Astro Artz

Astro Artz was an American publishing company founded by Susanna Dakin in the early 1980s and associated primarily with experimental art, performance art, artists' writings, and independent arts publishing. Its most significant project was its partnership with High Performance, a magazine founded by Linda Frye Burnham that documented performance art and related practices. In 1980, Dakin met Burnham while Burnham was having difficulty sustaining the magazine. Dakin offered financial support, and the two subsequently established Astro Artz/High Performance as a publishing partnership. The arrangement enabled High Performance to continue for many years while giving Astro Artz a prominent role in the circulation of documentation and critical writing about performance-based and interdisciplinary art. Beyond High Performance, Astro Artz published a range of books and other works connected with contemporary, feminist, experimental, and performance-oriented art. Its listed publications included Art in Everyday Life by Linda Montano, Initiation Dream by Pauline Oliveros and Becky Cohen, The Amazing Decade: Women and Performance Art 1970-1980 edited by Moira Roth, and Dressing Our Wounds in Warm Clothes by Donna Henes. These titles indicate a publishing program focused less on mass-market commercial categories than on artist-led projects, documentation, theory, personal expression, and historically underrepresented practices. Astro Artz obtained nonprofit, tax-exempt status in 1984, making it eligible to seek grants and reinforcing its role within the nonprofit arts ecosystem. In 1988, Dakin purchased a property in Santa Monica that later became the 18th Street Arts Center, an important arts organization and residency site. The property purchase connected Astro Artz's publishing activity with a broader institutional and community-based arts infrastructure. During the late 1980s, changes in the content and direction of High Performance led to tensions between the magazine's editors and new board members associated with the Santa Monica organization. High Performance eventually became independent, and its assets were transferred to Linda Burnham and Steve Durland. By 1992, Astro Artz had reinstated itself as the 18th Street Arts Complex. As a result, Astro Artz is best understood as a historical arts-publishing entity whose activities helped support independent performance-art publishing before evolving into an organization centered on an arts complex rather than a standalone publishing brand.

Astro Artz emerged in the early 1980s as an American publisher serving experimental and contemporary art communities. Its formation is closely tied to Susanna Dakin's 1980 meeting with Linda Frye Burnham, the founder of High Performance. Burnham was struggling to keep the performance-art magazine operating, and Dakin offered financial support. Their subsequent arrangement created the Astro Artz/High Performance publishing partnership, which sustained the magazine for many years. High Performance was central to Astro Artz's identity. The magazine documented performance art and provided a venue for artists, critics, and organizers working in forms that often fell outside conventional gallery and publishing structures. Through the partnership, Astro Artz became associated with independent art publishing and with the preservation and circulation of material about performance-based practices. The company also published books and related works. Its publications included Linda Montano's Art in Everyday Life, Pauline Oliveros and Becky Cohen's Initiation Dream, Moira Roth's edited volume The Amazing Decade: Women and Performance Art 1970-1980, and Donna Henes's Dressing Our Wounds in Warm Clothes. The range of these works reflects an interest in artists' projects, experimental writing, feminist art history, performance, and interdisciplinary practice. Astro Artz received nonprofit, tax-exempt status in 1984. This status allowed it to become eligible for grants and situated the enterprise within the grant-supported arts sector. In 1988, Dakin purchased a property in Santa Monica that later became the 18th Street Arts Center. The property expanded the significance of Astro Artz beyond publishing by providing a foundation for an arts facility and community-oriented organization. The relationship with High Performance later became difficult. Changes in the magazine's editorial content and direction produced tensions between its editors and new members of the Santa Monica board. High Performance ultimately separated from Astro Artz, with its assets transferred to Linda Burnham and Steve Durland. By 1992, Astro Artz had reinstated itself as the 18th Street Arts Complex. This transition effectively shifted the organization's emphasis from publishing toward the operation and development of an arts complex. Astro Artz therefore occupies a historical position in American independent arts publishing: it supported a major performance-art periodical, issued specialized art books, obtained nonprofit status, and helped establish the institutional foundation that became associated with 18th Street Arts Center.

• 1992

  Reinstated as 18th Street Arts Complex

  [1]Astro Artzen.wikipedia.org

  The organization adopted the 18th Street Arts Complex identity after its publishing activities and High Performance relationship changed.

• 1988

  Santa Monica property acquired

  [1]Astro Artzen.wikipedia.org

  Susanna Dakin purchased the property that would eventually become the 18th Street Arts Center.

• 1984

  Nonprofit tax-exempt status obtained

  [1]Astro Artzen.wikipedia.org

  Astro Artz gained tax-exempt nonprofit status and became eligible to receive grants.

• 1980

  Astro Artz partners with High Performance

  [1]Astro Artzen.wikipedia.org

  Susanna Dakin's financial support for Linda Frye Burnham's High Performance led to the Astro Artz/High Performance publishing partnership.

An independent, nonprofit-oriented publisher focused on experimental contemporary art, performance art, artists' writings, and documentation of practices that were not well served by mainstream publishing.

• Performance-art magazine · 1980

  High Performance

  Astro Artz's best-known publishing association was the long-running partnership with High Performance, an independent magazine founded by Linda Frye Burnham. The publication focused on performance art and related experimental practices, helping document artists, events, and debates that were often underrepresented in mainstream art media. High Performance was later separated from Astro Artz and became independent.

• Artists' book

  Art in Everyday Life

  A publication by performance artist Linda Montano. Its inclusion in Astro Artz's catalog reflects the publisher's interest in artists' approaches to daily life, embodied practice, and the relationship between art and ordinary experience.

• Experimental art publication

  Initiation Dream

  A collaborative work by composer and experimental artist Pauline Oliveros and Becky Cohen. The title represents Astro Artz's engagement with interdisciplinary and experimental projects that crossed the boundaries between visual art, performance, sound, and writing.

• Performance-art anthology

  The Amazing Decade: Women and Performance Art 1970-1980

  Edited by Moira Roth, this publication examined women’s contributions to performance art during the 1970s. It fit Astro Artz's broader role in circulating documentation and historical writing about experimental and underrepresented art practices.

• Contemporary-art publication

  Dressing Our Wounds in Warm Clothes

  A work by Donna Henes included among Astro Artz's published titles. Its presence in the catalog illustrates the company's support for personal, socially engaged, and nontraditional forms of contemporary-art writing.

• 1988

  Acquire Santa Monica arts propertyStrategy

  Background

  Astro Artz was expanding its connection to the local arts community beyond publishing.

  Action taken

  Susanna Dakin purchased a Santa Monica property that later became the 18th Street Arts Center.

  Aftermath

  The property provided the foundation for a larger arts complex and shifted the organization's institutional trajectory.

  Source

• 1984

  Adopt nonprofit, tax-exempt statusStrategy

  Background

  Astro Artz operated in the grant-supported arts environment and sought a structure compatible with nonprofit funding.

  Action taken

  The organization obtained tax-exempt nonprofit status.

  Aftermath

  Astro Artz became eligible to receive grants.

  Source

• 1980

  Create a publishing partnership with High PerformanceStrategy

  Background

  High Performance was struggling financially, and Susanna Dakin met its founder, Linda Frye Burnham.

  Action taken

  Dakin offered funding and established the Astro Artz/High Performance partnership with Burnham.

  Aftermath

  The partnership continued for many years and became Astro Artz's most prominent publishing activity.

  Source

• Separate High Performance from Astro ArtzOther

  Background

  Changes in High Performance's content and direction created tensions between its editors and new Santa Monica board members.

  Action taken

  High Performance became independent, with its assets transferred to Linda Burnham and Steve Durland.

  Aftermath

  Astro Artz's most prominent publishing partnership ended, while the organization's focus moved toward the Santa Monica arts complex.

  Source

1. 1Astro Artzen.wikipedia.org