Lower East Side Biography Project - Stemming The Tide of Cultural Amnesia

10/15/2026

With two old pals at the oyster bar
Still a fantastic haunt
I remember when I went there the first time in 1969 with Danny. He was a vegetarian. I wonder what he ate there.?
Probably as usual “ just bring me all your vegetables!” he was easy like that

10/14/2026

Sitting in the lovely weather in Union Square, Park wondering how long it will take for me to see someone I know

10/06/2026

Just posted to my Patreon, another 1995 interview I did in my old loft with filmmakers Yves Kropf and Thomas Halaczinsky with camera by Steve Zehentner. This one is from June 20th. Here’s a 7 minute excerpt of my response to the question, 'how would you describe the 60's to a young person coming to New York now.'

Watching oneself at a younger age can be excruciating but these interviews I did with Thomas and Yves are beguiling and intriguing to me. Being asked about the 1960's and 1970's in 1995 I had many of the same insights I have now in 2026, but my expression of them is quite different. I really enjoyed experiencing my answers and point of view in these videos. I hope you do too. xoPenny

Please consider joining my Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/Penny_Arcade All my shows, performances are there plus interviews from The Lower East Side Biography Project. Hundreds of unique posts for Patreon subscribers. You can support my work with a monthly contribution and stop anytime. It is high content entertainment, a balm in trying times and a wonderful place to get lost in!

09/23/2026

Friends of Laura Rubin, we are happy to announce that we have made six NEW Laura Rubin prints available for donors who donate $250 USA and $275 International including postage. These 8” x 12” photographs are beautiful and carefully printed on archival paper. Money will go to pay for much needed medication and treatments for Laura at this critical time. https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-laura-survive

Andrea and Geri II captures a living moment Andrea Whips and Geraldine Smith in Central Park

Candy and Jeremiah captures Candy Darling and Jeremiah Newton at Coney Island a brief moment of happiness before tragedy.

Hilary on an East Hampton dune is truly a photo that captures the hippie spirit of 1971.

Holly in The Mirror captures Holly Woodlawn in a performative moment.

Penny on Pole is a portrait of myself Penny Arcade at 19 in 1969 on an East Village roof wearing an iconic dress from East 9th St designer Tom Coleman at FadeN.

Girl on Table is quintessential late 1960's, an ethereal East Village moment

Click on google drive to see the entire selection of photos to choose from. You may need to cut and paste link
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/10VsRVaWA8Srl_KHjgLq8kriMHQUjyyE1

Candy Darling, Holly Woodlawn, Francis Francine, Andrea Whips, Geraldine Smith, Mario Montez and Penny Arcade. Laura was a very talented photographer and her photos have been exhibited by the Whitney, Guggenheim and Warhol Museum as well as featured in Martin Scorsese’s film Personality Crisis, American Horror Story and many books and magazines. Laura is profoundly grateful for your support.

09/22/2026

Just posted to my Patreon, a 1995 interview I did in my old loft with filmmakers Yves Kropf and Thomas Halaczinsky. It's fascinating for me to watch my younger self interact with their questions and hear my own stories as I experienced them at that age. It's also fun to see how I lived back then and how I looked and spoke and moved. xoPenny

Please consider joining my Patreon.
https://www.patreon.com/Penny_Arcade All my shows, performances are there plus interviews from The Lower East Side Biography Project. Hundreds of unique posts for Patreon subscribers. You can support my work with a monthly contribution and stop anytime. It is high content entertainment, a balm in trying times and a wonderful place to get lost in!

Penny Arcade Interview 172 Stanton Street July 13, 1995, with filmmakers Yves Kropf and Thomas Halaczinsky by Penny Arcade Performance on Patreon. Join Penny Arcade Performance's community for exclusive content and updates.

09/20/2026

In general....there's really nothing tragic about death, the inevitable human condition and at 64 I'm grateful to be softly soldiering on, but our Marlon Cherry was way, way....way too young and his passing was a profound tragedy for his family, his very closest friends and his family of friends in the downtown community, whose day to day experience is nearly ice thin without Marlon's smile and big broad talent - a shining beacon of kindness, hope, modesty. His friends have put together a remarkable memorial tomorrow at St. Mark's Church from 5pm-9pm. If you knew our Marlon or didn't, don't miss this memorial. The performers there to honor our pal are stellar and you will have a front row seat to what community means and will see, feel and hear how our downtown culture sustains itself and celebrates even in this moment - a healing antidote to nearly everything else. Free, just come. St Mark's Church, 2nd Avenue and 10th Street.

09/16/2026

Marlon Cherry Memorial this Sunday September 20th
This Sunday September 20th 5pm to 9pm
ST Marks In The Bowery
FREE MEMORIAL CONCERT and Celebration of our great friend
MARLON CHERRY's impact on our artistic community
JOIN US!

08/16/2026

Tomorrow is the last day of Sheyla Baykal: Horizontal Thinking at Participant Gallery at 116 Elizabeth Street.

This has been a nearly 30 year effort of mine to fulfill Sheyla’s request and a promise I made to her to caretake, preserve and bring her work to the public in a professional way and give her the visibility she deserves but was never afforded her and one she could not afford. It took a dedicated team of people who put their resources, skill and experience to bring this exhibition into this bejeweled moment, a moment not just celebrating Sheyla’s photography but her community - a lost world of integrity, glamour and decay. I’m grateful to Marcelo Gabriel Yáñez, Steve Zehentner, Chelsea Spengemann, Marie Warsh, Lia Gangitano, Andrew Jarman, Chris Tanner, Ricky Lee, Joan Moosey, Ken Angel Davis, David Brockman, Lance Cruce, Garry Hayes, Al Giordano, Marina Ruiz Molina, Agosto Machado and many others I can’t remember right now, who volunteered to be in the trenches with me for years and years to preserve Sheyla’s legacy and schlep and art handle and video, clean, caretake, catalog, research, write, digitize, print and display. It’s been an overwhelmingly positive experience to see the fruits of this collaboration in 3D at Participant, all in service to Sheyla and her intentions.

Tomorrow the final public program with me and writer and researcher Lilia Rocio Taboada about my writing, social practice, and stewardship of artists’ legacies. Please come.

Here’s a 2 minute video of an interview I did with Sheyla as we were organizing her archive. xoPenny

08/15/2026

Tomorrow, Sunday, August 16, 6pm, the final public program of Sheyla Baykal: Horizontal Thinking - Penny Arcade in conversation with Lilia Rocio Taboada at Participant Gallery, 116 Elizabeth Street, ground floor.

Join us for a conversation between performance artist Penny Arcade and writer and researcher Lilia Rocio Taboada about Arcade’s writing, social practice, and stewardship of artists’ legacies.

Lilia Rocio Taboada is an arts researcher, writer, and curator specializing in archival research and collaborative artistic practices since 1945. She is currently Associate, Programs and Editorial at Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, and was previously Curatorial Associate in the Department of Media and Performance at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. She holds a BA in World Arts and Cultures from UCLA, an MA in Art History from UT Austin, and is the recipient of a 2025 Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant.

Penny Arcade aka Susana Ventura is an internationally respected performance artist, actress, poet, and theater maker. Her text-based work is known for its humor, high content, and highly quotable wit and focuses on community building as the goal of performance and performance as a transformative act. Her dedication to social practice and activism began in 1977 when she identified herself as an advocate for other artists. She continues in this role as an international community elder and icon of artistic resistance. Penny Arcade is a 2026 Guggenheim Fellow.

Sheyla Baykal: Horizontal Thinking was curated by Marcelo Gabriel Yáñez with Penny Arcade and Soft Network. https://www.softnetwork.art/ https://www.participantinc.org/

Sheyla Baykal, Jackie Curtis, Sheyla Baykal, printed 2026, Silver gelatin print, 20 x 16 inches. Courtesy Sheyla Baykal Archive and Soft Network.