works--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

   click + drag

   synaptic efficacy refreshment

   ascension no 1

 

   the mystery of claywoman

 

   the brave one

 

   el cantante

 

   whitney biennial

 

   screen test

 

   theo and the skyscrapers

 

   blondie / debbie harry

 

   kiki and herb

 

   big art group

 

   julie tolentino

 

   richard move

 

Rob Roth

Bio

New York City-born director and visual artist Rob Roth has been called “the mad man incarnate”. A persistent and influential presence in the city’s downtown art and culture since the early 1990’s, his work draws from photography, video, painting, dramaturgy and theater to create experiences that transcend the limits of media and performance. Roth’s work uses innovative, multi-disciplinary techniques such as projecting video on the live bodies of actors and dancers to represent the 'inside' of a performance, its essence and soul. Technology is more than a backdrop or superficial projection in Roth’s performances. It functions as a character, a performance enhancer, or instrument with which to amplify the experience. Scent is just one of the many inventive techniques Roth uses to communicate with participants sensually, outside the human constructs of language or image. His use of sensory communication offers a direct link to the more primal elements of existence. His work has been exhibited at a variety of venues including the New Museum for Contemporary Art, Performance Space122, Abrons Art Center, Galapagos Art Space, and Deitch Projects as well as the Whitney Museum of American Art.

After receiving his BFA from Pratt Institute in 1991, Roth co-founded ‘Click + Drag’, the infamous Saturday night at the legendary nightclub Mother, run by nightlife royalty Chi Chi Valenti and Johnny Dynell. ‘Click + Drag’, an amalgamation of art, fashion and atmosphere, blended computer-age references with a theatrical sensibility, sexual ambiguity and a strict dress code (future, cyber, fetish, gothic, post-apocalyptic, glam-nerd, gender-hacking and full period costume)- to create a hedonistic and simultaneous dystopia/utopia. At this weekly epic happening, Roth combined photography, design, and performance with live video feeds and projections, helping define a new aesthetic for the new millennium. The event has now been rebooted as a yearly gathering with the next installment, “Click + Drag 3.1”. The Second Coming”, scheduled for October 17th, 2009 at Santos Party House in NYC.

Roth has worked constantly since the closing of Mother in 2001, creating a variety of work for such artists as Deborah Harry/Blondie, Theo Kogan (Lunachicks) Justin Bond (Kiki and Herb), Big Art Group and acclaimed performance artist Julie Tolentino. Commercially Rob has designed visual effects and movie title sequences for such films as “El Cantante” (director: Leon Ichaso) and “The Brave One” (director: Neil Jordan). Roth’s most recent work includes ‘Ascension No1’, which premiered at Arena Studios May, 2009, and is the first of 3 durational performance pieces which explore ritual, endurance and stamina. Previously, Rob Roth directed ‘The Mystery of Claywoman – Screening and Lecture’, a mockumentary/performance piece written and performed by Michael Cavadias, featuring performances by Amy Poehler, Alan Cumming and Edgar Oliver, which premiered at The New Museum of Contemporary Art. ‘Claywoman’ follows Roth's “rocket opera”, ‘Screen Test’, starring Theo and the Skyscrapers and choreographed by Vangeline Theater, which won the LiveDesign Magazine Excellence Award for Theater in 2009.


• New York Times
• Michael Musto Blog
• NewYorkCool.com
• Blackbook.com
• Interview at goodie.org
• Interview on I'm Going To Kill You Podcast

•Facebook
•Twitter

NEWS

8.24.10

First Click + Drag announcement

http://nymag.com/guides/fallpreview/2010/nightlife/67611/

MAD CINEMA PRESENTS THE first American retrospective of the CULT AUTEUR Alejandro Jodorowsky in september

In honor of Jodorowsky’s first American retrospective, on the opening night of the film series, Debbie Harry, Ana Matronic of the Scissor Sisters, and artist Rob Roth will host an official after party, featuring a light show by Seth Kirby + Brock Monroe (Joshua Light Show) and music by Cameron Cooper and Michael Magnan, at the Hudson Hotel, not far from the museum at West 58th and 9th Avenue.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=136420376401070

Interview in Whitwall Mag

http://www.whitewallmag.com/2010/08/11/london-biennale-in-ny/

8.5.10

LONDON BIENNALE NYC SATELLITE EVENT

Opening Reception: August 5th, 2010 6-9pm

Exhibition dates: Aug 5-Sept 1, 2010

Christopher Henry Gallery 127 Elizabeth Street, New York

(212) 244-6006

Hours: Wednesday to Sunday (11-6) and Monday by appointment.

Curated by: Inbred Hybrid Collective

Artists: Michele Brody, Walt Cessna, Michelle Handelman, John Kelly, Scooter LaForge, Max Carlos Martinez, Rob Roth, Smith & Lowles, Reynolds Tenazas, and Lili White

ABOUT THE EVENT: The London Biennale was founded in 1998 by David Medalla. It has evolved into an artist community loosely based around London and the biennial events that take place there. Totaling over 300 artists around the world, the Biennale organization is not restricted to London, playing an active part in international events. Linking Satellite Events to the London Biennale was conceived by Adam Nankervis, the founder and director of MUSEUM MAN. During London Biennale 2010 Satellite Events have taken place or will take place in Rome on the Pincio Garden, organised by Raffaella Losapio of GalleryStudioRA; in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, organised by Adam Nankervis; in the Social Hall of the Philippine Embassy at Washington, D.C., organised by Marvin de la Cruz Santos; in Las Vegas, organised by Jevijoe Vitug; in Madrid, organised by Filippos Tsitsopoulos; in Prague, organised by Arjan Kok and Julia Drouhin; in San Francisco, organised by Chelsea Wilks and John Dugger; and in Boston, organised by Mary Sherman and Trans-Cultural Exchange (plus many more) For more info, please log into the London Biennale Page in Facebook.

The London Biennale NYC Satellite Event is conceived and curated by Inbred Hybrid Collective in conversation with David Medalla as a way to bring the themes and experiences of the London Biennale into a more primary context for New York's artistic community, hi-lighting the strengths of individual artists while promoting the virtues of art without borders. While this event is not medium-specific, the diversity of the work demonstrates the needs of artists to excel beyond expectation in manifesting positive changes in the world with which they have been presented. We are very grateful for the opportunity to work with an internationally cohesive enterprise such as the London Biennale and wish to thank all of the artists involved in this show whose work represents the best of the trans-Atlantic artistic community in NYC. This exhibition would not be possible without the generous support of Christopher Henry Gallery.

http://www.christopherhenrygallery.com

4.8.10

My Book Club Burlesque show mentioned in Michael Musto Blog

3.22.10

I will be performing with Juila Kent at Book Club Burlesque on Tues March 30th. The theme is Geek Love.

More info here...Facebook Event Page

2.28.10

New performance/installation "Synaptic Efficacy Refreshment" @ Banzi Group Show - Red Lotus Room , Brooklyn , New York Feb 2010

Synaptic Efficacy Refreshment - 2010 from Rob Roth on Vimeo.

12.9.09

Our Lady J's "Boob-Aid: All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Tits" benefit concert on December 16th, with an auction of original artwork items to help raise money for Our Lady J's breast augmentation surgery. More info at... www.ourladyj.com

11.12.09

Presented "Sexy CGI Award" for "Pirate's Booty" at The Fleshbot Awards last night.

10.19.09

Time Out NY photo essay of Click + Drag 3.1 "The Second Coming"

10.15.09

'I'm Going To Kill You' Podcast Interview with Chi Chi Valenti and Rob Roth. IMGOINGTOKILLYOU.COM

9.1.09

CLICK + DRAG 3.1 "THE SECOND COMING"

SATURDAY OCTOBER 17, 2009
SANTOS PARTY HOUSE
100 LAFAYETTE STREET NYC
10 PM-4 AM
$20 ADVANCE, $25 AT DOOR (CASH ONLY AT DOOR)
21 AND OVER, I.D. REQUIRED

CLICKNYC.COM

ADVANCE TICKETS

8.12.09

HOWL! FESTIVAL PRESENTS
The Mystery of Claywoman - Screening and Lecture

Saturday September 19th, 11 PM
The Bleecker Street Theatre
Downstairs
45 Bleecker Street (Just East of Lafayette at Mulberry Street)
$15

A portion of tonight's proceeds will benefit HOWL! HELP, administered by the Actor's Fund, which provides emergency assistance to qualified performing artists in crisis.

MORE INFO ABOUT HOWL! HELP

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE www.howlfestival.com

7.27.09

BLACKBOOK BLOG POST
http://www.blackbookmag.com/article/correct-cultrue/9472

6.28.09

New Video of The Mystery of Claywoman at Le Petit Versailles Garden on June 20th 2009.

Scene from 'The Mystery of Claywoman - Screening and Lecture' from Rob Roth on Vimeo.

6.6.09


CLAYWOMAN @ LE PETITE VERSAILLES

June 20th, 2009, 8 PM
Le Petit Versailles
346 East Houston St.@ Avenue C

FREE

After sold out performances at Deitch Projects, The New Museum for Contemporary Art and most recently opening for Antony and the Johnsons at Town Hall on Broadway, Claywoman returns for a one night only performance at Le Petit Versailles. This latest performance blossoms new themes, ideas and characters in an outdoor garden on New York City’s Lower East Side. A screening of The Mystery of Claywoman (featuring Alan Cumming , Justin Bond, Debbie Harry and Amy Poehler) is followed by a lecture touching on subjects that involve our fragile planet and our evolution as a relatively new species.

Directed by Rob Roth
Performed by Michael Cavadias and featuring Chris Miller
Makeup by Courtney Tichman
Costume by Todd Thomas
Movement/Butoh coach Vangeline
Lighting by Ben Kato
DP Trent Ermes

petitversailles@earthlink.net

www.lpvtv.blogspot.com

212 529 8815

Subway: F/V- Second Ave. - J/M/F- Delancey/Essex

 

5.8.09

Rob Roth and Darrell Thorne Installation at Manifesto.
May 9th, 7 - 10, Arena Studios 407 Broome St.

Time Out NY Listing

3.6.09

Screen Test Wins Live Design Excellence Award For Theater

WWW.LIVEDESIGN.COM

2.22.09

Claywoman opens for Antony and the Johnsons

An edited version of The Mystery of Claywoman opened for Antony and the Johnsons sold out performance at Town Hall on Broadway Feb 19th and 20th.

Pictures here ... WWW.BROOKLYNVEGAN.COM

2.2.09

Screen Test Nominated For Excellence Award

You can vote online here.... WWW.LIVEDESIGN.COM

12.16.08

The Mystery of Claywoman in NY Observer

11.29.08

THE MYSTERY OF CLAYWOMAN @ THE WILD PROJECT

December 4 - 14, 2008 Thursday - Sunday at 8pm

“Wildly witty” – Michael Musto, Village Voice

“funny, uncomfortable and depressing - in that order.”- Paper Magazine

For more information or to buys tickets: $20


THE WILD PROJECT
www.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/64232

“The Mystery of Claywoman,” written and performed by Michael Cavadias and directed by Rob Roth, combines the forms of a documentary screening and lecture to actualize the story of Claywoman, a 500-million year old enigma who, legend has it, can cure anyone of their deepest pain. Utilizing both live performance and film, Cavadias and Roth delve deeper into the mythology and mysteries of Claywoman in the latest incarnation of her story. Written by Cavadias and directed by Roth, the cast of this film includes Amy Poehler, Alan Cumming, Justin Bond, Deborah Harry, Ruth Maleczech and Edgar Oliver . The piece was workshoped at Deitch Projects and had its New York premiere at The New Museum for Contemporary Art.

10.2.08

SCREEN TEST RETURNS FOR HALOWEEN 2008!
October 30 thru Nov 2nd 2008
Abrons Arts Center , NYC New York, NY,

Screen Test, the devastatingly beautiful collision of video installation and rock show, conceived and directed by Rob Roth with the band Theo and the Skyscrapers, will be bringing its incredible costumes and theatrics back to NYC just in time for Halloween, with a special run at the Abrons Arts Center from October 30th thru November 2nd. Featuring postmodern butoh choreography by Vangeline, Screen Test merges dance, music, cinema and performance into a truly unique and haunting theatrical event.

SEE NEW TRAILER HERE

October 30 | 7:30 pm
October 31 | 7:30 pm & 10 pm
November 1 | 7:30 pm
November 2 | 7:30 pm

Abrons Arts Center 466 Grand Street at Pitt St , New York , NY 10002

www.henrystreet.org/arts $25 | www.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/64232 | 212.352.3101

10.2.08

REMEMBER THE FUTURE? CLICK + DRAG REBOOTS 11/15

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 15, 2008
ROB ROTH, CHI CHI VALENTI and XRIS FLAMM UNVEIL
CLICK + DRAG 3:0 "THE HALLUCINOGENIC TOREADOR"
SANTOS' PARTY HOUSE
100 LAFAYETTE STREET NYC 9 PM-4 AM

clicknyc.com myspace.com/click_drag_nyc

The pioneering "Cyber/Fetish/Gender-Hacking" party CLICK + DRAG, which ushered out the 20th Century in style, returns as a new large-scale annual this Fall. Two of Click's founding producers - director and visual artist ROB ROTH and impresario CHI CHI VALENTI - join with XRIS FLAMM of the long-running SMACK FETISH parties to shape this latest incarnation. The first of their cyber-spectacles, CLICK + DRAG 3.0: THE HALLUCINOGENIC TOREADOR, will be unveiled on November 15 at sympatico venue SANTOS' PARTY HOUSE.

CLICK + DRAG began as the Saturday-night weekly at Valenti's experimental MOTHER nightclub in 1996 and ran for four years in over two hundred themed editions. The new hybrid built on a body of work called INTERJACKIE, evolved by Roth, Valenti and costume/fashion designer KITTY BOOTS at JACKIE 60, beginning in 1994. With the addition of sex journalist ABBY EHMANN, the four producers explored the interface between nightclubs and computers as CLICK + DRAG built a fanatic following. With their rigorously enforced "STRICT CYBER/FETISH DRESS CODE" the producers ensured that only participants were allowed in. The creative collaboration introduced some pioneering aspects to the Nightworld, including Roth's notorious "Bathroom Cam", and also gave birth to THE MOTHERBOARDS NYC, a nocturnal online community.

When MOTHER closed in 2000 due to spiralling costs in its Meat Market neighborhood, Roth, Boots and Ehmann launched CLICK + DRAG 2.0, a monthly edition at FUN. In its new larger format, CLICK + DRAG was thriving until the events of 9/11 shut down Chinatown for many months. Since the last edition of Click 2.0 that Fall, one of the city's most seminal and creative parties disappeared for seven years - though its many tribes stayed connected online.

CLICK + DRAG 3.0 introduces an even larger format on two floors, preserving the night's strict dress code and pansexual mix of fetishists, artists, gender-hackers and "Glam Nerds." This rebooted evening was inspired by the Dali painting "THE HALLUCINOGENIC TOREADOR", cyber-shamanism, the writings of TERENCE MCKENNA, and the new tribalism that brings Click's audience and performers together both online and at large gatherings worldwide.

The event's two floors will feature multimedia works directed by Roth and installations and performances by many collaborators from the two previous iterations. These include 1.0 producer and Burning Man eminence ABBY EHMANN as the "KINK CONTROLLER", DJs JOHANNA CONSTANTINE and SAMMY JO, Minneapolis-based Trans-Star VENUS DE MARS with her band ALL THE PRETTY HORSES and "Method Go-Go" icon FALON. 21st century additions include sensationalist AMBER RAY, glitter-dusted cabaret troupe THE PIXIE HARLOTS, and DJs JOHNNY DYNELL, the "FAERIE DJ POSSE" MALAKAI and ANGELO (San Francisco) and XRIS_SMACK! The bill, dress code and theme is still evolving - look for full information and box office by mid-October.

$20 ADVANCE, $25 AT DOOR

*A STRICT DRESS CODE WILL BE COMPLETELY ENFORCED TICKETS ON SALE OCTOBER 10 21 AND OVER

8.10.08

The Mystery of Claywoman in La Daily Musto Blog

Amy Poehler Works For Free!

8.1.08

FRIDAY, AUGUST 1ST
THE MYSTERY OF CLAYWOMAN @ THE NEW MUSEUM, NYC

Screening and Lecture - $8 Members, $10 General Public
www.newmuseum.org

Directed by Rob Roth - Written and Performed by Michael Cavadias

6.28.08

THE MYSTERY OF CLAYWOMAN | DEITCH STUDIOS LONG ISLAND CITY

Directed by Rob Roth - Written and Performed by Michael Cavadias

Saturday June 28th
The Mystery of Claywoman - Screening and Lecture @ Deitch Studios, Long Island City

9PM
Premiere of the documentary film "The Mystery of Claywoman"

Lecture to follow by Claywoman herself (time travel permitting)

Deitch Studios
4-40 44th Dr
Long Island City, NY 11101

212 343 7300

http://www.deitch.com

3.28.08

CITY Magazine has a small piece on me this month.

3.28.08

Screen Test on the cover of LiveDesign Magazine

2.13.08

Recent press for Screen Test

The New York Times

NY Times UrbanEye

The Village Voice

New York Cool

Origivation Magazine

NewNowNext Blog

1.27.08

New photos posted of Screen Test from it's run at Abrons Art Center January 12th and 13th.

Look here.

12.11.07

To help with funding for Screen Test this coming January, I am appealing to you, my community of appreciative supporters, to help us. I am selling 4 limited edition signed prints of my original portrait of Theo Kogan . In addition to helping me spread the word about the sale of these special images, I wanted to invite you all out to the Rapture Café (200 Ave. A) on December 18th at 7pm (also my birthday), where one of the prints will be on display, for an intimate gathering of friends and Screen Test cast members. Please join us if you can, and please forward this to anyone you feel might be interested in purchasing one of these limited edition prints. The prints can be purchased directly at Rapture Café or on this site at the link below.

www.rob-roth.com/works/prints.htm

12.6.07

Screen Test - January 12th and 13th 2007

Screen Test will be making a special run at the Abrons Arts Center on January 12th and 13th at 8:30 as part of the Performance Space 122 COIL Festival, an annual winter festival of theatre, dance, new music and multi-media.

Tickets can be found at www.theatermania.com  

Abrons Arts Center
466 Grand Street at Pitt St
New York , NY 10002

9.4.07

This is a show I'm creating with Caden Manson , Theo Kogan, Sean Pierce and Jemma Nelson. We are premiering it in Rome this week.

CINEMA FURY "THE SLEEP"
ROME SEPT. 8 & 9, 2007

Kollantino Underground
Via Georges Sorel, 10
00177 Roma, Italy
Tel: +39 33 9730 1465

Cinema Fury: THE SLEEP

reconfigures MP Shiel's manuscript "The Purple Cloud" with captured and recorded image sequences to critique the contemporary cultural landscape and environmental issues. In this genre classic written in 1901, an ambitious adventurer sets off to the undiscovered North Pole for fame and wealth. But as his expedition turns violent, a far greater tragedy occurs in the world he leaves behind. When he emerges from his hollow triumph to this new order, he must confront a dead world and a bleak new existence for the remainder of his life. Shiel's manuscript, as opposed to other "last man" stories, is uniquely probing, stark, haunting and suffused with sadness and rage. From the unrelenting bleakness and loneliness of the original manuscript, Cinema Fury extrapolates the crisis of contemporary survival, merging Shiel's story with current accounts of climate change, and jettisoning the information accumulation of a digital society to investigate a forced primitivism and a crisis of being.

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8.16.07

Debbie Harry and I were interviewed for LOGO Channels , New Now Next show.
Check out the blog at LogoOnline

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6.29.07

I just directed the music video for Deborah Harry's "Two Times Blue" off the new solo CD "Necessary Evil".

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4.10.07

I am currently designing the opening titles for the new
Neil Jordan/Jodie Foster film, "The Brave One".
The Film will premiere Sept 14th

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El Cantante is out Aug 1st. I was the Visual Effects Designer.
Here is an early review that mentions my subtitles design. Review here

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New photos of Screen Test here

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SCREEN TEST
World Premiere

Performance Space 122
150 First Ave. at E. 9th St.
NYC 10009
General Information: 212-477-5288

November 28th - December 3rd Tuesday - Sunday 8:00 p.m. With Thursday - Saturday Late Shows at 10:30 p.m. $20($10 Members)

In Screen Test rock show collides with video installation. Conceived and directed by Rob Roth with Theo Kogan and her band "Theo and the Skyscrapers", the performance blends haunting romantic imagery and modern apocalyptic paranoia with the gritty sensibility of underground NYC.

Theo and the Skyscrapers premiere a slew of original songs written specifically for this show. The music flows from melodic to assaulting while lyrically echoing themes of loneliness and longing, playing out on a 1940s Hollywood soundstage. Anger and humor combine to ask: What is artificial? What is real? and What role does fantasy play in survival?

Text by Romy Ashby and Rob Roth Costume Design: Todd Thomas
Music Director: Sean Pierce Choreography: Vangeline



Currently working on the movie "El Cantante" as Director of Animation, the new Jennifer Lopez/Marc Anthony Biopic of Hector Lavoe



Big Art Groups "Dead Set" has started production in Berlin. I will be returning to Berlin to finish video and animation. The show will open at the Hebel Theater, Berlin on Sept 28th.



Theo and the Skyscrapers "Broken Girl" debuts on Logo Channels "New Now Next" music video program.



4.4.06 - Video premiere this Thursday @ Monkeytown, Willamsburg

For Immediate Release / Contact: Earl Dax

Rob Roth-directed Theo Kogan Video "Broken Girl" Premieres at LAUNCH PARTY for FISHBOWL CABARET at MONKEY TOWN Deejays, Preview Performances and Q Me Con Warm-up

Thursday, April 6

8:00 PM - 2:00 AM MONKEY TOWN, 68 North 3rd St (L Train to Bedford) $5.00 cover Select liquor open bar from 8:00 to 9:00 PM

"As much of Williamsburg steadily marches on toward its fate of high-rises and higher rents, it is heartening to see a good-humored arty project like Monkey Town put down roots..." - New York Times