Margaret Fisher (artist)

Margaret Fisher
Born1948
Miami, Florida, United States
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of California, Berkeley
Known forExperimental dance, performance art, film and video, multimedia
SpouseRobert Hughes (1996–2022, his death)
AwardsNational Endowment for the Arts, American Academy in Rome Prize, Fulbright-Hays Research Award, Japan-U.S. Artist Exchange Fellowship, Ezra Pound Society
WebsiteMA FISH CO
Margaret Fisher, Splitting (1977), Performance at Venice Biennale Carnevale, 1980

Margaret Fisher (born 1948) is an American performance and media artist best known for interdisciplinary works that pair gestural choreography to experimental visual theater characterized by a cartoon aesthetic with wide-ranging cultural references.[1][2][3] She emerged amid a 1970s Bay Area experimental performance scene that included artists such as Lynn Hershman Leeson, George Coates, Bill Irwin and Winston Tong, and co-founded the intermedia production group MA FISH CO and the alternative theater Cat's Paw Palace in Berkeley.[4][5][6][7]

Fisher's work has been featured at the Venice Biennale,[8] Dance Theatre Workshop, PS1 and The Kitchen in New York,[9][10][11] SFMOMA,[3][12] Image Forum (Tokyo), and the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal Mue-danse Festival.[13] Tt has been reviewed in The New York Times,[14] The Village Voice,[15] Los Angeles Times,[7] La Repubblica,[16] Artweek,[17] San Francisco Chronicle,[18] and Dance Magazine.[19] Critic Rita Felciano describes Fisher's approach as one of "artful intellect" and her multimedia pieces as "demanding puzzles, tightly structured and pervaded by a stillness and internal quiet."[3] Fisher is also an independent researcher and author of books on twentieth-century performance, radio, film and poetry.[20][21][22] She lives and works in Emeryville, California and was married to Robert Hughes.[3]

  1. ^ Dunning, Jennifer. "Margaret Fisher in Three Pieces," The New York Times, August 16, 1981, p. 63. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  2. ^ Lust, Annette. "Ma Fish Dance Co," Movement Theatre Quarterly, Summer 1994.
  3. ^ a b c d Felciano, Rita. "Artful Intellect," San Francisco Bay Guardian, September 20, 1989, p. 30.
  4. ^ Weiner, Bernard. "New Plays Festival," San Francisco Chronicle, April 11, 1982.
  5. ^ Silver, Sam. "Margaret Fisher and the End of the Cat's Paw Palace," Theatre Magazine, Winter 1977, p. 67–8.
  6. ^ Laine, Barry. "San Francisco Dancers Look to the East," The New York Times, August 16, 1981, Section 2, p. 12. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  7. ^ a b Herman, Kenneth. "Anti-War Ode Inspires Ma Fish Co Score," "Los Angeles Times", June 14, 1986. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
  8. ^ Manzella, Gianni. "La scuola di San Francisco fa capolino al carnevale di Venezia," Il Manifesto, February 21, 1980.
  9. ^ Hall, Darcy. “Dance Steps," Fusion Arts Review, June 16–30, 1983.
  10. ^ Sommer, Sally R. "ParaReview," The Village Voice, June 8, 1982.
  11. ^ Banes, Sally. "Choreographing Community: Dancing in the Kitchen," Dance Chronicle, 25(1), 2002, p. 143–161.
  12. ^ Ross, Janice. "'Dis' is simple, subtle, 100 percent charming," Oakland Tribune, July 11, 1989.
  13. ^ Asimakopulos, Anna. "Mutating Dance.” Mirror (Montreal), February 24–March 9, 1989.
  14. ^ Anderson, Jack. "Work by Miss Fisher," The New York Times, June 5, 1983, p. 53. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  15. ^ Jowitt, Deborah. "Margaret Fisher at American Theatre Lab," The Village Voice, September 9–15, 1981.
  16. ^ Farassino, Alberto. "Mostra del Cinema '81 Biennale di Venezia," La Repubblica, September 10, 1981.
  17. ^ Ross, Janice. "Variations on the Square," Artweek, December 4, 1977.
  18. ^ Stein, Ellin. "A Man's Passion for Bugs," San Francisco Chronicle, July 4, 1980, p. 49.
  19. ^ Bowers, Theresa. "Reviews: Nancy Lewis presents Margaret Fisher at the Kitchen," Dance Magazine, October 1979.
  20. ^ Ezra Pound Society. "Margaret Fisher." Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  21. ^ Fisher, Margaret. Ezra Pound's Radio Operas: The BBC Experiments, 1931-1933, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2002. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
  22. ^ Fisher, Margaret. Tempo as an Organizing Principle in the 1924 Film Ballet mécanique, an Analysis, and Other Essays on Modernism and Futurism, Emeryville, CA: Second Evening Art, 2016.