#machine dazzle

Queer Maximalism  x Machine Dazzle

Edited by Elissa Auther  Texts by Mike Albo, Elissa Auther, Mx. Justin Vivian Bond, Sally Gray, Taylor Mac, Machine Dazzle, madison moore, David Román and Kalle Westerling

Rizzoli/Electa, New York 2022, 160 pages, 23 x 28 cm, Hardcover, ISBN  978-0-8478-6967-1

euro 48,00

email if you want to buy [email protected]

Machine Dazzle is the much-in-demand designer and artist behind popular cabaret, drag, and performance stars such as Taylor Mac and transgender icon Mx. Justin Vivian Bond. For the first time, his over-the-top stage creations, made for himself and others, are collected here alongside stage environments, ephemera, and photos from his career. In Machine Dazzle’s world, costumes are transformative objects with world-making capacity. The artist’s “queer maximalism” encapsulates a more-is-better attitude to making and creating, which looks to counter elitist notions that spectacle and extravagance are vapid. For him, these associations are embraced as queer for their affirmation of hybridity and the rejection of hierarchies of every kind. On the occasion of a major exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Design, curator Elissa Auther brings together an expansive collection of essays and reminiscences from fellow performers, historians, and cultural critics that consider every aspect of Machine Dazzle’s rich body of work.

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Out In The Streets: Dusty Rebel’s Mural To Celebrate Pride During The COVID-19 Pandemic

Process shots of me working on my Pride mural on 2nd Avenue. It’s not an easy time to make art in public, but it was so nice to have so many East Villagers come by and tell me how happy they were to see this go up. Many of the photos featured were taken in the neighborhood.

A few months ago, I was again offered the 2nd Avenue wall for Pride. Like last year, I wanted to bring in a queer artist, but then we got hit with this horrible pandemic, and all our plans fell through. As the weeks went by, the death toll rose, and most Pride events were cancelled, I knew I wanted to celebrate the queer community and our long history of using the street for performance and protest.

Talking with my friend Katherine ‘Luna Park’ Lorimer about what I should do, she suggested I fill the space with my photos. It never occurred to me—I've documented more murals then I can remember, but never done one myself. And with social distancing, I'd have to do it without help from any of the many mural experts I know.

As went through my archive, I got excited to create something that celebrates historic moments I felt honored to capture: NYC Drag March, kiss-ins, Gays Against Guns, Queer Liberation March, The Dyke March. As I pasted these photos of queer icons, mentors, activists, and friends, I felt you all with me out in the streets.

Thank you Steve Stoppert for the wall and all your support, and to City Kitty for sponsoring, my husband Jason for being my amazing assistant!

Out In The Streets: Dusty Rebel’s Mural To Celebrate Pride During The COVID-19 Pandemic

A few months ago, I was again offered the 2nd Avenue wall for Pride. Like last year, I wanted to bring in a queer artist, but then we got hit with this horrible pandemic, and all our plans fell through. As the weeks went by, the death toll rose, and most Pride events were cancelled, I knew I wanted to celebrate the queer community and our long history of using the street for performance and protest.

Talking with my friend Katherine ‘Luna Park’ Lorimer about what I should do, she suggested I fill the space with my photos. It never occurred to me—I've documented more murals then I can remember, but never done one myself. And with social distancing, I'd have to do it without help from any of the many mural experts I know.

As went through my archive, I got excited to create something that celebrates historic moments I felt honored to capture: NYC Drag March, kiss-ins, Gays Against Guns, Queer Liberation March, The Dyke March. As I pasted these photos of queer icons, mentors, activists, and friends, I felt you all with me out in the streets.

Thank you Steve Stoppert for the wall and all your support, and to City Kitty for sponsoring, my husband Jason for being my amazing assistant!

Taylor Mac's 24-Decade History of Popular Music Trailer

In 2016, Taylor Mac performed his immersive 24-Decade History of Popular Music in a theater in Brooklyn for a full twenty four hours. Normally performed in sections, this was the first and only time this had been done. Decade by decade, from 1776-2016, the history of popular music and the history of America merge, with a decidedly queer slant.

The documentary, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, includes footage from the show combined with interviews with Mac, his incredible costume designer Machine Dazzle, his musical director Matt Ray, and his co-director Niegel Smith. Although Mac is the main performer, the show includes a stage full of musicians, additional singers, and his "Dandy Minions" who can often be found offstage interacting with the audience. Mac's desire to draw people together and build community is highlighted during several moments focused on the audience's participation.

Throughout the many hours, performers leave the stage for good leaving only Mac by the end of the show. This is meant to mirror the losses from the AIDS epidemic. Even with only a small selection of these moments, you can feel the effect this creates.

Inventive, beautiful, funny, and often moving, this documentary provides a small taste of the performance and will leave you wanting more.

Mac's costume for the 1980s

Taylor Mac and Machine Dazzle

Mac's costume photo shoot for the 1950s

In December 2022, as part of their Met residency, Catalyst Quartet presented an immersive dive into Bach’s behemoth Goldberg Variations, featuring their acclaimed string quartet arrangement of the beloved keyboard work. Performance artist and “theatrical genius” (The New Yorker) Machine Dazzle responded in real-time, interpreting the music’s inescapable evolution through a personal, emotional…

Machine Dazzle

"The Queer Liberation March is a people’s political march—no corporate floats, and no police in our march. We honor the powerful legacy of the Stonewall Rebellion by highlighting the most marginalized members of our community, as we commit to addressing the ongoing struggles that we face.

Retracing the steps of the original Christopher Street Liberation Day March of 1970, the Reclaim Pride Coalition will gather in Sheridan Square, march all the way up 6th Avenue, and end with a rally in Central Park's Great Lawn."

Machine Dazzle

East Village, NYC More photos: Machine Dazzle, Drag March, Drag, Pride