(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – Performance poet Carl Hancock Rux will read works created in response to the Nick Cave exhibition, “Until,” at MASS MoCA on Friday, June 16, at 8pm. The performance will take place within the expansive installation.

Rux is an award-winning poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, and recording artist. Beginning his career as a freelance art and music critic, Rux immersed himself in the poetry and experimental theater scene of the Lower East Side where he collaborated with a number of poets, musicians, and theater artists, including Miguel Algarin, Jayne Cortez, David Murray, Jeanne Lee, Laurie Carlos, and Lee Breuer.

In 1999, Rux won the Village Voice Literary Prize for his collection of poetry, Pagan Operetta. His OBIE Award-winning play, Talk, followed in 2002. In 1997, Rux recorded his debut album, Cornbread, Cognac & Collard Green Revolution, which was produced by Nona Hendryx and Mark Batson.

As a performer in dance, Rux has collaborated with Marlies Yearby’s Movin’ Spirits Dance Theater, Urban Bush Women, Jane Comfort & Co., Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Martha Clark, where he received a BESSIE award for his direction of the Lisa Jones/Alva Rogers dance musical, Stained, in 1991.

Rux is the former head of the MFA Writing for Performance Program at the California Institute of the Arts, and has also worked with the University of California–San Diego, Stanford University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Hollins University, the University of Iowa, and Brown University.

As a political activist, he is involved with organizations such as New Yorkers Against Fracking, WeDaPeoples Cabaret, and Take Back the Night, a foundation that seeks to end all forms of sexual violence. Rux often uses his open mic nights as a platform for such advocacy, permeating the crowd with his “weird and lovely and furious and deep” spoken word (Pop Matters) that often deals with issues of social justice.

Lickety Split, MASS MoCA’s café, serves up crisp salads, hearty soups, and lip-smacking pub fare before the show. Advance tickets are $15. Tickets for all events are available through the MASS MoCA box office located on Marshall Street in North Adams, open 10am to 6pm Sunday – Wednesday and 11am to 7pm Thursday – Saturday. Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 during box office hours or purchased online at MASS MoCA.

 

 

About MASS MoCA

MASS MoCA is one of the world’s liveliest (and largest) centers for making, displaying, and enjoying today’s most important art, music, dance, theater, film, and video. On May 28, 2017, MASS MoCA nearly doubled its gallery space, with artist partnerships that include Laurie Anderson, the Louise Bourgeois Trust, Jenny Holzer, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and James Turrell.

Gallery admission is $20 for adults, $18 for veterans and seniors, $12 for students, $8 for children 6 to 16, and free for children 5 and under. Members are admitted free year-round. The Hall Art Foundation’s Anselm Kiefer exhibition is open seasonally and is currently on view. For additional information, call 413.662.2111 x1 or visit MASS MoCA.

 

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