UCM Gallery of Art & Design, Warrensburg, MO 2011 - Jaimie Warren

On Saturday, February 5, in partnership with
the UCM Performing Arts Series, Whoop Dee
Doo presented their interactive performance art
experience. A three-hour long series of games,
skits and contests, the performance centered
around an “arctic” theme with members and
volunteers dressed up as fishermen, cavemen,
blue creatures and explorers. With games such
as “finger or a carrot,” “drink the brown water”
and “screaming contest,” audience members
experienced the live participation advantages
to Whoop Dee Doos’ strength as artistic
experience. The kid-centered event attracted
more than 150 attendees with participants
groaning, cheering, screaming, laughing, and
shouting as part of the fun.
Whoop Dee Doo’s Underwater Icy Freezing
Cold Watery Extravaganza!!! exhibition and
performance at the UCM Gallery of Art &
Design was the first full-scale installation and
performance in UCM’s gallery programming
history. It presented one example of the
paradoxical shift in contemporary art discourse
from single “artist” as the authoritative voice in
the creative process and end result, to “artist”
as collaborator in a democratic process in
achieving a collective end result. Whoop Dee
Doo’s strength thrives in its ability to partner
unlikely performers and volunteers and engage
audiences of all ages and cultural backgrounds
in their stylistic vision and chaotic, circus-like
variety show. Past performances have partnered
opposite: just a small portion of
Whoop Dee Doo’s show installation
right, below: Whoop Dee Doo
performs in the UCM Gallery
local celebrities with church group choirs,
senior citizen dance troupes with drag queen
performances, and an aspiring kid rapper with a
professional body builder, all while maintaining
a strict, kid-friendly environment and diverse
vision.
Enhanced by the all-encompassing collaborative
process, Whoop Dee Doo’s Underwater Icy
Freezing Cold Watery Extravaganza!!! left a
positive impression on the students of the
UCM Department of Art & Design and the
community of Warrensburg. It presented an
extraordinary level of creative inventiveness
and the establishment of a cross-generational
experience that left viewers with a childlike
bewilderment. Whoop Dee Doo’s chilly
installation and hilarious performance
exemplified that art does not always have to
be such a serious matter and it can encompass
what we all like to do best - play.
To learn more about the UCM Gallery of
Art & Design, visit www.ucmo.edu/gallery or
ucmartgallery.blogspot.com
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