ArtShow: Parrish Road Show Presents "Stampede" By Tucker Marder

The Parrish Art Museum's creative off-site summer series, Parrish Road Show, presents "Stampede," an installation and performance by Hamptons native Tucker Marder. For Stampede, Marder has choreographed an interspecies dance with over 100 Crested Indian Runner ducks that interact with geometric human-powered puppets. The project opens with a public reception on Saturday from 6 to 8 PM at 1058 Deerfield Road in Water Mill. Admission is free to the reception. RSVPs are encouraged. Marder uses humor and absurd scenarios to generate greater empathy for the natural world in works of art that combine theater, puppetry, and installation. In Stampede and in previous works, Marder pairs people and animals to accentuate how humans domesticate and adapt the natural world to their desired benefit. "Stampede" takes place outdoors on an undeveloped parcel of land where the perimeter is surrounded by recently constructed homes that resemble the geometric shapes used to encircle the ducks. This curious interspecies tango encompasses the artist's thoughts on the cultivation of nature, regional land use, and historic trades such as Long Island duck farming. "A formal influence for Stampede was aerial real estate photography," said Marder. "The lumbering, abstract-shape puppets in 'Stampede' remind me of spec houses and their angular property lines. A flock of Crested Indian Runner Ducks with their pom pom hats provide the perfect foil for the shape's sharp silhouettes. As the ducks and the shapes stampede together across the vacant parcel how will they intermingle?" Parrish Road Show, curated by Andrea Grover, Century Arts Foundation Curator of Special Projects at the Parrish, is presented annually in August and features temporary projects by East End artists. Now in its fourth year, Parrish Road Show is designed to deeply connect creativity to everyday life by presenting exhibitions and programs in unexpected places—from public parks to historic sites—across the region. According to Grover, "Parrish Road Show aims to broaden the traditional understanding of the function of an art museum by bringing art outside and into the community." The series has also included related public programs such as an art historical bike tour, outdoor movies, guided meditation, local food tastings, and live music. Visit www.parrishart.org.