Jaimie Warren

Jaimie Warren is a Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist and a cocreator of the community arts project Whoop Dee Doo. “The Miracle,” her first institutional solo show in New York, is currently on view at Pioneer Works and will culminate in a large-scale Exorcist-themed musical on April 4 and 11.

1. PUBLIC ACCESS TELEVISION

   I grew up in the golden age of low-budget cable series and public-access TV, and so I am forever inspired by DIY costuming and ramshackle sets with wobbly walls. (I am currently obsessing over Rhonda Shear interviewing Pinhead from Hellraiser on the USA Network variety show Up All Night.) My good friend Matt Roche and I codirect a community arts project (and fake public-access show) called Whoop Dee Doo. Matt grew up influenced by Svengoolie and Son of Svengoolie, cult icons and horror hosts who came out of Chicago in the 1970s. But my favorite public-access show of all time is from this millennium: Bronx Flavor, hosted by Baron Ambrosia, a self-described “quaffer of culinary consciousness.” Season after season, he ran around the Bronx and cast restaurant and bodega workers in comedy sketches that focused on their foods and culinary heritage. It is bad acting at its most endearing, and it is a beautiful thing. I especially recommend the episodes of the late 2000s.

   USA Up All Night, 1989–98, two stills from a public-access cable TV show on the USA Network. Season 4, episode 73. Rhonda Shear. Pinhead (Doug Bradley).
2. ELECTRONIC ARTS INTERMIX

   When I was a teaching artist at Dia:Chelsea last summer, Electronic Arts Intermix, in keeping with their generous mission, gave me and the teens I worked with full access to their mind-blowing archives. We devoured complete works by dozens of video-art greats: Charles Atlas, Alex Bag, Kalup Linzy, Paul McCarthy, Shana Moulton, Sondra Perry, Pipilotti Rist, and Wu Tsang. My all-time favorite video masterpiece, available through EAI, is Mike Kelley’s Day Is Done, 2005–2006.

   Mike Kelley, Day Is Done, 2005–2006, video, color, sound, 169 minutes.
3. JIM HENSON

   Henson absolutely ruled my entire childhood. Over the past two decades, he has crept back into the forefront of my brain. His angry, wild, and lovably messy characters were unreal—Cookie Monster screaming and eating at the same time, a karate-kicking Miss Piggy with dilated pupils, the Swedish Chef fighting a battle of wits against sentient dough. Henson also brought together humans and puppets in incredible pairings: Kermit hosting segments with Vincent Price or Alice Cooper, or the late, unbelievably great Carol Channing, singing her beautiful tribute to the letter S with Sammy the Snake. Henson’s memorial service was a fitting, gorgeous homage, and you can find the footage online.

   Miss Piggy and Alice Cooper on the set of Jim Henson’s The Muppet Show, 1978. Photo: David Dagley/Shutterstock.
4. JEAN-PAUL GOUDE’S ART DIRECTION OF THE 1989 BASTILLE DAY PARADE IN PARIS

   In 1989, the bicentennial of the French Revolution, France’s government invited Goude to produce the Bastille Day parade. The result was a diverse, bizarre, and beautiful public spectacle, with more than eight thousand participants decked out in Goude’s signature over-the-top style. Opera superstar Jessye Norman sang “La Marseillaise”; Senegalese ballerinas reinterpreted Swan Lake; real Soviet guards marched through fake snow; East Indian dancers from London performed in artificial rain. Please watch Goude’s thirty-minute portfolio encapsulating decades of fashion, advertising, performance, and design—you can see it on YouTube!

5. 8-BALL COMMUNITY

   This nonprofit offers so many amazing arts programs here in New York—a public-access TV channel, a radio station, movie nights, a public library of more than ten thousand self-made publications from around the world, zine fairs—all with a focus on creating real-world social change. 8-Ball is a shining example of what artists and activists can accomplish together, sharing responsibility to dismantle capitalist, racist, and patriarchal structures.

   8-Ball Community volunteers at a general meeting, 8-Ball Super Club, New York, September 28, 2017. Photo: Lele Saveri.
6. VOTING VOTING VOTING

   As Greta Thunberg says, we should be acting like our house is on fire because . . . it is! Thank you to artists like John Early and Seth Bogart for creating incentives for people who prove they voted or donated to campaigns. Thank you Bernie! AOC! Nina Turner! Michael Moore! Shaun King! Cornel West! Ilhan Omar! And for political news I recommend The Young Turks on YouTube—an honest, progressive voice.

7. CRUNCHY FOODS ASMR

   On a less serious note, follow @asmrphan on Instagram for the sublime mastication of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos–crusted mozzarella sticks, and @sasittube for squid-ink fettuccine and onion rings. (OMG OMG please just listen to these!)

   Still from ASMR Phan’s 2020 YouTube video ASMR HOT CHEETOS Fried Chicken and Mozzarella Sticks (NO TALKING) Crunchy Eating Sounds, 10 minutes 59 seconds.
8. ARTISTS GETTING MESSY

   A huge, loving thank-you to the artists willing to bare all and get nasty and filthy and weird in public. Recent live performances that made my heart skip a beat include those by Young Boy Dancing Group, Christeene, Dynasty Handbag, Mx Justin Vivian Bond, Joey Arias, Kembra Pfahler, Narcissister, Deli Girls, FlucT, and Bottoms. A special extra nod to completely uninhibited performer and “Post-Drag Priestess” Charlene Incarnate, who belted out show tunes and Disney songs in the nude at last year’s Baby Tea Brunch in Brooklyn, bringing tears to my eyes.

   Charlene Incarnate performing at Baby Tea Brunch, Bizarre Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York, April 22, 2019. Photo: Victor Jeffreys II.
9. MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS

   A giant warehouse in Long Island City with building materials, fabric rolls, art supplies, and so much more, MFTA is an incredible resource for arts nonprofits and New York public schools. New York throws away a devastating amount of materials, so I hope we can continue to find creative ways to reuse and recycle.

10. AKHNATEN AT THE METROPOLITAN OPERA

    This Philip Glass opera was one of the most visually stunning works of art I have ever experienced. The lighting was jaw-dropping and hallucinatory, the costumes decadent and surreal. Hearing Glass’s compositions live is out of this world. Catch Akhnaten when it returns to the Met next year. They offer $25 rush tickets online on the day of most performances.

    Philip Glass, Akhnaten, 1984. Rehearsal view, Metropolitan Opera, New York, October 30, 2019. Akhnaten (Anthony Roth Costanzo). Photo: Karen Almond/Met Opera.