Authored by curator and editor Andrew McNeely, the publication explores the unconventional work of artist, author, and playwright Asher Hartman and his acclaimed Gawdafful National Theater. Through critical reflection and intimate correspondence between McNeely and Hartman, the issue offers new perspectives on Hartman’s theatrical practice, exploring the intersections of psychic intuition, language, and the affective power of performance. McNeely draws on personal observations of rehearsals and an encounter with the live performance Gawdafful’s Blessed with Switch, revealing how language can operate as a score for embodied sensations and unconscious desires.

Editorial Note by Virginia Arce

In the fall of 2025, a fortuitous series of virtual reunions led to the first meeting between the editors of the The Invisible Archive (TIA) and the Performance Art Museum (PAM). During an introductory video call that spun across multiple time zones, the editors of TIA and leadership of the museum, joined in a shared organizational and intellectual raison d’être, agreed to produce a commissioned issue on the work of artist, author, and playwright Asher Hartman. The proposed text would approach Hartman’s unorthodox dramaturgy with serious, scholarly rigor; its writer would situate the artist in an historical and intellectual lineage, while simultaneously opening themself to the spirit of experimentation in their own writing. In the weeks and months that followed, TIA’s search for a fitting author/interlocutor began.  

On behalf of the TIA editorial team, I’m proud to introduce the fruit of that collaboration: Asher Hartman: Los Angeles, Issue 8 of The Invisible Archive, authored by curator and editor Andrew McNeely, featuring correspondence between McNeely and Hartman. In the tripartite text, McNeely sketches a unique theoretical framework to approach the discrete modes of affect that Hartman and his collaborators in the acclaimed Gawdafful National Theater employ. He identifies a kindred spirit to Hartman and Gawdafful in the work of performer Karen Finley, and cites theater critic and scholar Elinor Fuchs in his compelling argument about Hartman’s “elevation of textuality over subjectivity”. McNeely also reflects on his experience as a viewer during a charged performance by Jasmine Orpilla in Gawdafful’s Blessed with Switch. 

This issue of The Invisible Archive is the culmination of a year-long project made possible by the care, rigor, and patience of its author and subject. McNeely’s writing—in nuance and ambition—and Hartman’s introspection and generosity, synthesize to create a new benchmark for the journal.

Andrew McNeely is a writer, editor, and curator whose work draws inspiration from the philosophy of art, the honing of attention, and the health of the conversible world. His writing has appeared in Beatriz da Costa: (un)disciplinary tactics (MIT Press, 2024), Performance Art Museum Reviews, and many artist books and catalogs. Since 2018, Andrew has stewarded the Community Reading Group (CRG), a gathering place for individuals dedicated to becoming more thoughtful about the vital terms that animate appeals to community. He lives in Los Angeles.

The Performance Art Museum (PAM) advances the visibility, legacy, and scholarship of artists working in performance. As an emergent non-profit organization that centers performance art in the foreground of contemporary practice, PAM is dedicated to the presentation and preservation of performance. It is the central venue for the discovery, interaction, and study of contemporary and historically significant performance artworks. At the intersection of art and life, the Museum commissions, presents, and collects the full range of accomplishments in performance.