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After my having not
been in Manhattan for a couple of years,
I was returning to do a three week run
of my Herstory Of Porn show at Performance
Space122. Since I had left the city, several
of my good friends in the sex industry
had been run out of business by Mayor Guiliani.
The sleazy charm of 42nd street was totally
squeezed out. Popular porn theater, lap
dancing and peep show doors had been padlocked
closed by police. I was worried that maybe
my show at PS122 would get shut down. I
wanted to see and support my New York City
friends, celebrate what was left of our
freedom, make a political statement. And
I'm always up for a nice boat ride. So
I created the Liberty Love Boat event,
which PS122 helped me to produce.
It had rained for a week straight. The sun came out just in time for
our cruise. About 200 artists and sex workers showed up, most dressed
in clothes and costumes which never before been seen at a family tourist
attraction in broad daylight. Altho there was no nudity, as soon as we
arrived we were surrounded by police cars, police boats and police helicopters.
They video taped our every move and really harassed us. It seems that
they automatically assumed we were going to bomb the Statue of Liberty,
I suppose because we looked sexy. Altho we had a permit to gather and
to do a photograph, they said if we held up our signs, they would arrest
us. (We would need a different permit for that.) We explained that our
signs were "photo props" not "protest signs". That didn't work. We opted
not to get arrested hence were relatively cooperative.
At the base of the Statue of Liberty, we made a big circle and I passed
around a megaphone. We all took turns doing our performances/speeches/rituals.
Tourists from all over the world were surprised and delighted by our
presence. Many asked if their families could pose for a snap shot with
us. The Goddess of Freedom smiled down upon us.
AHOY! ARTISTS AND
SEX WORKERS UNITE!
Annie Sprinkle & Performance Space 122 invite you aboard... The Liberty
Love Boat Columbus Day Cruise to the Statue of Liberty To Celebrate Freedom
of Creative Sexual Expression.
Join us on a Tit-tanic journey
to the isle of the Goddess of Freedom.
Our message this day: Let it be known from sea to shining sea, that we
utilize sexually explicit words, pictures, and performances to communicate
our ideas and emotions, and contribute our love to the world. We are
decent, caring citizens and we will be free to explore and share our
bodies/ourselves. We denounce sexual censorship--including Mayor Guiliani's
new zoning laws--as anti-art, ignorant, mean and inhuman.
At the statue we will take turns sharing our statements/performances/actions/meditations/dances/
speeches/prayers/poems about censorship and freedom.
Then, for posterity, our group will pose with the Statue of Liberty for
an herstoric photography by renowned photographer Dona Ann McAdams.
Columbus Day. Monday, October 12, 1998
1:30 Gather in Battery Park.
2:00 Take public ferry to the Statue of Liberty. ($6.)
3:00 Performances and group photo.
4:30 Return to Battery Park, or visit Ellis Island if you wish.
Bring signs, flags, props, propaganda, performances, energy, etc.
Dress as: Magic mermaids, slutty sailors, super-strippers, art pimps,
chocolate and blood smeared performance artists, erotic fish, sexual
healers, scandalous politicians with interns, happy hookers, avant-garde
octopussy, kinky conquistadors, or???
Your shipmates will be artists, sex workers, Betty Dodson, Quentin Quisp,
Shelly Mars, COYOTE (Sex workers rights organization), Kate Bornstein,
Barbara Carrellas, MOSEX, Ducky Doolittle, Caterina Bartha, Dr. Carol
Queen and Dr. Robert Lawrence, ISWFACE--International Sex Worker Foundation
for Art, Culture and Education, Martha Wilson and Franklin Furnace, Diane
Torr, Porn Free Magazine, Spider Webb, Angel's Home of Burlesque, Toys
In Babeland, Erospirit Institute, Jennifer Blowdryer, Hell Fire Club,
Alicia Relles, Gates of Heck, Grand Opening's Kim Aires, Don Shewey,
Veronica Vera's Academy for Boys Who Want to Be Girls, N.Y. Body Archive,
Tristan Tormino, and many others.
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