Sonic Godiva was the second in a series of performative "blockbuster concerts" organized by artist and curator Trong G. Nguyen. It was an installment of Empty Space, Artists Space's monthlong series of events and exhibitions partnering with Performa 05: The Performance Biennial. Similar to the Sonic Peekskill project produced during the 2004 summer in Peekskill, New York, Sonic Godiva broadcasted eight hours of "live" music directly from Artists Space's third floor gallery. Concealed speakers and amplifiers directed out the gallery windows onto Greene Street below, with NO PUBLIC ACCESS to the gallery itself. The audience, as passerby, simply listened from street level. Reciprocally, the bands played to a public removed from visual proximity. The thrilling line-up included Awesome Color, Fur Cups for Teeth, His Name Is Alive, Saturday Looks Good to Me, Summer Lawns, and others. Unlike its Peekskill predecessor, the music at Sonic Godiva was a mix of bands played from an i-POD and performing live, thereby confusing what is public, private, and the approximation of truth.
At 2pm, Jeremy Linzee and his band Summer Lawns played the Grant Lee Buffalo standard Lady Godiva and Me, which cued a re-enactment of Lady Godiva's famous ride through the streets of Coventry, in this case, up Greene Street from Canal to Spring. Song and ride lasted the same duration.
Lady Godiva was an 11th century equestrian, patroness of the arts, activist, and, one might argue, early performance artist. Her husband Leofric, Earl of Mercia, was also the town magistrate of Coventry, England. As lore goes, Leofic was responsible for the levying of high taxes, which Lady Godiva debated against, reasoning that higher taxes meant having less money to spend on the arts. Her husband promised, perhaps facetiously, that he would lower the taxes if she rode through the busy centre markets of Coventry nude. To his surprise, she agreed to the wager. Convinced of Lady Godiva's devotion to the issue, Leofric allowed the bet to be consummated, on the single condition that all the townspeople were ordered not to look at the appointed time of her ride. It's a captivating story, from which the character of Tom the Tailor comes to us. Peeping Tom, as he is better known, became blinded when he alone gazed on Lady Godiva.
Pertinent to Performa 05, Sonic Godiva is a Minimal exploration of voyeurism, censorship, heroinism, political activism, and the history of performance art.The entire public, meanwhile, got to play their part as potential Peeping Toms.
LADY GODIVA AND ME
written by Grant Lee Phillips
She rides uncloaked through the streets of Coventry
Upon a great cockhorse, hair to her knees
I wore a minotaur's mask, and I played the moon cow
I was the last to see her anyhow
No one's gonna lay eyes to see
Lady Godiva and me
Peeping Tom watched the whole thing from the sidelines
Til the Peeping Tom's peeping had strickened poor Peeping Tom blind
Even those things that we know can be seen with two eyes
All those who look her over are surely to die
No one's gonna lay eyes to see
Lady Godiva and me
Burn all the fields of your your hallowed fuel
Hotter than it ought to be
Bury my bones in the stinking Sands Casino for thew world to see
I got the mean streak
I got the mean streak
I got the mean streak
The folks up town live on meat
Things they say I can't repeat
When you're walking down there, down there
No one's gonna lay eyes to see
Lady Godiva and me
Generous support for Sonic Godiva has been provided by Artists Space and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Special thanks to Brandy Bennett, Jennifer Chapek, John Delk, Barbara Hunt, Jeremy Linzee, Stacy Tenenbaum, the NYPD, and all the bands.