A History with ABC No Rio
Allied Productions’ early role as Abc No Rio’s fiscal sponsor and parent organization began in 1983 when artists Peter Cramer, Carl George, Brad Taylor, and Jack Waters, along with the performance collective POOL – consisting of core members Cramer, Waters, Brian Taylor, Christa Gamper, and associates – mounted the exhibition,
at Abc No Rio. This seminal event led to the transfer of No Rio’s directorship from No Rio’s founding collective, Collaborative Projects, Inc. (CoLab) to Allied Productions by virtue of Allied’s principal artist/directors who were the facilitators of the 7 Days Of Creation show. From that point on No Rio’s primary focus on visual art was augmented by the fervent activity of performance and live work, interdisciplinary practices and new forms, and the establishment of a cinema program, The Naked Eye Cinema, which functioned as an exhibition venue, a laboratory for the creation of new cinematic works, and as a venue for the study of contemporary and established avant garde film and video. Through their constant presence and engagement in the nightclub circuit, particulary the Pyramind club, Danceteria, and Armegeddon, among others, the Allied group forged lifelong relationships with artists such as Kembra Pfahler, Samoa, Philli, Dianne Torr, Stephen Tashjian (AKA Tabboo!), Stefani Mar, Richard Hofmann, and many others, whose introduction into Abc No Rio’s roster coalesced as a continuum of the creative energies of such No Rio pioneers as Kiki Smith, Erotic Psyche (Bradley Eros and Aline Mare), Joseph Nechvatal, and other CoLab artists whose careers were then beginning to branch out into other areas of visibility.
During this tenure Allied Productions established an ongoing education program with a linkage to the public elementary and middle schools in the vicinity, a partnership program with the educational Alliance led by Fred Kahl (AKA The Great Freddinni), and a mentor-based apprenticeship program linking professional artists with local youth that included a film making workshop led by Abigail Child.
Serving dual roles as No Rio co-directors and Allied Productions principals Allied established the alliance between in-coming representatives from the 7 Days cadre and founding CoLab contingents as a unified formal No Rio board that would then establish its autonomy as a non profit organization. In its continued function as a linkage between the many generations of No Rio directorship Allied remains the custodian for the physical management of Abc No Rio’s visual art archive and collection of creative works acquired between No Rio’s inception in 1981 through its incorporation in 1995. Allied co-managed the establishment of the Naked Eye Cinema, an extension of the film program at Abc No Rio. Allied recently completed the initial phase of the Naked Eye cinema film and video archiving process; the creation of a database tracking over 25 years of local, national and international screenings, their curatorial focus, the artists, venues, dates, and other vital data for establishing criteria for defining the NEC canon. Allied also compiled a database inventory that tracks the location, quantity, and condition of prints, negatives, sound tracks, and other elements of production in the core list of NEC titles.
Links:
Abc No Rio Dinero
Pyramid Facebook Page
Smithsonian Oral History
Link to relevant Blog Posts (it’s not a category, so, through tags or something)
