The Oakland Ice Center skating rink will play host to an unusual performance art this Saturday night, courtesy of a group of Bay Area artists. The art group Strawman Collective is taking over the rink for a whirlwind performance of sixty acts over sixty minutes — all free to the public.
To give a hint of what those sixty performances might include — the agenda may involve a refrigerator, a rendition of Taps on skates, and some guitar shredding followed by paper shredding.
“We have a prominent bay theater critic who’s going to come give a critique of the first half of the performance they’ve just seen,” said organizer Andrew Fuller.
The performance begins sharply at 7:15 pm and will run a frenetic hour. Fuller said the performance was partially funded by the San Francisco Awesome Foundation whose members donate a thousand dollars each month to fund some sort of interesting project. The grant is funding the performance which is titled Ice on Ice; Ice Capade in 60 Acts.
“It’s just fun to see people come and get excited and gives us something to do and make art,” said co-organizer Ross Warren.
The show will include a couple skating ringers, including Anna Cvitkovich who grew up skating in her native Canada.
“I think it’s awesome to bring a little weirdness to people’s lives,” Cvitkovich said, “and just a little counter-balance to all the serious stuff that we’re dealing with every single day.”
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At a time when many artists have been forced out by the skyrocketing economy, Fuller sees the performance as a small sign that weird art is still thriving.
“I’m hoping it’s going to be a lot of people’s first time seeing this type of performance art event,” Fuller said.
