Cliff Hengst's Semi-Fictionalized, Drag Double-Decker Bus Tour
In Partnership with MachineProjectAs part of the Getty initiative Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A., Machine Project asked artists to take on the whole environment of Los Angeles and create performances shot on video and edited into short experimental films in response to notable architectural sites throughout the city.
On February 11, 2012, the Beverly Hilton Hotel made the news when pop icon Whitney Houston was found dead in her suite. She was there to attend a pre-Grammy party hosted by her long time producer and friend, music mogul Clive Davis, later that same night. To the surprise of friends and family, the show went on, with Whitney's body still in the building, and the police investigation taking place four floors up. On June 29, 2013, San Francisco based artist Cliff Hengst embarked from The Beverly Hilton to perform "It's Not Right But It's OK," perhaps the first-ever historic autobiographical semi-fictionalized disembodied drag double decker bus tour. His body was the vessel for the spirit of Whitney, flowing with the bus all the way across town to MacArthur Park. The performance wove a continuous monologue from architectural history factoids, the trials of her career, and one liners aimed at pedestrians, punctuated by lip-synched versions of her greatest hits.
