The first time I saw Travis Kerschen he was playing in his music project A Thousand Cranes.
He meditated during the entire set as a strobe light hit the room.
It was. like. bad... drugs.
I talked about it excitedly for days, happy to have had such a unique experience at a rock and roll show.
He was one of the first people I contacted when I began performance art night @ Notsuoh, and I am always interested when he has something to share.
Here is a short list of things i know/think about Travis-
He has lived in warehouses.
He loves film.
He is an anarchist.
He speaks spanish.
He has alot of brothers and one is named Tex.
He is really nice, tall and encouraging.
He is either really interested in Buddhism, or he is a Buddhist.
He is a vegetarian.
He also makes movies.
Here is a video flier he made for one of his shows.
And here are his answers to my questions-
How does Performance Art Function for you?
Performance art is an avenue of personal expression/creative expression. It can be fun and mentally stimulating to try to make art in this medium because as performance you try to engage, and as art you try to break boundaries.
How does living in Houston affect your performance art work?
I think it nurtures it. Houston is not an easy city to live in, nor does it have the most supportive environment for creative arts, so performance art here empowers me to express things as I wish. Also, Jim Pyrtle is here.
Describe a favorite performance art piece that you have done.
I went to Deerbrook Mall, and with one person dressed like Tiny Tim and one like Santa's Elf, and myself like Santa, we had a giant posterboard that said "Bomb Iraq for Christmas". This was in the winter of 2002, and we had a petition where we goodheartedly and smilingly tried to get people to sign that bombing children and people in Iraq increased the Christmas spirit.
Name some of your performance art heroes. Who has inspired/influenced your performance art?
Yoko Ono is probably one of my performance art heroes. I have too many inspirations and influences to even begin.
Travis has also been a contributor at performance art night and you can see a video of one of his performances on this earlier post.
