Political Theater

Francisca Benítez’s exhibition Direct Action opened with a performance that was part futuristic gospel, part rally. The Stop Shopping Choir, led by Reverend Billy of the Earth Church, chanted on the sidewalks of Kenmare and Cleveland before moving into the Storefront for Art and Architecture, where Benítez had installed large graphite works—rubbings of New York City property lines meant to be illustrative of urban injustice—on either side of a makeshift stage. Dressed in brightly colored outfits, the chorale belted out beguiling lyrics that entwined such ills as toxic consumerism, climate change, and police brutality (“a tree is the opposite of a cop,” “animals live like paparazzi”). The impassioned performance briefly transformed the familiar confines of Storefront’s narrow, triangular floor plan into a theater for political change. And not for the last time: Benítez and Storefront have planned similar “happenings” through the end of the summer.