Karaoke convention, lesbian unison readings among DNC "Dialog:City" events

The punctuation and spelling of its name are pretentious, but it's Dialog:City's lineup of "public performances and installations" during the Democratic National Convention that'll have you swallowin' your 'baccy:

A pavilion will appear to levitate in City Park [that sounds familiar], a Humvee will roam Denver telling the stories of homeless veterans, and a song imagining the new American voice will waft across the city.

Oh boy. After reassuring readers that D:C's $370,000 budget includes no public funds, the piece lists the, um, projects. Highlights:

Karaoke Convention:

Organizers call this a "civic karaoke campaign" designed by artist Daniel Peltz. The week-long event will use digital media to translate a dozen Republican and Democratic Presidential Candidate addresses from the 2008 campaigns into karaoke formats. People can then re-enact them at local "Karaoke Convention Centers," karaoke bars around Denver that will feature the project.

Get this:

The launch event . . . will include performances by Mayor John Hickenlooper, Congressman Mark Udall, State Senator Joan Fitz-Gerald and Ray Rivera, Colorado State Director for Barack Obama's Presidential Campaign.

A must-see.

Humvee that tells stories of the homeless:

Artist Krzysztof Wodiczko premieres the Veteran Vehicle Project, a new media sculpture that transforms a Humvee into a traveling media projection vehicle, telling the stories of Denver homeless veterans. Working collaboratively with more than 40 Denver-based veterans, Wodiczko's multimedia project will offer intimate portraits of their experience through audio and text projection.

That can't be very green.

"Air Forest":

This temporary architectural pavilion by Minsuk Cho is designed as a pneumatic hot air balloon-like structure that levitates by the compression of air. Events planned there include . . . a presentation of Throwaway/Runaway, a play about teen homelessness written by ArtLab youth and directed by Jose Mercado.

So friggin' obsessed with the homeless. Shows off their "compassion."


The sixties live--at Air Forest.

"Hindsight is Always 20/20."

Drawing from the annual State of the Union addresses given by Presidents to Congress, Hindsight consists of a single Snellen-style eye chart for each President. Instead of the typical characters present in an eye chart, DuBois' piece employs words drawn from their speeches, presented in order of most frequent (top line) to least frequent (bottom line). . . .

Green stuff (after all, they have to make up for that creepy, poison-spewing Humvee):

Green Constitutional Congress: a symposium on the future of environmental action . . . brings together national leaders who are working to ensure our environmental and energy future.

"Circle of O's":

Ann Hamilton launches her collaborative work with Denver-based choirs, choreographers and composers, with movements along 16th Street downtown. This newly composed song is drawn from the phrases, pace and spirit of Ralph Waldo Emerson writings imagining the new American voice.

Look, I may be a little oversensitive to poop references (who wouldn't be by now?), but: whaddaya mean, "movements"?

And my fave:

"Revolutionary Love: I Am Your Worst Fear," Sharon Hayes will gather 100 people at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions to read a text in unison addressing political desire and romantic love, [with] speakers drawn from the gay, lesbian, and transgendered community in each city. They will become the medium of her work by reciting the text written by Hayes. The 10- to 20-minute texts will be read three times over the course of two hours.

Always leave them begging for more.