Aphrodite wants to ask you about love.
And she wants to do it while decked out in a mermaid costume and sitting atop a clamshell inside a giant, hot-pink television set on wheels.
Performance artist Rebecca “Aphrodite” McIntosh is coming to Coney Island to question local legends and average folk about passion and romance in front of a live audience for a show she calls “Love TV.”
“It’s exploring identity, love, and community with live interviews in a public space,” said McIntosh, who will hit the People’s Playground on Aug. 21. “And as Aphrodite, the goddess of love, people join me in my mobile theater and we go on a conversational journey.”
McIntosh started “Love TV” ten years ago, asking guests saucy, sexual questions in tents at festivals while airing the live interview on a screen for audiences to watch.
Now, she asks her questions in the florescent telly-on-the-go — which the artist describes as “a stunning, three-dimensional art piece that looks like a Japanese cartoon or a hot rod that has a sense of humor about itself.”
She says the strange high-tech get-up is a way to disarm her guests — and since she incorporated the visual spectacle into her routine, she has shifted the focus of her questions.
“It went from conversations about love and sex to discussions about what people are passionate about and inspired by in their lives,” she said.
And if there’s one thing Brooklynites are fervent about it’s borough-pride, so this particular show will center around the community in Coney Island and Brighton Beach. McIntosh will interview about 10 locals — some of whom have been nominated on Love TV’s website and a handful from the live audience.
And the show’s sure to be lovely — McIntosh seems struck by Cupid’s arrow when it comes to the home of the Cyclone.
“Visually Coney Island is awesome,” she said. “I love the dancing on the boulevard to all the wild disco going on. People there seem to be up for a party in the middle of the day.”
Love TV in front of Peggy O’Neill’s [Surf Avenue, between W. 16th and W. 17th streets in Coney Island, www.lovetv.com.au]. Aug. 21, 5–7 pm.
