Alex Tatarsky's 'Sad Boys in Harpy Land' Performance at Walker Arts Center Explores Language and Artistic Frustration
Alex Tatarsky's performance, titled 'Sad Boys in Harpy Land,' is set to take place at the Walker Arts Center from January 8-10, 2026. In a conversation with artist Amy Ching-Yan Lam, Tatarsky delves into the essence of language, illustrating how stripping consonants from words such as 'despair' reveals the emotional core expressed through vowels. A third-generation resident of the East Village, he navigates themes of artistic dissatisfaction and the paradoxes within art institutions. The performance draws on classic works by Goethe and Günter Grass, adapting Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. The dialogue also references Tolstoy's spiritual turmoil and critiques of art's societal role, while discussing the buffon—a marginalized figure who challenges authority. Tatarsky's work blends comedy, poetry, and dance-theater, ultimately likening the artistic journey to the lifecycle of an onion.
Key facts
- Alex Tatarsky's performance 'Sad Boys in Harpy Land' runs January 8-10, 2026 at Walker Arts Center
- Tatarsky is a third-generation East Villager who works across comedy, poetry, and dance-theater
- The work explores language by removing consonants from words to reveal emotional cores
- Tatarsky references Goethe's 'Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship' and Günter Grass in the performance
- The interview discusses Tolstoy's shift from novels to moralizing tracts after a spiritual crisis
- Tatarsky critiques art world platitudes and highlights artists' difficult working conditions
- The buffon figure is examined as a grotesque clown who critiques society from the margins
- Charles W. Mills's concept of 'white ignorance' is referenced in relation to weaponized inaction
Entities
Artists
- Alex Tatarsky
- Amy Ching-Yan Lam
- Anna Karenina
- Goethe
- Günter Grass
- Genesis P-Orridge
- Tolstoy
- Wilhelm Meister
- Charles W. Mills
- Simone Forti
- Shane Riley
- Iris McCloughan
- Andreea Mincic
- Masha Tsimring
- Payton Smith
- Eva Steinmetz
- William Electric Black
- Ali Rosa-Salas
- Adam Greenfield
- Natasha Sinha
- Basie Allen
- Lisa Fagan
- Magda San Millan
- Isa Saldaña
- MC Uster
- Mariana Valencia
- Sacha Yanow
- Ming Lin
- Sam Bell
- Joan Jonas
- Eiko Otake
- Mike Lala
- Lena Engelstein
- Juliana May
- Beth Gill
- Pablo de Ocampo
- Rosario Güiraldes
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Dante Alighieri
- Helen Adam
- Gunter Grass
- Richard Wagner
- Amiri Baraka
- Wilson Harris
- Ann Cvetkovich
- Andy Kaufman
Institutions
- Walker Arts Center
- Walker Art Center
- McGuire Theater
- Abrons Arts Center
- Jerome Foundation
- Playwrights Horizons
- FringeArts
- 1812 Productions
- Movement Research
- Poetry Electric
- La Mama
- MAAS
- Whitney Museum of American Art
- MoMA PS1
- The Kitchen
- Under the Radar
- Glen Foerd
- Poetry Project
- Canal Street Research Association
- Clubbed Thumb
- BAX
- Danspace Project
- Judson Church
- The Barnes Foundation
- Philadelphia Contemporary
- Castelli Gallery
- American Poetry Review
- Soho Rep
- The Chocolate Factory Theater
- The Mercury Store
- JACK
- Lower Manhattan Cultural Council
- New York Live Arts
- Bushwick Starr
- LCT3
- Berkeley Rep
- Yale Rep
- La Jolla Playhouse
- LA Dance Project
- Hudson Hall
- Prototype
- HERE
- Santa Fe Opera
- Bard College
- National Theater Institute
- Nichole Canuso Dance Company
- Annie Wilson
- Bearded Ladies Cabaret
- FJK Dance
- Prism Quartet
Locations
- East Village
- Romania
- Minneapolis
- United States
- New York City
- New York
- Philadelphia
- Pennsylvania
- Santa Fe
- New Mexico
- New Orleans
- Louisiana
- Canal Street
- Bde Maka Ska
- Wíta Tópa Bde
- Lake of the Isles
- Minnesota