Acclaimed artists ANNIE SPRINKLE and ELIZABETH STEVENS have dedicated themselves to doing art projects that generate, celebrate, and explore love. This is their "Love Art Laboratory," and their response to the violence of war, the anti-gay marriage movement, and the excessive greed in our culture that is causing severe environmental damage. Each year of their project is devoted to a different theme and color, and each year they have an interactive wedding. They will have seven weddings, inspired by performance artist Linda Montano's, Seven Years of Living Art. Now in the fourth year of their project, Sprinkle and Stephens will have their fourth wedding in the Shakespeare Glen outdoor amphitheater at the University of California in Santa Cruz on the afternoon of May 17th, 2008. Three hundred guests, all wearing green, are are expected to attend GREEN WEDDING #4.
Annie Sprinkle is an internationally acclaimed performance artist. She was a pivotal player in the sex positive feminist movement of the 1970s-1980s. She was the first porn star to earn a Ph.D. Elizabeth Stephens is an intermedia artist, Chair of the Art Department at University of California in Santa Cruz, and a full professor of art. Stephens and Sprinkle have been domestic partners for five years. They were legally married in Canada last year when their Yellow Wedding was part of a theater festival. Over three hundred people attended. They live in San Francisco and Boulder Creek, California with their dog Bob.
The artists ask for no material gifts for GREEN WEDDING #4, but instead invite their friends, colleagues, students and the general public to collaborate on the creation of the wedding. This year over seventy people will be participating including renowned artists Guillermo Gómez-Peña as the High Aztec Priest, Linda Montano leading her Amore chant, famous Fluxus artist Geoffrey Hendricks as the Flux Priest, and artist in popular demand Nao Bustamante as the flower grrrl. Porn star legend Veronica Hart will Emcee. There will be glamorous brides' maids, charming best men/women/transsexuals. There will also be experimental musicians, a procession of dozens of artists, and very likely some anti-gay marriage protesters. Parts of the wedding will be radically traditional and other parts radically non-traditional. This promises to be a wedding like no other.
The artists will make vows to love and cherish the Earth, and invite the public to join them in taking these vows. Why vows to the Earth? Sprinkle and Stephens explain. "People often think of the earth as 'Mother Earth.' But today the Earth is so battered, abused, exploited, polluted, and blown up, that she can't handle being the 'Mother' any more. Better to think of the Earth as a 'Lover,' because we take care of our lovers differently, and we don't have the same expectations of them. Besides, the Earth loves us, is hot, and filled with so many sensual delights!"
The brides request that all guests wear green and dress in the themes of the wedding--be it formal, in costume, or sculptural. The event is free and open to the public. For more information see www.loveartlab.org, go to "Green Wedding Announcement." Or email bethandannie@loveartlab.org.
GREEN WEDDING #4 will also be the climax of a cutting edge three day international art conference, "Intervene! Interrupt! Rethinking Art as Social Practice." Over fifty artist, academics, critics and historians are coming from around the world to examine and partake in Interventionist and Performance Art at the UCSC campus. http://may2008.artintervention.org/visitor.php
The schedule for GREEN WEDDING #4 is as follows:
Gather & Green Hors d'oeuvres: 2:30-3:00pm.
Ceremony Performance: 3:00-5:00pm.
Green Cake & Bouquet Toss: 5:00-5:30pm.
Where: In the Shakespeare Glen, University of California Santa Cruz
Wedding Themes: Love, Compassion, Environmentalism, and the Earth.
PHOTOS: High resolution press photos of the couple are available for download at http://www.loveartlab.org/ Go to "press" then to "press photos." Use for free. Credit photographers please. Or contact the brides for additional photos. Or for photos after the wedding.
The artists/brides are available for interviews, or more information.
Sprinkle and Stephens' Studio: 831-338-6079
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