For one night only, Shaker Museum presents Farmhouse/Whorehouse, an artist’s lecture performance piece created by Suzanne Bocanegra starring Lily Taylor. Equal parts lecture, memoir, and cultural essay, the performance is a companion to Cradled, a thought-provoking new Shaker Museum exhibition curated by Frances McDormand and Bocanegra running at Kinderhook’s Knitting Mill through December 1.
Farmhouse/Whorehouse considers the lives of Bocanegra’s grandparents on their small farm in La Grange, Texas, which was located across the road from the Chicken Ranch, the inspiration for the Broadway musical and film, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Using text, song, film, and projections, Bocanegra and Taylor tell a rambling story that examines the idyllic place the rural world occupies in our urban imagination, with occasional detours to explore the pastoral in art, homesteading, French painting in the 19th century, Star Trek, and various utopian communities throughout history, including the Shakers.
Cradled explores the transcendent impact of the Shakers’ communal embrace from cradle to grave through objects, values, and inspired modern-day artistic expression. It runs through Sunday, December 1 at the Kinderhook Knitting Mill in Kinderhook, NY. Exhibition hours are Friday and Saturday: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Sunday: 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM. No tickets or advance reservations are required. For more information on the exhibition, visit shakermuseum.us. For more information on the Kinderhook Knitting Mill (located at 8 Hudson Street, 2nd Floor in Kinderhook, NY) visit: www.kinderhookknittingmill.com.