Professor Karen Finley to perform at Musuem of Modern Art

Tuesday, Dec 13, 2022

MOMA screenshot of website. Reads JAM Film Screenings, then and now. Image is from Lorrane grady and is of a metal suit of armor with orange words overlaid that read "Even if we Don't Win, there's still real joy in the Battle"

Poster from JAM Film Screenings

On Wednesday, December 15 at 6pm and Thursday, December 16 at 4pm, Professor Karen Finley will present "Sleeping Under the Same Roof," a performance which pays tribute to her former roommate and the late artist and choreographer, Fred Holland, at the Museum of Modern Art. 

"Just Above Midtown Gallery’s $4 midnight film screenings may have been one reason the organization eventually lost its lease in the newly gentrifying Tribeca, but that didn’t stop them from planning a robust series of programs while they could. Organized in conjunction with the exhibition Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces, this film and video program connects work made during the gallery’s years downtown in the early 1980s with work produced by artists affiliated with the gallery since then. Featured works include Lorraine O’Grady’s Greetings and Theses (2022), in which the artist debuts The Knight, or Lancela Palm-and-Steel, her first new performance persona in 40 years and an avatar of the iconic Mlle Bourgeoise Noire; Kit-Yin Snyder’s Double Exposure (2003), an exploration of the artist’s roots in China and the United States; a selection of videos by the path-making media artist Philip Mallory Jones; Ishmael Houston-Jones and Fred Holland’s improvisational duet Untitled aka Oo-Ga-La (1983); and Karen Finley’s performative response to the prompt “Just Above Midtown.”