SWAPFEST 2014: TAC salutes Frank Moore

Recorded Thursday, April 24, 2014

PROGRAM NOTES FOR SWAPFEST 2014: TAC salutes Frank Moore
U-Haul sound installation

Frank Moore's series at TAC
Frank Moore (1946-2013), “one of the U.S.'s most controversial performance artists” (P-Form Magazine), performed monthly at Temescal Art Center from February 2009 until October 2013.  Frank changed the name of his series over the years.  Starting as “Reality Playings - experiments in experience/participation performance”, it then became “The Uncomfortable Zones of Fun”, “Risk for Deep Love – a ritual audience participation experience experiment”, and finally “Erotic Risk for Deep Love”!  Frank always created the performances around the people who came … Frank always said that he “just followed” … if the audience was willing to risk, the performance  melted, in Frank's words, “into a cozy little joyful community, willing to be uncomfortable and whatever else it takes to go into adventures of fun” … “willing to play together deeper than the normal reasonable world allows”.  Nudity, eroplay*, dressing and undressing were among just a few of the “tricks and tools” from 40+ years of performance that Frank used at TAC to create this altered space.  Frank greatly valued the ability to have an ongoing series at TAC, which he really considered his performance home for this period.

 *”Eroplay is intense nonlinear physical touching, rubbing, licking, exploring for physical pleasure for its own sake. Eroplay is foreplay which is released from the linear goals of reaching genital orgasm.”
– from Expanding Sex by Frank Moore, 2003

What you are hearing:
From: “Risk For Deep Love”, August 4, 2012
Frank Moore wrote: “This one is simply the most warmly erotic of my performances in years. That is because the audience was willing to take personal responsibility for saying YES, for playing, for risking for deep love. This shows what saying YES opens up, calls forth, and creates. Aroused erotic juicy sexy fun was created by rubbing nude bodies together within tribal intimate pleasure friction. This bodes well for the society as a whole! The whole night was pure uninhibited fun!”  This audio selection  begins with Frank saying that it is by far the best group in all the years we have been doing this series.  Toward the end, much of the audience dances nude to Tha Archivez singing “To Be Free”.  The rest is everyone sitting around (most nude) talking about the evening and their experiences, including one woman saying she feels that we can all do this in some form in our daily lives.  Very inspiring.  It ends with Frank telling everyone about Betty and her jewelry (Betty, our 85 year-old church-going friend and neighbor of many years) and how Betty loves that people take off their clothes and wear nothing but her jewelry!