Hard Truth: (S)he Speaks Volumes is the life's work of critically acclaimed artist Thornton Dial, interpreted by internationally renowned poets, Januarie York, M'reld Green, Georgia Me, and Tasha Jones. With elegance and audacity, these poets examine the challenges and beauty of America, brilliantly expressed through the hands of Thornton Dial. Witness these poets making bold new verbal art from Dial’s dauntless visual art, brought to life from the museum walls.

Performance 14: On Line/Ralph Lemon
January 26, 29, and 30, 2011

In conjunction with the exhibition On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century
The Museum of Modern Art, November 21, 2010–February 7, 2011

Video directed by Ben Coccio. Cinematography by Cal Robertson. Produced by Professor Bright Films

© 2011 The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Performance 12: On Line/Marie Cool and Fabio Balducci
January 12-16, 2011
In conjunction with the exhibition On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century
The Museum of Modern Art, November 21, 2010–February 7, 2011

© 2011 The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Performance 11: On Line/Trisha Brown Dance Company
January 12–16, 2011
In conjunction with the exhibition On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century
The Museum of Modern Art, November 21, 2010–February 7, 2011

In conjunction with the exhibition On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century
Roof Piece photo by Babette Mangolte
Video produced by Ben Coccio and David Shuff

How does an artist transform a solitary practice into a communal experience? In this film, artist Martha Colburn leads a group of musicians in a series of live performances to her animated films at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens. The raucous energy of the musical accompaniment to Colburn’s work—itself intensely kinetic and colorful, often depicting historically-inspired scenes of aggression and violence—belies the time-consuming and meticulous process by which the artist creates her stop-motion films.

Is being a performance artist just another job? In this film, artist Shana Moulton rehearses and performs Whispering Pines 7 in the exhibition Acting Out at the Bronx River Art Center. In her 14th floor studio at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace, an artist residency program of repurposed offices located in the heart of Wall Street, Moulton gathers up the essential tools of her trade — costume, wig, makeup, DVD — and takes the long uptown subway trip to the Mott Haven section of the Bronx.

Caden Manson and Jemma Nelson (Big Art Group) gather real-life stories of San Francisco residents into a live site-specific multimedia tragedy play. About "The People": "The People: San Francisco" is a site specific, outdoor extravaganza that combines live theater with large scale, real time video projection. The narrative, constructed from interviews with members of the local community who voice their thoughts about democracy, war, terrorism and justice as it relates to their personal histories, loosely recreates the story of Aeschylus' Oresteia.

Join Chicago-based installation artist Theaster Gates and his ensemble, The Black Monks of Mississippi, for a performative response to the visual art of Thornton Dial. Inspired by the rich symbolic world of the black South, Dial’s art explores the hard truths of history and political and social issues. In this performance, Gates and The Black Monks improvise to create “black sound,” born of the power of gospel.