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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2010 > January > 25 > Entry
Q-and-A with performance artist Tim Miller
Clare Croft, American-Statesman freelance critic, interviews Tim Miller.
Two weeks ago in San Francisco arguments began in the federal trial regarding the constitutionality of Proposition 8, California’s voter-approved ban of same-sex marriage. This weekend, Austin will hear a slightly less somber challenge to Prop 8: queer performance artist Tim Miller’s one-man show ‘Lay of the Land.’ at the Vortex.
Miller gained national headlines in the early 1990s when he was one four artist performances artists whose NEA grants were yanked by conservative lawmakers intent on curbing their sexually-oriented creative expression. In response to what became known as the culture wars, the NEA — which was nearly abolished in the process — stopped awarding individual grants to artists.
Miller spoke with Statesman about the performance’s timeliness, sexiness and meaning.
American-Statesman: How did the November 2008 vote for Proposition 8 catalyze the creation of ‘Lay of the Land?’
Tim Miller: This piece really began from questioning what it means when your state completely messes with your family—when 52 percent of the voters vote to deny rights to 10 percent of the citizens. It’s a response to this kind of crazy thing: having your neighbors vote to take your rights away.
AAS: You perform ‘Lay of the Land’ with American and California state flags on either side of the stage. Why did you choose those symbols?
TM: They’re clear markers of civic identity. Every high school cafeteria has a state and national flag. Every courthouse. The spaces I tell stories about are almost always public spaces—where individual identity clashes up against national status. I also travel constantly, so if it doesn’t fit in my carry-on bag, it ain’t part of the show.
AAS: Why do you talk about sex so much in your work?
TM: Well, in mainstream representations of gay people on television, it’s pretty much forbidden for sex to even be mentioned. It’s usually just the gay minstrel clown with snappy one-liners. I want to create the images I would say are invisible in mainstream culture: a queer citizen, a queer husband, [and] a queer activist.
AAS: What gives you hope — the drive to keep performing, despite the passage of legislation and referendums with which you disagree?
TM: I was performing at Texas Tech in Lubbock last year and a bunch of ROTC students wanted to talk to me. I thought, ‘Oh, they’re going to mess with me.’ Instead they only wanted my take on how they could be better officers and more effectively dismantle ‘Don’t ask; don’t tell.’ This is a bunch of 21-year-olds in Lubbock wanting to talk to the gay performance artist about dismantling ‘Don’t ask; don’t tell.’ It was so great. My own prejudices were exposed. I had thought the only narrative would be queer bashing, and I was completely wrong. Moments like that are the currency of hope. The story can change. The narrative is not fixed.
‘Lay of the Land’
When: 8 p.m. Friday-Sunday
Where: Vortex, 2307 Manor Road
Cost: $15-$30,
Info: 478-5282, www.vortexrep.org
Photo by Leo Garcia.
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