Kembra Pfahler’s archive was recently acquired by NYU, but that doesn’t mean the East Village firebrand is gathering dust in the halls of history. Tonight, the performance artist, future feminist, and frontwoman of shock-jock outfit The Vulptuous Horror of Karen Black will launch a weekly party at Jesse Malin’s subterranean hotspot, Berlin.
Pfahler describes the weekly, called Incarnata Social Club, as “a social club for antisocials, a performance venue for people who don’t like performance and a party for anhedoniacs.” In case you’re wondering, “anhedonia” is defined as “a psychological condition characterized by inability to experience pleasure in normally pleasurable acts.” But Pfahler is being a little modest there — watch the above “day in the life of” documentary, by her niece Mimi Pfahler, and you’ll see how much pleasure Kembra takes in taking a bath and making a “flowing anal-bead skirt.”
The first installment of Incarnata, which kicks off at 9 p.m. tonight, will feature Pfahler along with Orlando Estrada, a Brooklyn-based artist whose mystical-minded work reflects his birth into a family of spiritual mediums; Pfahler’s theraminist Cornelius Loy; and Scott Ewalt, the artist and regular DJ at The Cock and The Slipper Room who is collaborating with Kenny Scharf on his Cosmic Cavern (maybe you own Ewalt’s shower-curtain tribute to Times Square porn theaters?).
Getting into Berlin is sometimes tricky, but you should be fine tonight if you show up with day-glo facepaint, dead-fetus earrings and a snear.