe Festival@ Le PetitVersailles Patty Rocks the Blocks 1996 MIX NYC Festival premiere, Introducing Mr. Diana 1996 * MIX NYC Festival premiere Percodan and Wisdom 1995 * MIX NYC Festival premiere The Flower Market 1994 * MIX NYC Festival premiere Black & White Study 1990 MIX NYC Festival premiere,,Venice Bienalle, 1993 Haiku Series:Parts 1 & 3. 1989- MIX NYC Festival premiere Coney Island 1987 -Conspiracies Film Festival, MIX NYC Festival Corrective Measures: Politically Speaking 1986 MIX NYC Festival premiere, Millenium. * Co-produced with Jack Waters
Exhibitions Ars(e) Moriendi- MIX Festival, NYC 2011 Triple Threat- FRISE, Hamburg Germany 2009 Anal it’s cracked up to be! - Home Sweet Home, NYC 2009 One Way Empire - PS 122 New York 2009 Mousa'a Muse' - MIX Festival, New York 2008 Undetectable - Berlin Temp , Berlin 2008 Lo Vamos a Hablar – Centro de Cultura Contemporánea De Barcelona (CCCB) 2005, “Pagano Primavera “ Installation For My Comrade - New York 2005 War Is Ovah, If You Want It Or Give Peace A Break! - Welcome to the Avant Garde Festival, Cleveland ,Ohio. June 2003 En Plein Air – Video Non Stop,Pinerolo, Italy 2003 Visual AIDS Postcards From The Edge, Galerie LeLong , NYC 2003 Groundswell Benefit, White Columns, NYC 2003 Visual AIDS Benefit, Sperone Westwater , NYC 2002 Critical Art Practices -Shedhalle, Zurich Switzerland 2001 PRIDE 2001 NYC Public Library/Donnell Media Center 2001 Buried Treasure ABC NO RIO, 2001 Snapshot, Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, MD. 2001 Time Warp 2000, MIX Festival, Anthology Film Archives, NYC 2000 The Colour of Friendship, Shedhalle, Zurich, Switzerland 2000 Art & the Garden - Times Square Hotel, NYC 1998 DARK ROOM - MIX Festival @ Anthology Film Archives, NYC 1994 Art Affairs Video Installation - Venice Biennial Venice Italy 1993 Out Loud: Artists Against the War - Art In General, NYC. 1991 10 Years / 7 Days: ABC NO RIO - Kunstlerhaus, Hamburg, Germany 1990 * Police Terror Big Art Sale - Michigan Gallery, Detroit 1989 * Miami:The Last Resort - Galaxy Gallery, Miami Beach 1989 * CAZA MOSCAS - ABC NO RIO 1988 ABC NO RIO: The First Five Years - City Gallery, NYC. 1985 * * CoCurator
Performance / Choreography
RIVER OF BLOOD, HARI KARI MARRY, SPETTACOLO PROVOLONE, FLASHSPRING – Theater for the New City, Judson Church, Joe’s Pub, Le Petit Versailles, Chelsea Museum - 2002-2004 Various events with DanceTube.
WAR IS OVAH, IF YOU WANT IT or GIVE PEACE A BREAK! - Welcome to the Avant Garde Festival, Cleveland ,Ohio. June 2003
G.A.P. - Theater for the New City, DUMBA - 2000 Collaborative performance confronting gentrification of alternative culture
BLACK & WHITE STUDY: THE DANCE - Danspace Project - 1999 Study of male nudes, chiaroscuro and longterm interacial gay couple
PIPELINE (Fun,Fun,Fun 'til they take my dead body away) - Danspace Project - 1999 Multi-media dance inspired by surfing; Internet, TV and the deep blue sea
PUTTI - Danspace Project - 1996 Multimedia dance solo based on Dante's Divine Comedy
THE RING,MY WAY - La MaMa, RAPP Art Center, BACA Downtown , DCAC, Anthology Film Archive 1987-1992 Multimedia collaboration based on Wagner's Ring Cycle.
SPEW - Cooper Union, Franklin Furnace 15th Anniversary Season 1992 Multimedia collaboration based on autobiographic experiences as dancers.
THE CORNUCOPIA - ABC NO RIO 1986 Performance installation based on food banquet
FOHO TELL DREAMS - Danspace Project 1985 Multimedia collaboration based on dream conciousness.
SHOT IN THE ARM - ABC NO RIO, A's Salon, Rotte Fabrik 1984 Group dance combining film and sets influenced by surveillance methods
BLACK SPRING - ABC NO RIO, Brooklyn Terminal Show 1983 Solo as protest against the nuclear arms threat with text by Henry Miller
CAT'S PAW - Ward-Nasse Gallery, Art on the Beach, Philadelphia Ethical Society 1983 .Dance based on the Egyptian creation myth of Nut and Ptah
TIDES OF MARCH - Federal Plaza 1982 Group dance using political protests and architectural forms of Richard Serra's Tilted Arc.
Extras PHOTOGRAPHY LGNY, POZ, BRIDES, ADVOCATE, COVER -1996-2001 AREA - Fashion Theme 1985 ABC NO RIO- Exhibitions/Performances 1984-88
Set Design PIPELINE (Fun ,Fun, Fun, 'til they take my dead body away) 1999 PUTTI -1995/96 The Ring, MY Way 1989-91 Caza Moscas: Homage to Coney Island 1988 POOL Performance - Cat's Paw/ Shot in the Arm/ Foho Tell Dreams 1982-86
Awards and Honors Resident Fellow- Yaddo Art Colony November 2001 Commissioning Initiative - Danspace Project / Jerome Foundation 1999 National Endowment for the Arts - InterArts 1988 U.S. Virgin Islands Council on the Arts 1978 Manhattan School of Dance Scholarship 1978-1982 School of American Ballet Scholarship 1978 Skidmore College Scholarship 1975
Selected Bibliography Szene Hamburg- September 2009 “Furious Fun” and “Tripping the Light Fantastic” by Ves Pitts 2009 Beautalism- Deitch Project/Whitney Biennial. 2008 Art Spaces Archives Project /Smithsonian Archives of American Art. 2007 On Guerilla Gardening 2007 Temporary Urban Spaces: Concepts for the Use of City Spaces, 2006 Village Voice, May/August 2006 The New York Times, Jennifer Dunning, May 1999 NY Blade, Sarah Schulman, April 1999 Art In America: Annual, August 1985 OCTOBER, Rosalind Kraus/Cara Gendel Ryan. Winter 1984 ABC No Rio Dinero - The Catalogue of a Lower East Side Art Gallery 1984 New Observations; Tricia Collins & Richard Milazzo, Fall 1983