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Anya Liftig

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Anya Liftig
Anya Liftig, from the "Box Batteries" video
Born1977
Norwalk, Connecticut
EducationGeorgia State University (MFA), Yale University (BA)
MovementPerformance art, Contemporary art
WebsiteAnya Liftig official website

Anya Liftig (born 1977) is an American performance artist and memoirist.[1]

Early life

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Liftig was born in 1977 in Norwalk, Connecticut. Her parents were both public school teachers, although her father was from an upper-middle-class Jewish family and her mother was from Appalachian Kentucky.[2] She cites her annual tradition of spending her school years in Westport and her summers with her extended family in East Kentucky as influences on her artwork.[3]

After graduating from Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut, Liftig enrolled at Yale University. While there, she was a member of the literary fraternity St. Anthony Hall.[2] A member of Morse College, she graduated with a degree in English.[4]

While a full fellowship student at Georgia State University, Liftig’s work shifted from photography to performance pieces. She received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Georgia State University in 2004.[5] Liftig’s thesis, self-evidence, was the first live performance art thesis exhibited at GSU.

Career

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Visual and performance art

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Before transitioning to performance art, Liftig's early photography work was documented in peer-reviewed academic journals such as Public Culture.[6] Since returning to the New York area in 2005, Liftig has curated and performed at the TATE Modern, MoMA, Center for Performance Research, Panoply Performance Lab, Highways Performance Space, Lapsody4 Finland, FADO Performance Art Centre in Toronto, Performance Art Institute San Francisco, Queens Museum, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Rose Art Museum at the University of Kentucky, Grace Exhibition Space, Movement Research at Judson Church, The Kitchen at the Independent Art Fair, Performer Stammtisch Berlin, Performance Space London, Month of Performance Art Berlin, OVADA-Oxford, Joyce Soho, and other venues around the world.[7]

After obtaining her MFA from Georgia State University, Liftig exhibited work responding to the history of the South and Atlanta specifically. I’m a Groucho Marxist, exhibited in July 2012, featured Liftig attempting to climb a 25 feet (7.6 m) high barricade of reclaimed material covered in peanut butter for three hours, blindfolded and with one hand tied behind her back. She stated, “I want my audience to experience the barricade by seeing me go through it,” referring to both internal struggle and political tensions.[8]

In 2010, Liftig responded to artist Marina Abramović’s performance, The Artist is Present, at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) with her own work titled The Anxiety of Influence. This was intended as an intervention of Abramović’s work, which had the artist sitting silently at a table in the MoMA’s lobby across from audience members. Here, Liftig dressed as a doppelgänger of Abramović and remained silently seated across from the artist all day, preventing other audience members from engaging with Abramović.[9]

Writing

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Active since 2001, Liftig’s written work includes both long and short pieces. Her written pieces have been extensively published in chapbooks and literary journals such as Now and Then, The Other Journal, Hippocampus,[10] Kindred, and The Chattahoochee Review.[11] Her first book, a memoir entitled Holler Rat, was published by Abrams in August 2023.[2] The book focuses on how Liftig’s upbringing in Appalachian Kentucky and upper-middle-class Connecticut influenced her lifelong path to self-discovery and development as a performing artist.[12]

Recognition

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Liftig’s visual work has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times Magazine, BOMB, The Wall Street Journal, and Vogue Italia. She has received a Mertz Gilmore Award, the Adrian Van Sinderan Award, and the Franklin Furnace Award. She has had fellowships and residencies at Atlantic Center for the Arts, Casa Tres Patios, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, MacDowell, and Yaddo.[13]

Exhibitions and performances

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Liftig’s participation in contemporary art is primarily in the form of avant-garde performances and dance exhibited live and as recorded video media.

Solo exhibitions

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Exhibition Name[14] Date Institution Location References
I’m a Groucho Marxist 2012 Public Art Performance Intervention, Flux Projects Commission Atlanta, Georgia [15]
Crisp As a Twenty 2012 ]performance s p a c e [ London, England
The Human Factor 2012 OVADA and Roves and Roams Oxford, England [16]
Deliverance (with Clifford Owens, Laura Ginn, and Jayson Munsson) 2012 Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center Atlanta, Georgia [17]
All the Animals 2013 British Museum, AliKati Projects London, England
Twin High Maintenance Machines 2014 Panoply Performance Lab Brooklyn, New York City, New York [18]
All the Animals 2015 Gemaldegalerie Berlin, Germany [19]
All the Animals 2015 Metropolitan Museum of Art New York City, New York
Leviathan and Lonely 2018 Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design Milwaukee, Wisconsin [20]

Performances

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Performance Name[14] Date Venue Location Reference
Centepide Series 2016 JACK Brooklyn, New York City, New York
Current Mill, Homage to the Futurists 2016 Glasshouse Brooklyn, New York City, New York [21]
Performancy Forum 2016 Panoply Performance Lab Brooklyn, New York City, New York [22]
Anya Liftig, Gracie Devito, Samuel White 2016 Human Resources Los Angeles, California
Present Archeology 2016 Undercurrent Projects New York City, New York [23]
Steakhouse Live 2016 Tender Loin, ArtsAdmin London, England [24]
SALTA w/AUNTS 2016 Berkeley Art Museum Berkeley, California
Screening Room or the Return of Andrea Kleine 2016 New York Live Arts New York City, New York [7]
Are Friends Electric? 2017 Vox Populi Philadelphia, Pennsylvania [25]
Experiments and Disorders 2017 Dixon Place New York City, New York [26]
Performance Mix Festival 2017 NewDance Alliance, University Settlement New York City, New York [27]
My Dinner with Andrea (directed by Andrea Kleine) 2017 New York Live Arts New York City, New York [28]
Neo Domestic Festival 2017 Glasshouse Brooklyn, New York City, New York [29]
Movement Research 2018 Judson Memorial Church Manhattan, New York City, New York
Rear Window 2018 Glasshouse Brooklyn, New York City, New York [30]
Without God or Governance 2018 Marinaro Gallery New York City, New York [31]
Metamorphosis 2018 Panoply Performance Lab Brooklyn, New York City, New York [32]
Performance is Alive 2018 Satellite Art Fair Miami, Florida
Performancy Forum 2021 Praxis Practice with Performaistanbul St. Louis, MO, Istanbul, TK and Zoom
Imagined Performance Art Storytime (collaboration with IV Castellanos) 2021 Parallel Performance Space Online Online

References

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  1. ^ "CV". Anya Liftig. Archived from the original on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  2. ^ a b c "Milestones" (PDF). The Review. St. Anthony Hall (Spring): 18. 2023.
  3. ^ Edmonds, Theo (2013-02-06). "Interview: Anya Liftig (Roots in Kentucky USA) NSFW". Contemporary Performance. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  4. ^ "Anya Liftig". Carnegie Prep. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  5. ^ "GSU MFA". GSU Photo, Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design. November 6, 2017. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  6. ^ Stewart, Kathleen (May 1, 2022). "Scenes of Life/Kentucky Mountains". Public Culture. 14 (2): 349–360 – via Duke University Press.
  7. ^ a b "Selected CV for Anya Liftig". Anya Liftig/Love and Trouble. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  8. ^ Lee, Minji (July 6, 2012). "Anya Liftig Presents: "I'm a Groucho Marxist"". art in odd places.
  9. ^ Berg, Tatiana (March 29, 2010). "The Anxiety of Influence". BOMB Magazine. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  10. ^ Liftig, Anya (2021-03-08). "October by Anya Liftig | Hippocampus Magazine". Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  11. ^ "Recent writing by Anya Liftig author of the memoir Holler Rat". Anya Liftig/Love and Trouble. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  12. ^ "Holler Rat". Abrams Books. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  13. ^ "Anya Liftig". KHN Center for the Arts. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
  14. ^ a b Liftig, Anya. "Anya Liftig CV October 2022" (PDF). Anya Liftig. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
  15. ^ Alexander, Andrew (2012-07-13). "Review: Performance artist Anya Liftig delivers theater of the absurd with peanut butter". ARTS ATL. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  16. ^ "Interview with Performance Artist Anya Liftig". Art Animal. 2012-07-01. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  17. ^ Studio, Familiar. "Deliverance". Atlanta Contemporary. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  18. ^ Liftig, Anya (2015-08-01), Twin High Maintenance Machines, Anya Liftig in Performance at Panoply Performance Laboratory, Brooklyn, NY, May 2014, retrieved 2023-07-09
  19. ^ Liftig, Anya (2015-07-20), All The Animals in the Gemaldegalerie--A Museum Intervention by Anya Liftig, retrieved 2023-07-09
  20. ^ Liftig, Anya (2017-06-21), Anya Liftig/Leviathan and Lonely, retrieved 2023-07-09
  21. ^ "Current Mill- Homage To Futurist Manifesto". Glasshouse ArtLifeLab. 2016-11-12. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  22. ^ "PERFORMANCY FORUM: Sympathetic Mimesis | Panoply Performance Laboratory". www.panoplylab.org. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  23. ^ artandchaos (2016-02-01). "Closing April 17: Niki Singleton, PRESENT ARCHAEOLOGY". undercurrent projects. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  24. ^ "Steakhouse Live: Tender Loin #4 – Event". Artsadmin. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  25. ^ "Vox Populi > August First Friday". Vox Populi. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  26. ^ "Experiments & Disorders". Dixon Place. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  27. ^ "2017 Performance Mix Festival". New Dance Alliance. 2017-08-19. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  28. ^ "Anya Liftig in Conversation with Andrea Kleine". Movement Research. 2023-07-09. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  29. ^ Liftig, Anya (2017-07-06), Anya Liftig/Live at Neo Domestic Performance Festival 2017, retrieved 2023-07-09
  30. ^ "Palpitations- Performance by Anya Liftig". Glasshouse ArtLifeLab. 2018-12-13. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  31. ^ "Without God Or Governance". JAG projects. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  32. ^ "METAMORPHOSIS: final festival and closing performances | Panoply Performance Laboratory". www.panoplylab.org. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
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