BABEL
CURATED BY SANNA ALMAJEDI
SAM ANDERSON
ALI EYAL
EMMA FUJIKO
YIMIAO LIU
XI LI
KELI SAFIA MAKSUD
ASIF MIAN
LIZ PHILLIPS AND HEIDI HOWARD
STIPAN TADIĆ
TIMMY SIMONDS
CURATED BY SANNA ALMAJEDI
SAM ANDERSON
ALI EYAL
EMMA FUJIKO
YIMIAO LIU
XI LI
KELI SAFIA MAKSUD
ASIF MIAN
LIZ PHILLIPS AND HEIDI HOWARD
STIPAN TADIĆ
TIMMY SIMONDS
SEP 05, 2024-
SEP 22, 2024
PERFORMANCE PROGRAM SCHEDULE
September 5, 2024: Sam Anderson, with Valentina Vaccarella
Ali Eyal
Emma Fujiko
Asif Mian, with Noel Cifuentes
Yimiao Liu and Xi Li
September 7, 2024: Timmy Simonds
Keli Safia Maksud, music by Shara Lunon
September 8, 2024: Liz Phillips and Heidi Howard
September 9, 2024: Stipan Tadić, with Camilo Angeles
SEP 22, 2024
PERFORMANCE PROGRAM SCHEDULE
September 5, 2024: Sam Anderson, with Valentina Vaccarella
Ali Eyal
Emma Fujiko
Asif Mian, with Noel Cifuentes
Yimiao Liu and Xi Li
September 7, 2024: Timmy Simonds
Keli Safia Maksud, music by Shara Lunon
September 8, 2024: Liz Phillips and Heidi Howard
September 9, 2024: Stipan Tadić, with Camilo Angeles
64 FULTON STREET
NEW YORK, NY 10038
NEW YORK, NY 10038
SARA’S is pleased to present Babel, curated by Sanna Almajedi, on view from September 5 to September 22, 2024.
Babel is an exhibition and performance series featuring works by Sam Anderson, Ali Eyal, Emma Fujiko, Yimiao Liu, Keli Safia Maksud, Asif Mian, Timmy Simonds, Stipan Tadić, and the duo Liz Phillips and Heidi Howard. Babel is the fourth project of SARA’S residency at Dunkunsthalle, located at 64 Fulton St., New York, NY.
Babel features a program of performances by each artist participating in the exhibition. While they are primarily visualartists, the program spans poetry, sound, body art, and theater. The performances are either related to the work on display, conveying an underlying meaning, or an event in which the work itself is produced, as in the case with Liz Phillips and Heidi Howard’s performance (which is why the duo’s work will be absent from the walls during the opening day). While some of the artists, like Timmy Simonds, Keli Safia Maksud and Liz Phillips, have previously incorporated performance into their practice (and even championed it), others, like Sam Anderson, Ali Eyal, Emma Fujiko, Yimiao Liu and Stipan Tadić, will be venturing into this medium for the first time. Babel seeks to forge a conceptual bond, rather than a thematic one, between each work in the exhibition, giving the artists a liberatory instrument within the commercial gallery space, where beyond the material, the fleeting moment also becomes their canvas.
In the tradition of Fluxus, Babel invites viewers to consider whether performance can continue to offer visual artists a sense of freedom to create in a meaningful and sometimes bizarre way.
SAM ANDERSON (b. Los Angeles) lives in New York. Recent solo and two-person exhibitions include Lunch Hour at Tanya Leighton, Los Angeles In 2022; Sam Anderson at Gaylord Apartments in 2022; I Never Loved Your Mind at Tanya Leighton, Berlin (2020); Contemporary Sculpture: Sam Anderson & Michael Dean at Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida (2019); A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing at Chapter NY, New York (2018); The Park at Sculpture Center (2017); and Big Bird at Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (2017). A monograph of her work was published by Mousse on the occasions of her solo exhibitions at Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne and Sculpture Center, New York. Anderson has an upcoming 2025 solo exhibition at Art Hall in Baltimore.
ALI EYAL (b. 1994, Baghdad) lives in Los Angeles. Eyal is an artist whose practice encompasses painting, drawing, and video, delving into themes of personal history, memory, politics, and identity. His solo exhibitions include In the Head's Sunrise at Brief Histories, New York (2023) and In the Head's Dusk at SAW Gallery, Ottawa (2023). Notable group exhibitions feature Is It Morning for You Yet? at the 58th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh (2023); Surviving the Long Wars: Reckon and Reimagine at the Chicago Cultural Center (2023); and Documenta 15 in Kassel (2022). His video works have been showcased in various international platforms, including the upcoming 22nd Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil in São Paulo (October 2023), Rencontres Internationales in Paris, and the Sharjah Film Platform at the Sharjah Art Foundation. His works are part of collections at Kadist, Paris, and the Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah. Eyal earned his undergraduate degree from the Institute of Fine Arts, Baghdad, in 2015.
EMMA FUJIKO (b. New York) is an artist based in New York. Her practice centers on the exploration of physicality and relationships through collaboration with models, employing rope as a symbol of trust and transformation. Fujiko’s recent solo and group exhibitions include Bound at ELM Foundation, Brooklyn (2021); Small is Beautiful at Flowers Gallery, London (2023, 2019); and Personal Identity Matter + Exit 2020 at Gallery MC, Manhattan (2020). Her work has been supported by residencies such as the ELM Foundation (2021-2023) and Cill Rialaig Residency, Ireland (2015, 2016, 2018). Fujiko holds an MFA from Columbia University (2018).
Babel is an exhibition and performance series featuring works by Sam Anderson, Ali Eyal, Emma Fujiko, Yimiao Liu, Keli Safia Maksud, Asif Mian, Timmy Simonds, Stipan Tadić, and the duo Liz Phillips and Heidi Howard. Babel is the fourth project of SARA’S residency at Dunkunsthalle, located at 64 Fulton St., New York, NY.
Babel features a program of performances by each artist participating in the exhibition. While they are primarily visualartists, the program spans poetry, sound, body art, and theater. The performances are either related to the work on display, conveying an underlying meaning, or an event in which the work itself is produced, as in the case with Liz Phillips and Heidi Howard’s performance (which is why the duo’s work will be absent from the walls during the opening day). While some of the artists, like Timmy Simonds, Keli Safia Maksud and Liz Phillips, have previously incorporated performance into their practice (and even championed it), others, like Sam Anderson, Ali Eyal, Emma Fujiko, Yimiao Liu and Stipan Tadić, will be venturing into this medium for the first time. Babel seeks to forge a conceptual bond, rather than a thematic one, between each work in the exhibition, giving the artists a liberatory instrument within the commercial gallery space, where beyond the material, the fleeting moment also becomes their canvas.
In the tradition of Fluxus, Babel invites viewers to consider whether performance can continue to offer visual artists a sense of freedom to create in a meaningful and sometimes bizarre way.
SAM ANDERSON (b. Los Angeles) lives in New York. Recent solo and two-person exhibitions include Lunch Hour at Tanya Leighton, Los Angeles In 2022; Sam Anderson at Gaylord Apartments in 2022; I Never Loved Your Mind at Tanya Leighton, Berlin (2020); Contemporary Sculpture: Sam Anderson & Michael Dean at Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida (2019); A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing at Chapter NY, New York (2018); The Park at Sculpture Center (2017); and Big Bird at Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (2017). A monograph of her work was published by Mousse on the occasions of her solo exhibitions at Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne and Sculpture Center, New York. Anderson has an upcoming 2025 solo exhibition at Art Hall in Baltimore.
ALI EYAL (b. 1994, Baghdad) lives in Los Angeles. Eyal is an artist whose practice encompasses painting, drawing, and video, delving into themes of personal history, memory, politics, and identity. His solo exhibitions include In the Head's Sunrise at Brief Histories, New York (2023) and In the Head's Dusk at SAW Gallery, Ottawa (2023). Notable group exhibitions feature Is It Morning for You Yet? at the 58th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh (2023); Surviving the Long Wars: Reckon and Reimagine at the Chicago Cultural Center (2023); and Documenta 15 in Kassel (2022). His video works have been showcased in various international platforms, including the upcoming 22nd Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil in São Paulo (October 2023), Rencontres Internationales in Paris, and the Sharjah Film Platform at the Sharjah Art Foundation. His works are part of collections at Kadist, Paris, and the Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah. Eyal earned his undergraduate degree from the Institute of Fine Arts, Baghdad, in 2015.
EMMA FUJIKO (b. New York) is an artist based in New York. Her practice centers on the exploration of physicality and relationships through collaboration with models, employing rope as a symbol of trust and transformation. Fujiko’s recent solo and group exhibitions include Bound at ELM Foundation, Brooklyn (2021); Small is Beautiful at Flowers Gallery, London (2023, 2019); and Personal Identity Matter + Exit 2020 at Gallery MC, Manhattan (2020). Her work has been supported by residencies such as the ELM Foundation (2021-2023) and Cill Rialaig Residency, Ireland (2015, 2016, 2018). Fujiko holds an MFA from Columbia University (2018).
YIMIAO LIU (b. 1993, Hunan) is a Chinese artist based in New York. Liu's work delves into the interplay between organic forms and consciousness, with a particular focus on the human female body. Her art captures moments of apparent destruction that give way to renewal, aiming to alter the viewer's perception of time. Liu received her MFA from California State University, Long Beach, in 2018. She has exhibited internationally, including shows at Modern Art in London, Mana Contemporary in Miami, Linseed in Shanghai, Giovanni’s Room and Half Gallery in Los Angeles, Dream Co. in Beijing, COMA gallery in Sydney. Liu recently completed a residency at Palazzo Monti in Brescia, Italy.
Xi Li (b. 1995 Suzhou, China) is an artist who works with photography, video, and installation to focus on the process of image-making and alternative narratives of history and image culture using methods of construction, simulation, intervention and refabrication, to consider the unstable harmony between actual and fictive recollections of the past, and to blur the lines in between. Li has exhibited internationally in François Ghebaly in Los Angeles, AMANITA and Latitude Gallery in New York City, MadeIn Gallery in Shanghai and others. Li is the recipient of Aperture 2023 Creator Labs Photo Fund. Her self-published book Traces of Invisibilities has been shortlisted for Photo 2020 x Perimeter International Photobook Prize. Li earned a Bachelor of Design from Pratt Institute and an MFA in Photography from Yale School of Art. Li is living in New York and participating in the artist residency at Silver Art Projects this year.
KELI SAFIA MAKSUD is an interdisciplinary artist and writer based in New York. Her practice spans sound, sculpture, installation, text, printmaking, and embroidery. Maksud’s work critically examines the histories of colonial encounters and their impact on memory, often exploring the in-between spaces and thresholds to challenge and destabilize established narratives. Maksud earned her BFA from the Ontario College of Art and Design University, a Diploma in Art and Curatorial Studies from the New Centre for Research and Practice, and an MFA in Visual Arts from Columbia University. Her work has been exhibited at venues such as Cue Art Foundation, Salon 94, and Huxley Parlour in the UK, as well as internationally at the Bamako Biennial in Mali, the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul, Galería Nueva in Spain, and the Biennial of Contemporary Art Sesc_Videobrasil in Brazil. Maksud has received fellowships and grants from organizations including the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts. Her writing has been published in OCULA Magazine, the Swiss Institute, LEAP Magazine, and A Space Gallery.
ASIF MIAN (b. Jersey City) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Mian’s multidisciplinary practice, encompassing video, installation, performance, and sculpture, delves into how events are perceived, processed, and transmitted. His work, informed by science, mythology, and transcendentalism, explores the fragile connections between life-shaping events, creating a psychological space where the "ghosts" of these events and the mental processing of violence coexist. Mian holds a BS in Genetics and a BA in Studio Art from Drew University, and an MFA from Columbia University (2018). Mian has participated in prestigious residencies at Skowhegan, MacDowell Colony, LMCC Workspace, and AZ West. His work has been featured in solo exhibitions reviewed by Art Forum, Artnet, Art Observer, and The Dallas News. Mian was awarded the Queens Museum-Jerome Foundation Fellowship for Emerging Artists, where his multi-chapter project ‘RAF’ was exhibited. His work has also been shown at The Kitchen, The Shed: Open Call, BRIC, and the Queens Museum International: Volumes. Recently, Mian was an Artadia Award finalist, received the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artist Award, and participated in the Okayama Art Summit curated by Rirkrit Tiravanija.
Xi Li (b. 1995 Suzhou, China) is an artist who works with photography, video, and installation to focus on the process of image-making and alternative narratives of history and image culture using methods of construction, simulation, intervention and refabrication, to consider the unstable harmony between actual and fictive recollections of the past, and to blur the lines in between. Li has exhibited internationally in François Ghebaly in Los Angeles, AMANITA and Latitude Gallery in New York City, MadeIn Gallery in Shanghai and others. Li is the recipient of Aperture 2023 Creator Labs Photo Fund. Her self-published book Traces of Invisibilities has been shortlisted for Photo 2020 x Perimeter International Photobook Prize. Li earned a Bachelor of Design from Pratt Institute and an MFA in Photography from Yale School of Art. Li is living in New York and participating in the artist residency at Silver Art Projects this year.
KELI SAFIA MAKSUD is an interdisciplinary artist and writer based in New York. Her practice spans sound, sculpture, installation, text, printmaking, and embroidery. Maksud’s work critically examines the histories of colonial encounters and their impact on memory, often exploring the in-between spaces and thresholds to challenge and destabilize established narratives. Maksud earned her BFA from the Ontario College of Art and Design University, a Diploma in Art and Curatorial Studies from the New Centre for Research and Practice, and an MFA in Visual Arts from Columbia University. Her work has been exhibited at venues such as Cue Art Foundation, Salon 94, and Huxley Parlour in the UK, as well as internationally at the Bamako Biennial in Mali, the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul, Galería Nueva in Spain, and the Biennial of Contemporary Art Sesc_Videobrasil in Brazil. Maksud has received fellowships and grants from organizations including the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts. Her writing has been published in OCULA Magazine, the Swiss Institute, LEAP Magazine, and A Space Gallery.
ASIF MIAN (b. Jersey City) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Mian’s multidisciplinary practice, encompassing video, installation, performance, and sculpture, delves into how events are perceived, processed, and transmitted. His work, informed by science, mythology, and transcendentalism, explores the fragile connections between life-shaping events, creating a psychological space where the "ghosts" of these events and the mental processing of violence coexist. Mian holds a BS in Genetics and a BA in Studio Art from Drew University, and an MFA from Columbia University (2018). Mian has participated in prestigious residencies at Skowhegan, MacDowell Colony, LMCC Workspace, and AZ West. His work has been featured in solo exhibitions reviewed by Art Forum, Artnet, Art Observer, and The Dallas News. Mian was awarded the Queens Museum-Jerome Foundation Fellowship for Emerging Artists, where his multi-chapter project ‘RAF’ was exhibited. His work has also been shown at The Kitchen, The Shed: Open Call, BRIC, and the Queens Museum International: Volumes. Recently, Mian was an Artadia Award finalist, received the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artist Award, and participated in the Okayama Art Summit curated by Rirkrit Tiravanija.
TIMMY SIMONDS is an artist whose work spans sculpture, writing, and participatory exercises, focusing on the role of teaching as a reflection of broader concepts of being, feeling, and knowing. His teaching experiences, along with archival research and educator-focused workshops, deeply inform his practice. Simonds' work has been exhibited at venues such asP.P.O.W., Dia Art Foundation, Museo de Arte Carillo Gil, and Fall River MoCA. He was an artist-in-residence at Triangle France in 2016, where he began creating works that directly reflect his teaching experiences. Since 2018, he has broadcast participatory exercises through Montez Press Radio and Wave Farm Radio under the project Miss Othmar School for Teachers. Simonds teaches at Pratt Institute, where he coordinated the Studio Writing curriculum. In 2024, he co-curated Airhead at PPOW Gallery. His forthcoming book, Prepositions, will be published by Montez Press.
STIPAN TADIĆ (b. 1986, Zagreb) is an artist based in New York. He completed his MFA at Columbia University in 2020 and graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 2011. Since his first solo show in 2009, Tadić has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions. He has also created murals across Europe since 2012. In 2014, he published his first comic book, Parisian Nightmares, and has been active in independent comic zines. Tadić co-organizes the Antisalon Biennial, founded in 2012, which continues to this day. His accolades include the Best Young Artist Award from HDLU, Zagreb (2013) and the 1st Award at the International Comic Book Festival in Lodz, Poland.
LIZ PHILLIPS is a New York-based artist celebrated for her interactive multimedia installations over the past 50 years. Her work, which integrates sound with responsive environments such as wind and water, explores elastic time-space constructs. Phillips' installations have been shown at spaces including The Academy of Natural Sciences, The Whitney Museum of American Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Notable projects include Waves Crossing on Governors Island and Relative Fields in a Garden at the Queens Museum, created with her daughter, Heidi Howard. Recent works include Dyning in the Dovecote at Caramoor Center for Music and Art and The River Feeds Back in Philadelphia. Phillips received a Guggenheim Fellowship and numerous grants from the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. She teaches Sound and Interactive Media at Purchase College and Columbia University.
HEIDI HOWARD is an artist born and is based in Queens, New York. Howard creates portraits directly with sitters, allowing each piece to evolve through the sitter’s presence, capturing unique images and energies. Since 2018, her practice has expanded to include site-specific wall paintings, sculptures, and collaborative works exploring the relationship between humans and their environments. Howard's work has been exhibited at Wave Hill Garden and Cultural Center, Gaa Gallery, the Queens Museum, and James Cohan Gallery, among others. She has held artist residencies at Terra Summer Residency, Rauschenberg Residency, Carrizozo AIR, and Palazzo Monti. Her work has been featured in publications such as Vogue Magazine and The Paris Review. Howard’s first monograph, Colors Make Us Do Vibrant Deeds!, will be launched in September 2024, coinciding with a solo exhibition at The LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies, Columbia University.
SANNA ALMAJEDI (b. 1993, Baghdad) is a curator and writer based in New York. She currently serves as the Performance Curator at e-flux, focusing primarily on sound art. Almajedi has curated performances at e-flux featuring artists such as Kevin Beasley, Basel Abbas, Tarek Atoui, and Elizabeth Povinelli. She co-curated Publishing Against the Grain, an exhibition produced by Independent Curators International, which toured to the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Center for Contemporary Art Lagos, and multiple other institutions. In 2017, she was the curatorial fellow at the Vera List Center. Her work has been profiled by publications such as GQ, JustSmile and The Wire. Almajedi earned her MA in Curatorial Practice from the School of Visual Arts in 2017.
STIPAN TADIĆ (b. 1986, Zagreb) is an artist based in New York. He completed his MFA at Columbia University in 2020 and graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 2011. Since his first solo show in 2009, Tadić has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions. He has also created murals across Europe since 2012. In 2014, he published his first comic book, Parisian Nightmares, and has been active in independent comic zines. Tadić co-organizes the Antisalon Biennial, founded in 2012, which continues to this day. His accolades include the Best Young Artist Award from HDLU, Zagreb (2013) and the 1st Award at the International Comic Book Festival in Lodz, Poland.
LIZ PHILLIPS is a New York-based artist celebrated for her interactive multimedia installations over the past 50 years. Her work, which integrates sound with responsive environments such as wind and water, explores elastic time-space constructs. Phillips' installations have been shown at spaces including The Academy of Natural Sciences, The Whitney Museum of American Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Notable projects include Waves Crossing on Governors Island and Relative Fields in a Garden at the Queens Museum, created with her daughter, Heidi Howard. Recent works include Dyning in the Dovecote at Caramoor Center for Music and Art and The River Feeds Back in Philadelphia. Phillips received a Guggenheim Fellowship and numerous grants from the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. She teaches Sound and Interactive Media at Purchase College and Columbia University.
HEIDI HOWARD is an artist born and is based in Queens, New York. Howard creates portraits directly with sitters, allowing each piece to evolve through the sitter’s presence, capturing unique images and energies. Since 2018, her practice has expanded to include site-specific wall paintings, sculptures, and collaborative works exploring the relationship between humans and their environments. Howard's work has been exhibited at Wave Hill Garden and Cultural Center, Gaa Gallery, the Queens Museum, and James Cohan Gallery, among others. She has held artist residencies at Terra Summer Residency, Rauschenberg Residency, Carrizozo AIR, and Palazzo Monti. Her work has been featured in publications such as Vogue Magazine and The Paris Review. Howard’s first monograph, Colors Make Us Do Vibrant Deeds!, will be launched in September 2024, coinciding with a solo exhibition at The LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies, Columbia University.
SANNA ALMAJEDI (b. 1993, Baghdad) is a curator and writer based in New York. She currently serves as the Performance Curator at e-flux, focusing primarily on sound art. Almajedi has curated performances at e-flux featuring artists such as Kevin Beasley, Basel Abbas, Tarek Atoui, and Elizabeth Povinelli. She co-curated Publishing Against the Grain, an exhibition produced by Independent Curators International, which toured to the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Center for Contemporary Art Lagos, and multiple other institutions. In 2017, she was the curatorial fellow at the Vera List Center. Her work has been profiled by publications such as GQ, JustSmile and The Wire. Almajedi earned her MA in Curatorial Practice from the School of Visual Arts in 2017.
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Just an elementary school group photo, but… Ali Eyal
Fronting VI, Asif Mian with Noel Cifuentes
Does Every Caterpillar Become a Butterfly?, Emma Fujiko, sound by Ben Draghi
Persona Sculpture, Sam Anderson with Valentina Vaccarella
We Rewrite Memory Much as History is Rewritten, Yimiao Liu and Xi Li
Fronting VI, Asif Mian with Noel Cifuentes
Does Every Caterpillar Become a Butterfly?, Emma Fujiko, sound by Ben Draghi
Persona Sculpture, Sam Anderson with Valentina Vaccarella
We Rewrite Memory Much as History is Rewritten, Yimiao Liu and Xi Li
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Faculty Canon, Timmy Simonds
Rehearsals for what’s about to come, Keli Safia Maksud with music by Shara Lunon
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Sound/Swim/Mirror, Liz Phillips and Heidi Howard
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PERFORMANCE INFO
Just an elementary school group photo, but…
A reading by Ali Eyal
“I will read about the first class photo we took after the invasion and about the crack in the wall behind us.” - Ali Eyal
Fronting VI
Asif Mian, with Noel Cifuentes
A tense cycle of continuous intimidation unfolds between Refael and Rafiq, the alter egos of the fictional character "RAF," who is the central figure in Asif Mian's multi-chapter project RAF. This cycle of intimidation perpetuates without ever escalating to the climax of an altercation. The performance stretches and abstracts an encounter that typically occurs in a fleeting moment between the fight or flight response.
Does Every Caterpillar Become a Butterfly?
Performance by Emma Fujiko. Sound by Ben Draghi
Fujiko creates portraits by tying individuals with rope and documenting the process. In this performance, she explores the tension between transformation and constraint by binding herself in latex rope, forming a cocoon to create a self-portrait.
Persona Sculpture
A play by Sam Anderson, with Valentina Vaccarella
Persona Sculpture is a short play based on various dialogues the artist found in plays written in the 20th Century, broken up and collaged together. There are two characters in the play, “L” and “R,” performed by Anderson herself and the artist Valentina Vaccarella.
Two Depression-era ‘waitresses’ peel potatoes outside a diner in Oklahoma. The dialogue emulates a sad and funny exchange which occasionally repeats. The characters experience anxiety, delusion, complacency, role playing, and give each other poor advice. Although there is significant dialogue, the performers’ body movement is very restricted, as the characters emulate a sculpture. The performance is stylized/ inspired by Robert Ashley’s experimental opera Dust.
A reading by Ali Eyal
“I will read about the first class photo we took after the invasion and about the crack in the wall behind us.” - Ali Eyal
Fronting VI
Asif Mian, with Noel Cifuentes
A tense cycle of continuous intimidation unfolds between Refael and Rafiq, the alter egos of the fictional character "RAF," who is the central figure in Asif Mian's multi-chapter project RAF. This cycle of intimidation perpetuates without ever escalating to the climax of an altercation. The performance stretches and abstracts an encounter that typically occurs in a fleeting moment between the fight or flight response.
Does Every Caterpillar Become a Butterfly?
Performance by Emma Fujiko. Sound by Ben Draghi
Fujiko creates portraits by tying individuals with rope and documenting the process. In this performance, she explores the tension between transformation and constraint by binding herself in latex rope, forming a cocoon to create a self-portrait.
Persona Sculpture
A play by Sam Anderson, with Valentina Vaccarella
Persona Sculpture is a short play based on various dialogues the artist found in plays written in the 20th Century, broken up and collaged together. There are two characters in the play, “L” and “R,” performed by Anderson herself and the artist Valentina Vaccarella.
Two Depression-era ‘waitresses’ peel potatoes outside a diner in Oklahoma. The dialogue emulates a sad and funny exchange which occasionally repeats. The characters experience anxiety, delusion, complacency, role playing, and give each other poor advice. Although there is significant dialogue, the performers’ body movement is very restricted, as the characters emulate a sculpture. The performance is stylized/ inspired by Robert Ashley’s experimental opera Dust.
We Rewrite Memory Much as History is Rewritten
Yimiao Liu and Xi Li
Yimiao Liu and Xi Li's performance is an activation of their collective installation, featuring a CRT TV linked to a scroll of rice paper. This setup evokes the imagery of a sunrise (rising on the TV) and a waterfall (flowing down the paper scroll). The installation serves as a metaphor for the passage of time and the natural phenomena it encompasses. In an exploration of time and space, the artists begin writing from opposite ends of the scroll, quoting selected poetry that contemplates historical coincidences connecting the past and present. Their writing journeys eventually converge in the center, symbolizing a meeting of time, thought, and movement.
Faculty Canon
Timmy Simonds
A group of teachers learn to read collectively from a book in canon. “╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲” is a book composed of hesitations, misspellings, and concealed errors in a teacher's marginalia, comments, and endnotes. Faculty Canon was originally performed by a group of teachers from a range of academic institutions: Daniel Ayat, Lynne DeSilva-Johnson, Thom Donovan, Emily Martin, Tom Rocha, Andrew Starner, Kyle Waugh, and Tim Simonds. It was performed and recorded December 14th, 2017, in the context of Leslie Brack's exhibition, Memorandum, Cathouse Proper at 524 Projects, Brooklyn, NY
Rehearsals for what's about to come
A performance by Shara Lunon in response to Keli Safia Maksud’s work, (our) making / unmaking / making / unmaking, embroidery and drawing on carbon paper, metal stud, metal tracks (2023).
Drawing on both artists' interests in language, utterance, spatial constructions, and the vocabularies of the nation-state, Rehearsals for what’s about to come invites us to explore solidarities that transcend borders. It creates a space of dissonance, removed from the constraints of measured time.
Yimiao Liu and Xi Li
Yimiao Liu and Xi Li's performance is an activation of their collective installation, featuring a CRT TV linked to a scroll of rice paper. This setup evokes the imagery of a sunrise (rising on the TV) and a waterfall (flowing down the paper scroll). The installation serves as a metaphor for the passage of time and the natural phenomena it encompasses. In an exploration of time and space, the artists begin writing from opposite ends of the scroll, quoting selected poetry that contemplates historical coincidences connecting the past and present. Their writing journeys eventually converge in the center, symbolizing a meeting of time, thought, and movement.
Faculty Canon
Timmy Simonds
A group of teachers learn to read collectively from a book in canon. “╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲” is a book composed of hesitations, misspellings, and concealed errors in a teacher's marginalia, comments, and endnotes. Faculty Canon was originally performed by a group of teachers from a range of academic institutions: Daniel Ayat, Lynne DeSilva-Johnson, Thom Donovan, Emily Martin, Tom Rocha, Andrew Starner, Kyle Waugh, and Tim Simonds. It was performed and recorded December 14th, 2017, in the context of Leslie Brack's exhibition, Memorandum, Cathouse Proper at 524 Projects, Brooklyn, NY
Rehearsals for what's about to come
A performance by Shara Lunon in response to Keli Safia Maksud’s work, (our) making / unmaking / making / unmaking, embroidery and drawing on carbon paper, metal stud, metal tracks (2023).
Drawing on both artists' interests in language, utterance, spatial constructions, and the vocabularies of the nation-state, Rehearsals for what’s about to come invites us to explore solidarities that transcend borders. It creates a space of dissonance, removed from the constraints of measured time.
Sound/Swim/Mirror
Liz Phillips and Heidi Howard
The mother-daughter artist duo, Liz Phillips and Heidi Howard, are set to collaborate in a performance that merges their respective artistic mediums of sound and painting. This collaboration immerses the audience into their ongoing exploration of water, organic materials, and the human body. During the performance, Phillips will live-process Howard’s hand gestures as she paints while wearing Mari Kumura’s Mugic motion sensor device, which captures the sonic movement of her hand. This process will be further amplified by light sensors, contact microphones, and hydrophones, creating a synchronized improvisation of sound and visuals. The sonic landscape will feature live samples of shells, fish, and water, combined with field recordings and processing techniques. The lasting imprint of this performance will be Howard’s painting, which will remain on display at the gallery.
Teletubby
A play by Stipan Tadić, with music by C. Angeles
Teletubby follows the journey of a renowned actor who, facing the decline of his acting career, turns to painting as a new creative outlet. The narrative delves into his struggle with this transition, highlighting the emotional and artistic challenges he faces in his studio. As he grapples with creativity, his descent into despair becomes more profound. This performance poignantly explores themes of human suffering and the harsh realities of life for artists, particularly within the cultural industry. Teletubby will feature a blend of contemporary dance, painting, and drawing, all set to the evocative music of C. Angeles.
Liz Phillips and Heidi Howard
The mother-daughter artist duo, Liz Phillips and Heidi Howard, are set to collaborate in a performance that merges their respective artistic mediums of sound and painting. This collaboration immerses the audience into their ongoing exploration of water, organic materials, and the human body. During the performance, Phillips will live-process Howard’s hand gestures as she paints while wearing Mari Kumura’s Mugic motion sensor device, which captures the sonic movement of her hand. This process will be further amplified by light sensors, contact microphones, and hydrophones, creating a synchronized improvisation of sound and visuals. The sonic landscape will feature live samples of shells, fish, and water, combined with field recordings and processing techniques. The lasting imprint of this performance will be Howard’s painting, which will remain on display at the gallery.
Teletubby
A play by Stipan Tadić, with music by C. Angeles
Teletubby follows the journey of a renowned actor who, facing the decline of his acting career, turns to painting as a new creative outlet. The narrative delves into his struggle with this transition, highlighting the emotional and artistic challenges he faces in his studio. As he grapples with creativity, his descent into despair becomes more profound. This performance poignantly explores themes of human suffering and the harsh realities of life for artists, particularly within the cultural industry. Teletubby will feature a blend of contemporary dance, painting, and drawing, all set to the evocative music of C. Angeles.
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