Calling a Halt to Suffering for Her Art

Calling a Halt to Suffering for Her Art

M elissa Ichiuji, the Corcoran College of Art + Design student who shed earthly comforts, desires and clothing for a public performance piece she called "Stripped," ended her self-imposed privations at 3:45 a.m. yesterday, about 14 hours before the project's planned conclusion.

"It was a hard decision to make," she told us yesterday, adding that a doctor in the early-morning audience outside the Corcoran had advised her to quit. "I think I had heat exhaustion from the afternoon sun, and by evening I had the shakes very badly."

An actress and dancer from Front Royal, Va., Ichiuji, 37, had taken position on a small wooden platform in front of the gallery at 6 a.m. Tuesday and was planning to shear off her hair at 6 p.m. yesterday -- the culmination of four months of shedding indulgences (TV, cosmetics, sex) and staples (shelter, running water, food). Subsisting on water and Gatorade, she hadn't spoken to anyone for a week. A homeless man lay down nearby to keep the sunburned and diarrhea-stricken artist company in the performance's final hours.

Unable to reach her banker husband, Doug , when she came off the platform, Ichiuji says she had to beg a taxi driver for a ride with the promise of future payment. "I had no money on me and no shoes -- they thought I was a homeless person. It became really interesting, on a whole other level."

The lesson? A possession-driven lifestyle should be periodically "rebalanced," she said. "I could see doing it once a year." (But personally we wouldn't give up the sunscreen.)

Dutch Mistreat: The Blade Editor's Bad Night in Amsterdam

· Chris Crain, executive editor of the Washington Blade, the District's gay newspaper, is accustomed to the political punches thrown in your nation's capital. But a nose-breaking, homophobic beat-down in Amsterdam, one of the world's most gay-friendly cities?

"It wasn't expected," Crain said yesterday, sounding pretty good despite a very sore schnozz. In the early morning hours of April 30, he and his Brazilian boyfriend were holding hands while walking to their hotel when they were set upon by six or seven men.

One, whom Crain described as apparently Moroccan, spat in Crain's face and muttered an anti-gay slur. "Then he punched me, straight in the nose, and said something like 'How about that?' " Crain told The Post's Neely Tucker. The assailants ran away before police arrived.

That might have been it, had not the editor posted an account on the paper's Web site ( http://www.washingtonblade.com ). Two Dutch newspapers picked up the story -- there have been ongoing culture wars between Moroccan immigrants and Dutch natives -- and "Nova," the country's television newsmagazine, aired a 20-minute segment.

The response? More than 700 e-mails: "Mostly, they're apologizing on behalf of the country, and asking us to come back soon and feel free to hold hands if we want," Crain says.

SQUIBS

· Joan Rivers was among those who beat feet yesterday during the brief evacuation of Washington buildings, prompted by a Cessna entering restricted airspace. That's an exclusive from the "Access Hollywood" show that airs today! Turns out that Rivers, who serves as an ambassador for the National Osteoporosis Foundation, was on the Hill to talk about her experience with the disease.

· Stevie Wonder's video for his new song, "So What's the Fuss," includes a special audio track for the blind. A version of the legendary singer's first video in 10 years is narrated by rapper Busta Rhymes , who describes the action and scenery during breaks in the lyrics. The narration can be heard on the secondary audio programming (SAP) channel. "Until now music videos have been very one-dimensional for those who are blind or with low vision," Wonder said in a statement.

· Bobby Shriver , bachelor no more. The brother of California's first lady got hitched over the weekend in Los Angeles to his longtime girlfriend, artist Malissa Feruzzi . Maria Shriver and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger were in attendance. Shriver, 51, a Santa Monica city council member, chairs the foundation DATA, an African aid organization he founded with U2's Bono.

With Anne Schroeder