hi artists:

i appreciate everyone’s opinions (some shared with all and some not shared with all) + am glad that you have spoke your minds + hearts!

first + foremost — i am very sorry if the waiver has upset anyone. that was not our intention. we were required to have a mandatory meeting with the climate theater this past week. at this meeting we were told that we had to complete the following or POW! POW! could NOT go on unless the following was taken care of:

1) we must provide our own insurance liability for the festival

OR

2) have artists sign a waiver that states that they will not sue POW! POW! (alyssa + guillermo) or the climate theater.

we don’t have thousands of dollars, and we didn’t want to ask you to pay anything, so we went with option #2, which we thought in this situation was the lesser of two evils.

we are not trying to attract anything negative + did not know that we had to have this implemented until last week. please bear with us with this.

if we don’t provide the climate theater with proof that all of our artists have agreed to take full responsibility for themselves if anything happens to them that they do on their own then we can’t have POW! POW! go on.

i promise you that we are NOT asking you to sign a waiver that states you will not offend anyone, and we will NOT ask you to sign a waiver like that!!! in terms of the question – “do we have to ask the audience to sign”…i see a piece developing out of that! 🙂 but the climate said that their insurance covers the audience members. if anyone wants to see the information we were provided about this i would be happy to share.

we appreciate everyone’s time, energy, thoughts, etc. about this festival. POW! POW! is going to be an awesome show. see you in less than 2 weeks! we can’t wait to see your work.

🙂
alyssa

* * * * *

ah, yes, Alyssa! Climate theater put you behind the eight ball by springing it on you two weeks before the show. They are a theater. So they [should have] known about their insurance issues. If the waiver was a part of the original agreement, I doubt that anyone would have a problem. But springing it on you is very unprofessional of them… And if they pulled out of the show, it would have been a breach of contract on their part. But you are right… The thing is to get the show on!

and yes, it’s a part of my piece! It shows the difference between THEATER and PERFORMANCE ART. In THEATER the audience and performers are in two separate realities. So they can insure the audience members but not the performers. [Mmmmmm, when we are in the audience, are we covered? Don’t ask them this –until after the festival!] But in performance art there’s no such clear division between audience and performers. Like most of my cast [if I have a cast] may be in the audience playing audience members. Will they be covered as audience members until they reveal themselves? Moreover I am inviting the audience members up on to the stage to be a part of my performance. Will they stop being covered? If so, when will they stop being covered? When they decide to be a participant, or when they start climbing the steps to the stage, or when they are actually on the stage? And what happens if I get off the stage and the “audience” participates? Who is covered? Oh those damn performance artists!

In Freedom,
Frank Moore

OK Frank:
I respect your opinion. After all you are older than me. Right? : __ ) Lets now go to sleep now. Its pretty late here.
gal*in_dog aka guillermo galindo

* * * * *

believe it or not, I am 63!

In Freedom,
Frank Moore

Dear Frank:

YOu know I have a lot of respect for you and for your work. I just want to let you know that we are required by law to have an insurance which, at this point, we can’t afford. We have already invested in the rental of the space and the publicity and the mailing from our own pockets.

Maybe if we were a big corporation we wouldn’t have to do this. Perhaps if we were the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts or the San Francisco Ballet we would have an insurance already payed for. We would also have an army of lawyers to deal with any trouble. If this was the case, then the artists’ expression would be jeopardized, dictated and censored by our shareholders, our funders or by our sponsors and consumers.

We have put a lot of work and love into this festival. Alyssa and I have invested many hours of our personal lives into this. We do this with pride just because we believe in free expression. We believe in grass roots art and we enjoy having people like you being part of this too. We also understand the sociopolitical implications of doing this in times when everybody else is afraid to speak out.

Please understand that one thing you can’t ask us to do after all of this, is to put the few things we own in life at risk just because of plain negligence.

Thanks for signing. We appreciate your understanding.

SIncerely,
gal*in_dog
POW! POW! Curator

* * * * *

gal_in, I understand what Alyssa and you are doing and greatly value it. I have been putting on events for over thirty years. So I know what you two are dealing with. But the legal shit attracts problems, which is why I always have avoided legal shit.

In Freedom,
Frank Moore

Dear Artists:

We hate this legal stuff but the festival grew out of proportion this year and, hey, this is America, the land of the lawsuits. No big deal though. This is just to make sure that you are responsible if you hurt yourself or if you break something during your performance. Please sign and/or copy and paste this waiver of liability in an email and send it back to us as soon as possible. This will proof that you agree with the waiver. Please note that if if you don’t sign this waiver and provide it to the directors of POW! POW! you can’t perform at POW! POW! 2009. Thanks so much for your cooperation,guillermo galindo AKA gal*in_dog + alyssa leePOW! POW curators Please note that if i you don’t sign this waiver and provide it to the directors of POW! POW! you can’t perform at POW! POW! 2009. RELEASE AND WAIVER OF LIABILITY, ASSUMPTION OF RISK, AND INDEMNITY. IN CONSIDERATION of being permitted to participate in any way in POW! POW! Action art Festival from October 15-18 2009. I, for myself and for my personal representatives, assigns, heirs, and next of kin: FULLY UNDERSTAND THAT “I “ AM RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ACTIVITIES INVOLVING RISKS AND DANGERS OF SERIOUS BODILY INJURY, INCLUDING PERMANENT DISABILITY, PARALYSIS, AND DEATH (“RISKS”); (b) these Risks and dangers may be caused by my own actions or inaction’s, the actions or inaction’s of others participating in the Activity, the condition in which the Activity takes place. THAT “I “ AM RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY RELATED DAMAGE CAUSED BY MYSELF OR MY COLLABORATORS TO THE PREMISES OF THE Climate Theater (Located at 285 9th Street. At the corner of 9th and Folsom in San Francisco, CA) DURING AND RELATED TO MY PERFORMANCE AT THAT SPACE. HEREBY RELEASE, DISCHARGE, AND COVENANT NOT TO SUE NEITHER POW! POW! Action Art Festival or Climate Theater, their respective administrators, directors, agents, officers, members, volunteers, and employees, other participants, any sponsors and advertisers. I HAVE READ THIS AGREEMENT, FULLY UNDERSTAND ITS TERMS, UNDERSTAND THAT I HAVE GIVEN UP SUBSTANTIAL RIGHTS BY SIGNING IT AND HAVE SIGNED IT FREELY AND WITHOUT INDUCEMENT OR ASSURANCE OF ANY NATURE AND INTEND IT TO BE A COMPLETE AND UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE OF ALL LIABILITY TO THE GREATEST EXTENT ALLOWED BY LAW AND AGREE THAT IF ANY PORTION OF THIS AGREEMENT IS HELD TO BE INVALID THE BALANCE, NOTWITHSTANDING, SHALL CONTINUE IN FULL FORCE AND EFFECT. I hereby understand that if I do not sign this waiver I am not authorized to perform at the POW! POW! 2009 festival.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
www.myspace.com/powminiperformanceartfestival
POW! POW! mini ACTION art festival
san francisco, CA
october 15-18, 2009
curated by: guillermo galindo AKA gal*in_dog + alyssa lee
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

* * * * *

(Keith Hennessy wrote:)

Hey this is America

And our job is to break the rules and laws that keep us down. Only laws and practices that break can be changed. I’d much rather sign a promisory note saying that I recognize that Alyssa and galin.dog are broke ass artists and Climate is a tiny non-profit artspace so of course if I hurt myself or someone else it’s my own damn fault and even if it isn’t I won’t sue another artist or small artist space because suing is neither creative, nor liberatory. I promise to work towards community not liability.

Keith

In case that’s not enough, here is my cut & pasted waiver:

RELEASE AND WAIVER OF LIABILITY, ASSUMPTION OF RISK, AND INDEMNITY. IN CONSIDERATION of being permitted to participate in any way in POW! POW! Action art Festival from October 15-18 2009. I, for myself and for my personal representatives, assigns, heirs, and next of kin: FULLY UNDERSTAND THAT “I “ AM RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ACTIVITIES INVOLVING RISKS AND DANGERS OF SERIOUS BODILY INJURY, INCLUDING PERMANENT DISABILITY, PARALYSIS, AND DEATH (“RISKS”); (b) these Risks and dangers may be caused by my own actions or inaction’s, the actions or inaction’s of others participating in the Activity, the condition in which the Activity takes place. THAT “I “ AM RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY RELATED DAMAGE CAUSED BY MYSELF OR MY COLLABORATORS TO THE PREMISES OF THE Climate Theater (Located at 285 9th Street. At the corner of 9th and Folsom in San Francisco, CA) DURING AND RELATED TO MY PERFORMANCE AT THAT SPACE. HEREBY RELEASE, DISCHARGE, AND COVENANT NOT TO SUE NEITHER POW! POW! Action Art Festival or Climate Theater, their respective administrators, directors, agents, officers, members, volunteers, and employees, other participants, any sponsors and advertisers. I HAVE READ THIS AGREEMENT, FULLY UNDERSTAND ITS TERMS, UNDERSTAND THAT I HAVE GIVEN UP SUBSTANTIAL RIGHTS BY SIGNING IT AND HAVE SIGNED IT FREELY AND WITHOUT INDUCEMENT OR ASSURANCE OF ANY NATURE AND INTEND IT TO BE A COMPLETE AND UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE OF ALL LIABILITY TO THE GREATEST EXTENT ALLOWED BY LAW AND AGREE THAT IF ANY PORTION OF THIS AGREEMENT IS HELD TO BE INVALID THE BALANCE, NOTWITHSTANDING, SHALL CONTINUE IN FULL FORCE AND EFFECT. I hereby understand that if I do not sign this waiver I am not authorized to perform at the POW! POW! 2009 festival.

* * * * *

while I will sign, I agree with Keith. I have found that such legal shit tends to bring more problems than it avoids. And imagine the artists who are coming from out of town… Spending money to get here… Being told they can’t perform if they don’t sign. It wasn’t in the original artist agreement. Will the audience members have to sign?

Such legal shit seems weird in the underground reality.

But I will sign! But don’t drop me down the stairs in my wheelchair! I have a high Power lawyer! And I know Alyssa, gal*in_dog, and CLIMATE THEATER have extremely deep pockets! Years ago The Kitchen in N.Y.C. pulled out a contract for me to sign minutes before my show… Basically for me to promise I wouldn’t offend anyone. I signed. But as I signed, I said I would offend… So sue me! And I kept that promise! But they didn’t sue!

In Freedom,
Frank Moore