This subversive performance by conceptual artist Suzanne Bocanegra masquerades as an artist talk but reveals her current obsession—and aesthetic engagement with—one of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s greatest tapestries, the colossalHonor(from the seriesThe Honors), measuring almost 19 by 25 feet. Weaving Bocanegra’s personal narrative with an artist’s interpretation of the 16th century tapestry which reveals a multitude of different characters and narratives,Honorfeatures celebrated film and theater actor Lili Taylor in the title role of The Artist.Suzanne Bocanegra(Writer/Creator) is a visual artist living and working in New York. Bocanegra's Artist Lecture performances have been presented in museums, galleries, and theaters across the United States, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Hammer Museum, the Pulitzer Foundation, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Carnegie Museum of Art, and on the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Bocanegra is the recipient of numerous awards, including grants from the Guggenheim Foundation and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2020 she received the Robert Rauschenberg Award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. In 2019, a major show of Bocanegra's work titledPoorly Watched Girlswas presented at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia. Also in 2019, her solo showWardrobe Testwas the inaugural exhibition at ART CAKE, an exhibition space in Brooklyn. Her work is in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, among others.Lili Taylor(Performer).Honormarks the fourth Artist Lecture Lili has worked on with Suzanne Bocanegra. Lili and Suzanne have been performingWhen a Priest Marries a Witch,BodyCastandFarmhouse / Whorehouseover the years in many different venues across the US ranging from the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Wexner Center, The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis to name a few.Credits:Written and Created by: Suzanne Bocanegra
Performed by: Lili Taylor
Directed by: Geoff Sobelle
Video by: Derrick Belcham
Costume photos by: Thibault Jeanson and Georgia Nerheim
LA Tour Director: Rachel Park
LA Musicians Contractor and Music Director: Lesley Leighton
Wardrobe Supervisor: Theodora Bocanegra Lang
Design and Technical Director: Joey Wolfslau
Producer: Sandra Garner, Lingua Franca Arts
Ríu, Ríu, Chíu arranged by David Lang
Musicians:
Jessica Rotter
Shelly Edwards
Sara Mann
Allison Cheng
Amy Keys
Tableaux Vivants:Jessica Barrett
Theodora Bocanegra Lang
K. Mercedes
Honor, an Artist Lecture by Suzanne Bocanegra, was commissioned in part by UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance, which also hosted a creative development residency in November 2019.
Wonmi’s WAREHOUSE Programsis organized by Alex Sloane, Associate Curator of Performance and Programs, with Amber Dettmers, Production Manager, and Brian Dang, Programming Coordinator.Wonmi's WAREHOUSE Programsis founded by Wonmi & Kihong Kwon and Family.Honor, an Artist Lecture by Suzanne Bocanegra Starring Lili Taylor presented by The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), April 29, 2022, at MOCA Grand Avenue. Photos by Elon Schoenholz.