Southbank Centre has announced that musician/ visual artist Antony has accepted their invitation to curate the 19th Meltdown festival, which takes place in between Wednesday 1st and Friday the 12th of August 2012, at London’s Southbank Centre. The avant-garde performer and lead singer with Mercury Award-winning Antony and the Johnsons, follows in the footsteps of previous directors including Jarvis Cocker, Robert Wyatt, Laurie Anderson, Patti Smith, Ornette Coleman, David Bowie and, most recently, Ray Davies. His full Meltdown line up will be revealed in April.
Taking over the venues and spaces of London’s iconic, riversidearts centre, the artist who emerged from the New York underground art scene ofthe early 1990s will curate ten days of music, debate and performance thatreflect his interests, influences and passions. Issues close to his heart -ranging from environment and spirituality to gender politics – will be amongthemes explored through the festival.
Antony’s Meltdownis part of the Southbank Centre’s Festival of the World with MasterCard, whichruns from 1 June to 9 September 2012.
Antony, 19th Director of Southbank Centre’sMeltdown festival, said:
“I wantto create a kind of paradise. I want to walk through that forest and see andhear the hardcore beauty and strength in art and music that makes sense to me. Theweather is changing and everybody knows it. I want to participate; What is my relationship and responsibility to the world around me? Frontier expressions of emotion and beauty can be fantastic tools with which to enterthat discussion.”
Jude Kelly, Artistic Director at SouthbankCentre, said: “From the moment we heard his voice,or caught an early glimpse of him stealing the show on jaw-dropping guestspots, there was no doubt that Antony was a major talent. In the decade since,a series of acclaimed recordings and performances, a host of well-selected collaborators and immaculately delivered commissions have confirmed his status as one of the most fascinating artists of our age. Each director takes Meltdownin a different direction. We can’t wait to see where Antony will take thefestival and us in August 2012.”
Jane Beese, Head of Contemporary Musicat Southbank Centre, said: “To say that he embodies thetransgressive spirit of the New York underground only tells part of the story.With lyrics that intertwine the global and the deeply personal – delivered witha heartbreaking intensity matched by few performers past or present – he hastouched the lives of many. We are thrilled and honoured that he has agreed toshare his world with us through ten days of Meltdown.”
More about Antony:
Born in Sussex, England, Antony also spent his childhood in Amsterdam and the San FranciscoBay Area before moving to NYC at the age of 19. In 1992, he founded theperformance collective Blacklips at the Pyramid Club, and spent the nextseveral years developing his voice and ideas on late night stages around NYC.
Antony emerged with his musical ensemble Antony and the Johnsons in 1998. In2005 Antony and the Johnsons won the UK’s Mercury Prize for the album I am a Bird Now. Ann Powers of theLA Times wrote upon the release of 2009’s TheCrying Light, “it’s the most personalenvironmentalist statement possible, making an unforeseen connection betweenqueer culture’s identity politics and the green movement. As music, it’s simplyexquisite.”
In 2006 Antony collaborated with filmmaker Charles Atlas on TURNING, a concertand live video installation. The Guardian called the Barbican’s presentation of TURNING, “fragile, life affirming,and truly wonderful (five stars).” Le Monde hailed TURNING at the Olympia in Paris as”Concert-manifeste transsexuel.” Since 2008, Antony has performedwith orchestras throughout the world, including The London Symphony Orchestraat the Barbican, The Chamber Orchestra of Sydney at Sydney Opera House, The Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Lincoln Center, and the Brooklyn Philharmonic atBAM. Antony and The Johnsons’ presentation of The Crying Light at the Manchester Festival 2009 was included inKlaus Biesenbach’s 100 Years: A History of Performance Art, at MoMA PS1. Last summer, Antony was the musical director and a performer in the criticallylauded The Life and Death of MarinaAbramović, directed by Robert Wilson. This piece will tour Madrid,Amsterdam, Basel and Antwerp in Spring 2012.
In late January 2012, Antony and the Johnsons performed the Rough Trade album Swanlights commissioned by The Museum of Modern Art to a sold out crowd at Radio City Music Hall. This one time performanceevent featured a 60-piece orchestra, light artist Chris Levine, light designer Paul Normandale and set designer Carl Robertshaw. The NY Times lauded the performance as “gorgeously appointed cries fromthe heart, crashing like waves”.
Antony has collaborated with a wide-ranging group of artists and musiciansincluding Björk, Yoko Ono, Laurie Anderson, CocoRosie, and Lou Reed. Reed hassaid, “When I first heard him I knew I was in the presence of an angel.”Anderson adds, “Two words and he has broken your heart. When he sings it is themost exquisite thing you will hear in your life.”
Antony is also an accomplished visual artist and has exhibited his drawings atPalais Des Beaux Arts in Belgium, Isis Gallery in London, Accademia Albertinain Turin and the Triennale in Milan. In 2009 he curated a group showentitled Six Eyes at Agnès B. Galerie Du Jour in Paris, which included work byPeter Hujar, Kiki Smith, and William Basinski. In October of 2010, Antony released a book of collages and drawings, also called Swanlights, published by Abrams Image. An exhibition of Antony’s drawingsare currently on display at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, curated by James Elaine.
For Meltdown information please contact:
Southbank Centre TicketOffice – www.southbankcentre.co.uk / 0844 847 9910
