The Momentary Celebrates Ten Years of INVERSE Performance Art Festival
Four-day festival focuses on live, experimental, and bold performances that explore the important issues of our time
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BENTONVILLE, Ark. — INVERSE performance art festival returns to the Momentary for its tenth year December 11 through 14. The festival focuses on live, experimental, and bold performances that explore important contemporary issues. INVERSE invites artists who push the boundaries of material, form, and movement to share fresh ideas and new ways of seeing the world.
Taking place across the Momentary’s campus, with an additional performance at Crystal Bridges, festivalgoers can expect a full lineup of performances and workshops that push boundaries, shift perspectives, and explore contradictions. In its tenth year, INVERSE explores liveness, experimentation, and radical approaches to the important issues of our moment.
“Celebrating ten years of INVERSE is a powerful moment for Northwest Arkansas and for the artists and audience who have shaped this festival into a space for risk, reflection, and radical creativity,” said Cynthia Post Hunt, curator of artists-in-residence and performance at Crystal Bridges and the Momentary and co-founder of INVERSE. “Over the past decade, INVERSE has grown into a platform where live performance challenges norms, invites dialogue, and brings people together in meaningful ways. This year’s festival honors that legacy while bringing forth new possibilities.”
INVERSE features more than 40 local and national performance artists, including Noelle Choy and William Lanzillo (Cellphone Rollercoaster), Choi Eunjin (Hereing), Shir Ende (Movement-Generated Architecture), and more. In between performances, festivalgoers can join a Wassy Bats Costume-making workshop to create their own costume using paper, cardboard, fabric, and other materials. Then, they can wear their creations to Wassy Fête, an interactive party and performance inspired by the Trinidadian Carnival featuring music by Mexican Institute of Sound, Chuki, and Collective L4VE.
Maree ReMalia (Moving Bodies/Dancing Lives workshop) invites movers, artists, and the creatively curious to explore connection and meaning at the intersection of practice and performance through playfully guided improvisation rooted in dance, theater, voice work, and somatics. In the interactive Cellphone Rollercoaster by Noelle Choy and William Lanzillo, participants will send their phones through a miniature amusement park, recording its journey along the way.
The four-day festival finishes with a tenth anniversary special performance dinner, Our Story Starts With A Tear. The participatory nine-course meal and performance will be led by Danielle Hatch and encompasses ritual, play, and motherhood. A host of local collaborators are involved in the project, including Somewhere Studio, Heidee Lyn Alsdorf, Jessica Colangelo, Monica Thomas, Dana Idlet, Monica Diodati, Molly Bass Rector, Katherine Rutter, Ali Cameron and Brandy Barnes.
INVERSE Passes, including access to all performances, are $35 ($28 for members and $10 for students). Tickets for Danielle Hatch’s participatory meal, Our Story Starts With A Tear are $150 ($120 for members). Tickets are available on the Momentary’s website.
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About INVERSE
The inclusive performance art platform INVERSE was co-founded by Crystal Bridges and the Momentary Curator of Performance and Artists-in-Residence Cynthia Post Hunt and Chief Curator and Director of Education at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art Emma Saperstein. INVERSE strives to foster local dialogue about performance on an international scale and build a community of performance artists and supporters, providing opportunities for performance work to be cultivated in the community. The annual INVERSE Performance Art Festival began in 2016 and has been warmly received in its two host locations: Northwest Arkansas and San Luis Obispo, California.
About the Momentary
Opened in February of 2020 in Downtown Bentonville, the Momentary is a venue for the music, art, and food of our time; and a catalyst for creativity and economic vitality. An extension to Crystal Bridges, the Momentary is ‘a living room’ where community gathers to be inspired, connected, and joyful. The Momentary was founded by the Walton family, based on the vision of Tom, Olivia, and Steuart Walton. Its commitment to cultivating arts and cultural experiences provides more opportunities for education, engagement, and enjoyment in our region. The Momentary is an extension of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, founded by Alice Walton. The Momentary welcomes all with free general admission. Additional offerings include live music, visual and performing arts, an artist-in-residence program, culinary experiences such as Onyx Coffee Lab and the sky-high Tower Bar, indoor and outdoor gathering spaces, an outdoor festival space, and a retail shop. For more information, visit theMomentary.org. The Momentary is located at 507 SE E Street, Bentonville, Arkansas 72712. The Momentary’s Founding Funders are Walton Family Foundation, Walmart, RØDE Microphones, The Coca-Cola Company, Tyson Family Foundation, and Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation.