Arleen Schloss (born December 12, 1943, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York) is an American painter,

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

ist, video/film artist, sound poet, multimedia director and art curatorSonic Youth: Sensational Fix, p. 514 Publisher: Walther Konig; Har/Com edition (March 1, 2009) of the

lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...

art,

video art Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting. V ...

, performance art and

No Wave No wave was an avant-garde music genre and visual art scene that emerged in the late 1970s in Downtown New York City. The term was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. Reacting against punk rock's recycling of rock and r ...

music scenes. Schloss began her influence through A's – an interdisciplinary art loft space in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

that became a hub for

noise music Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical sound. Noise music include ...

, art exhibitions,

, films and art videos. Artists and performers such as

Glenn Branca Glenn Branca (October 6, 1948 – May 13, 2018) was an American avant-garde music, avant-garde composer, guitarist, and luthier. Known for his use of volume, scordatura, alternative guitar tunings, minimal music, repetition, drone (music), dronin ...

, Y Pants,

Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved notoriety in the late 1970s as part of the graffiti ...

band

Gray Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

, solo performances by

Eric Bogosian Eric Michael Bogosian (; born April 24, 1953) is an American actor, playwright, monologuist, novelist, and historian. Descended from Armenian-American immigrants, he grew up in Watertown and Woburn, Massachusetts, and attended the University ...

, Phoebe Legere's band Monad, pre-

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a member of the rock band Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running ...

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

band

The Coachmen The Coachmen were a lower-Manhattan punk rock/no wave band that performed from early 1978 to their final gig at White Columns in August, 1980. The line-up included guitarists Thurston Moore and J. D. King, bassist Bob Pullin, and Danny Walwort ...

Liquid Liquid Liquid Liquid is an American no wave and dance-punk group, originally active from 1980 to 1983. They are best known for their track "Cavern," which was covered—without proper permission or attribution—by the Sugar Hill Records (rap), Sugar ...

Carolee Schneemann Carolee Schneemann (October 12, 1939 – March 6, 2019) was an American visual experimental artist, known for her multi-media works on the body, narrative, sexuality and gender. She received a B.A. in poetry and philosophy from Bard College and ...

Alan Vega Alan Bermowitz (June 23, 1938–July 16, 2016), known professionally as Alan Vega, was an American vocalist and visual artist, primarily known for his work with the electronic proto-punk duo Suicide. Life and career Alan Bermowitz was raise ...

's band

Suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

, Martin Wong, and

Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei ( ; , IPA: ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been ...

performed, exhibited and got their start at A's. In the 1990s A's became A's Wave where early

net art upright=1.3, "Simple Net Art Diagram", a 1997 work by Michael Sarff and Tim Whidden Internet art (also known as net art or web art) is a form of new media art distributed via the Internet. This form of art circumvents the traditional dominance o ...

and other forms of

digital art Digital art, or the digital arts, is artistic work that uses Digital electronics, digital technology as part of the creative or presentational process. It can also refer to computational art that uses and engages with digital media. Since the 1960 ...

were shown. A 2024 film by Stuart Ginsberg called ''IT'S A to Z: The ART OF ARLEEN SCHLOSS'' and a 2021 book by Baptiste Brévart, Guillaume Ettlinger, Guillaume Loizillon & Pauline Chevalier for Anamosa Books called ''Wednesday’s At A’s'' have documented Schloss's

no wave No wave was an avant-garde music genre and visual art scene that emerged in the late 1970s in Downtown New York City. The term was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. Reacting against punk rock's recycling of rock and r ...

period and her A's scene. Art historically, she has been associated with the

Rivington School Rivington School was an art group that emerged from the East Village art scene in the 1980s in New York City. Many of the artists of the Rivington School were involved in welding and forging sculptures, performance art or street art. The group, t ...

of art which was based on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

of Manhattan. Concurrently with A's, Schloss established herself as a curator, co-organizing shows at

Danceteria Danceteria was a nightclub that operated in New York City from May 1980 until 1986 and in the Hamptons until 1995. The club operated in various locations over the years, a total of three in New York City and four in the Hamptons. The most famous l ...

and the Storefront for Art and Architecture. Jack Tilton and

Gracie Mansion Gracie Mansion (also Archibald Gracie Mansion) is the official residence of the mayor of New York City. Built in 1799, it is located in Carl Schurz Park, at East End Avenue and 88th Street in the Yorkville, Manhattan, Yorkville neighborhood of ...

both guest curated art exhibitions at A's.Arleen Schloss CURRICULUM VITAE
/ref> Schloss operated as a performance artist in the 1970s, for example with her performance ''Words & Music'' at Bykert Gallery in 1975. ''The New York Times'' stated that her performances were "superior to much performance art." and the ''

SoHo Weekly News The ''SoHo Weekly News'' (SWN) was a weekly alternative newspaper founded by music publicist Michael Goldstein and published in New York City from 1973 to 1982. Positioned as a competitor to ''The Village Voice'', it struggled financially. T ...

'' noted that her voice was "musical the way

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter, author, and photographer. Her 1975 debut album '' Horses'' made her an influential member of the New York City-based punk rock movement. Smith has fu ...

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono (, usually spelled in katakana as ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up in Tokyo and moved to New York ...

are musical."

Life and work

Schloss studied at the

Bank Street College of Education Bank Street College of Education is a private school and graduate school in New York City. It consists of a graduate-only teacher training college and an independent nursery-through-8th-grade school. In 2020 the graduate school had about 65 ful ...

, the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

, and

Parsons School of Design The Parsons School of Design is a private art and design college under The New School located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhattan art ...

and graduated from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. Schloss started her career in the galleries of

SoHo, Manhattan SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall (SoHo), and ha ...

and the

of Manhattan as a painter and performance artist who performed and showed her work in the U.S., Europe and Asia at venues such as the Franklin Furnace,

Betty Parsons Betty Parsons (born Betty Bierne Pierson, January 31, 1900 – July 23, 1982) was an American artist, art dealer, and collector known for her early promotion of Abstract Expressionism. She is regarded as one of the most influential and dynamic f ...

Gallery, Bykert Gallery,

ABC No Rio ABC No Rio is a collectively-run nonprofit arts organization on New York City's Lower East Side. Founded in 1980 in a squat at 156 Rivington Street, following the eviction of the 1979–80 Real Estate Show, the center featured an art gallery s ...

, Construction Company, Max Hutchinson Gallery, Lenbachhaus Galeria in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, La Nuit Parcourt La Ceil in Belgium, Cafe Einstein in Berlin, The Kitchen and the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York City. She taught in the MFA

Computer Art Computer art is art in which computers play a role in the production or display of the artwork. Such art can be an image, sound, animation, video, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, video game, website, algorithm, performance or gallery installation. Many traditio ...

s department at the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...

. In subsequent years she performed her media opera ''A.E.BLA BLA BLA'' at

Ars Electronica Ars Electronica Linz GmbH is an Austrian cultural, educational and scientific institute active in the field of new media art, founded in Linz in 1979. It is based at the Ars Electronica Center (AEC), which houses the Museum of the Future, in t ...

in Austria and was a featured guest on Willoughby Sharp's ''Downtown '86'' show, which showcased 1980s performers, artists and musicians in the year 1986. Additionally, during the 1980s, she began to get noticed for her

sound poetry Sound poetry is an artistic form bridging literary and musical composition, in which the phonetic aspects of human speech are foregrounded instead of more conventional semantic and syntactic values; "verse without words". By definition, sound poe ...

work, mostly for the audio art piece ''How She Sees It By Her''. Schloss' sound work is included in two publications and anthologies, '' Just Another Asshole'' a short-lived

art/music/sound art magazine publication published by

and

Barbara Ess Barbara Ess (born Barbara Eileen Schwartz; April 4, 1944 – March 4, 2021) was an American pinhole camera photographer, No Wave musician and ''Just Another Asshole'' editor. She taught photography at Bard College since 1997; who in 2024, along w ...

and "Text-Sound Texts" Edited by

Richard Kostelanetz Richard Cory Kostelanetz (born May 14, 1940) is an American artist, author, and critic. Birth and education Kostelanetz was born to Boris Kostelanetz and Ethel Cory and is the nephew of the conductor Andre Kostelanetz. He has a B.A. (1962) fr ...

. Schloss was awarded an 8mm camera from Canon to experiment with 8mm video. With the camera, she created the travelogue video ''Sun Daze Away'', which showed at

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

's Summer stage and at various venues in Europe and Asia. In 1990 Schloss directed and produced the video documentary ''FromKepler2Cyberspace'', with Hi8 equipment loans from

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

. This document featured the pioneers of

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

, including Dr.

Marvin Minsky Marvin Lee Minsky (August 9, 1927 – January 24, 2016) was an American cognitive scientist, cognitive and computer scientist concerned largely with research in artificial intelligence (AI). He co-founded the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ...

John Perry Barlow John Perry Barlow (October 3, 1947February 7, 2018) was an American poet, essayist, cattle rancher, and cyberlibertarian political activist who had been associated with both the Democratic and Republican parties. He was also a lyricist for th ...

Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from "bold oracle" to "publicity hound". Accordin ...

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ear ...

and

Jaron Lanier Jaron Zepel Lanier (, born May 3, 1960) is an American computer scientist, visual artist, computer philosophy writer, technologist, futurist, and composer of contemporary classical music. Considered a founder of the field of virtual reality, La ...

. During the same period, Schloss filmed a series of interviews with

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

and included those interviews in a series entitled ''Windows of Chance/Change''.

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

, because of her video work and art in dealing with the

alphabet An alphabet is a standard set of letter (alphabet), letters written to represent particular sounds in a spoken language. Specifically, letters largely correspond to phonemes as the smallest sound segments that can distinguish one word from a ...

and children, hired Schloss in 1989 to direct and produce 15 live video excerpts for the animated TV series

Eureeka's Castle ''Eureeka's Castle'' is an American children's puppet television series created by Debby Beece and Judy Katschke. R. L. Stine developed the characters and was the head writer of the show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block fro ...

, which won a Cable ACE Award. In the 1990s Schloss continued her work with new forms of art and media. She exhibited her electronic work ''Marbelize'' at the international digital and technology show at ISEA, in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

and showed multimedia work on the

, radio and an internet program called ArtNetWeb PORT: Navigating Digital Culture at MIT List Visual Arts Center in 1997. Schloss received various grants, awards and residencies from The

Experimental Television Center Experimental Television Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit electronic and media art center. History The Experimental Television Center (ETC) was founded in 1971 by Ralph Hocking. The center was the result of the expansion of a media access progr ...

, Creative Artists Public Service Grant,

New York Foundation for the Arts The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is an independent 501(c)(3) charity, funded through government, foundation, corporate, and individual support, established in 1971. It is part of a network of national not-for-profit arts organizations ...

Harvestworks Harvestworks is a not-for-profit arts organization located in New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's ...

, Allied Productions and the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

. She is on the board of Art & Sciences Collaborations Inc, and her work is in the collections of the Fales Library Downtown Collection,

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum and the

53rd Street Library The 53rd Street Library is a branch of the New York Public Library at 18 West 53rd Street, just west of Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building is located on the south side of 53rd Street, across from the Museum of Modern ...

Donnell Library in New York City. The New York Underground Museum documents her entire work. Schloss lives in New York City.

Exhibitions, screenings, films and performances

* "Feet" Interactive Installation, Soho, NYC 1970 * "Fore" Director 16 mm experimental film 1970 * "Words & Music" with musician Jack Smead Bykert Gallery New York 1975 * "SNAP - the making of an Elastic composition" Betty Parsons Gallery New York 1976 * "It's A" live performance Robert Freidus Gallery New York 1976 (also 1977 and 1978) * "A Shot Chance" live performance The Kitchen, New York 1977 * "Its A at MoMA" live Performance, Museum of Modern Art New York 1978 * "How She Sees It" Audio Work Sound Performance, 1979 * "A Shot Chance" Lenbachhaus, Städtische Gallery Munich 1980 * "How She Sees It" (Film Version), Director/Writer/Editor, 1983 * "A. E. Bla Bla Bla" - 24 Hour Media Opera - Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria 1986 * "Glenn Branca Symphony No. 4/Physics" Director/Writer/Editor Videonale, 1984 * "Sun Daze Away" Director/Editor/Writer Central Park Summer Stage, 1989 * "Art Around the Park", Tompkins Square Park, NYC 1992 * "From Kepler 2 Cyberspace: The Pioneers of Virtual Reality," New York 1993 * "Arleen Schloss Retrospective" Städtische Galerie im Butentor Bremen, Germany 1994 * "Nine Dragon Heads", Nature Electronic 2nd International Environmental Festival, Chung Buck, Korea 1997 * "Strange Birds," Group exhibition at Center for Book Arts, NY 2012 * "Arleen Schloss: an evening of Super 8 Film and Hi8 Video," New Museum, 2012 * "Come Closer: Art Around the Bowery," 1969 - 1989, Group exhibition at New Museum, 2012 * "Windows of Chance/Change," (Featuring John Cage) New York No Limits Film Series at the White Box Art Center, NY 2012 * "Art in Flux/Speaking in Tongues," Group Exhibition, New York 2012-2013 * “Coded After Lovelace,” Group Exhibition, White Box Art Center, NY 2014 * “The Printed Room, Works Off Paper” Group Exhibition SALTS Gallery, Switzerland, 2016 * "Archival Showcase" Hauser & Wirth Institute, 2019

Collections

* The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield Connecticut, 1970/72 *

Lenbachhaus The Lenbachhaus () is a building housing the Städtische Galerie (English: Municipal Gallery) art museum in Munich's ''Kunstareal''. The building The Lenbachhaus was built as a Florentine-style villa for the painter Franz von Lenbach between ...

, Munich, Germany, 1981 *

Library, New York City, 1982

Awards

* Multi-Media, Soho Tech Award, A's Salon Series, 1980 * ACE Award, The Universe of A, on the making of performance opera, 1987 * ACE Award Manhattan Cable Television, Eureeka's Castle Nickelodeon TV, 1989

References

External links