Performance art as we know it originated in the Happenings that Allan Kaprow began staging in New York in 1968. In blurring distinctions between art and life, between performers and audience, between music and art, between spontaneity and design, he made way for what is perhaps the medium of choice for the avant-garde today.

Performance is now so thoroughly embedded in global culture that it even has its own biennale. First unleashed in New York in 2005 by RoseLee Goldberg, Performa is back again this fall with a three-week schedule of performances, screenings, symposia, exhibitions and other events at more than twenty venues across the city.

This weekend, Object Relations, a work-in-progress commissioned for Performa07, will be previewed at Robert Wilson's Water Mill Center, on Eastern Long Island. Artist Daria Martin, with musician Zeena Parkins and actor Nina Fog, will present the piece at its moment of transition between live performance and what will emerge this fall as a film. The artists advanced the project during their two-week residency Water Mill Center, the first in a new program offered there. Object Relations will be introduced by Performa Director RoseLee Goldberg, and a reception with the artists will follow the presentation.

Photo, above left: Zeena Parkins and Nina Fog in Object Relations by Daria Martin (2006). Photo by Getty Images, courtesy of Maureen Paley, London. Photo above, center: Working with Robert Wilson. Photo: Georgia Oetker, courtesy of Water Mill Center. Photo above, right: In the studio, courtesy of Water Mill Center.

Martin's productions are described as a refreshingly unfamiliar blend of film, dance, sculpture, and performance that use low-tech materials to create fantastical environments. Her work has been shown at Miami Art Basel, the Tate Modern, London, Kunstalle, Zurich, and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, among others.

The Water Mill Center has been described as the visionary performance and visual artist Robert Wilson's "academy for the 21^st century." In this laboratory for the arts and humanities, artists are given the space, time and encouragement to create new ideas in all artistic fields and media. In the thirteen years that the Watermill Center has been hosting programs, over 800 artists representing more than 50 countries have participated.

If you would like to attend Daria Martin's Open Rehearsal at the Watermill Center this Sunday, please RSVP to elka.rifkin@robertwilson.com or (631) 726-4628. For information about upcoming Performa events, please check the website.