By Glenda Rice Collins, Arts Columnist
Published September 2, 2015, For GlendaRiceCollins.com

Tulsa, Okla., USA — Described as Experimental, Thought-Provoking Art that Makes You Talk, New Genre XXII-B Arts Festival will Push Your Limits with exploratory, contemporary artistic productions that will also push and stretch the envelope —  September 4 – 12, 2015 at Living Arts of Tulsa  and the Tulsa Performing Arts Center (PAC) — with tickets offered free for the first time, due to generous sponsors.

A culturally-diverse mainstay in the Brady Arts District

Performances, exhibitions, film/video, creative workshops, lectures, and  demonstrations will round out diverse events while incorporating the new media made possible by today’s exciting technology.

First Friday Openings, September 4, 5 – 7 p.m., Living ArtSpace:

The Two Room Schoolhouse installation/performance by Tulsa-based Mark Wittig, speaks about the learning disabled child, through art, questioning the priorities of the prevailing systems of education and culture, which ‘devalue fluencies and skills outside their domain.’

City of Cyclone II: the Wrath of Corn installation, by Norman-based artist Sarah Engel-Barnett, explores a ravaged,  fictional, anti-utopian city of the future, of her own design — hoping to inspire better planet-saving options for the future.

Part A & Part B Experiment

This year, Living Arts  splits New Genre into  Part A (Spring) and Part B (Fall). thereby offering ever-expanding opportunities to celebrate contemporary innovation, such as the September 11 & 12 Half Life performances by the renowned, Los Angeles-based performance theater group, Cloud Eye Control,  at 8 p.m. in the Liddy Doenges Theater of the Tulsa PAC.

Half-Life & I’m Fine

The newest multimedia production from Cloud Eye Control collaborators was inspired by blog entries from women who experienced the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis. Projected animation, live performance, and music mix to promise a highly visual and emotional experience of fierce urgency, therein.

Cloud Eye Control workshops are scheduled for youth, September 8,  4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Living ArtSpace; with an adult workshop scheduled for September 12, 1 – 4 p.m.

Features during the festival include: I’m Fine, a performance artwork and animation installation by Austin, Texas-based Sarah Hill —  exploring issues of gender, body image, and cathartic anger, September 12, 7 p.m. at Living ArtSpace.

Sarah Hill’s workshop is TBA.  Contact Living Arts of Tulsa, 307 E. MB Brady Street, 918.585.1234, for details.

Art is for Everyone

Contemporary art forms and newly evolving ideas have been the focus at Living Arts of Tulsa, since 1969.  with artistic director Steve Liggett now celebrating some 22 years of steadfast, artistic vision, educational outreach, and community leadership. Bravo! (Read more about Steve Liggett and Living Arts of Tulsa in articles coming soon to this website).

For a complete listing of New Genre XXII-B Arts Festival events, and to reserve free tickets, please visit  www.livingarts.org.

New Genre XXII-B sponsors include: George Kaiser Family Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Art Works, National Performance Network, Tulsa Performing Arts Center Trust, Walsh, John Eakin III and Jean Ann Fausser.

Photos by Eugene Ahn and Stephen Gunther, courtesy Cloud Eye Control.

# # # Glenda Rice Collins 9-2-15