Jorge Rojas will create My space: Miami, his fifth in the last calendar year in a series of interactive works entitled ‘Live Gestures’. The series started in Guadalajara, Mexico in August of 2008 and has since been in Brooklyn, NY, Bronx, NY and West Chicago, IL. My space will serve as the artist’s residence and studio for 7 days, during which time he will live, work, eat and sleep, as well as interact with the public both in the gallery and online through a 24/7 live video broadcast on BlogTV.com at http://www.blogtv.com/People/myspace.
Working with local performers, Wura-Natasha Ogunji will create Soundings, a public performance piece through which black women develop and choreograph movements based on deep knowledge and body memory. The piece is designed to happen in multiple African-Diasporic locations including Brazil, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Nigeria, and the United States. Soundings creates language for how black female bodies move in the world, recording the recurrences and repetitions over time, space, and geography. It is at once a live performance and a filmic projection as each iteration of Soundings is recorded to become part of a multi-channel video. “This documentation reveals the connection, dissonance and syncopation of power and knowledge as located in the body,” says Ogunji. Also on view are large-scale paintings by the artist.
SPONSORED BY THE VISUAL ARTIST NETWORK, THE NATIONAL PERFORMANCE NETWORK AND FUNDED BY THE ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION FOR THE VISUAL ARTS, FUNDING ARTS NETWORK AND THE JOAN MITCHELL FOUNDATION
***
1 comment:
Going into the “Sondings” project I was unsure of what the project was about. I was certain, however, that I would only be expected to play a supporting role in whatever performance was produced. Fortunately, I was wrong. The workshops that Wura-Natasha Ogunji facilitated not only lead to important self-discovery, but brought about a collective group consciousness among the women involved. We used space and power to challenge our own boundaries and I can say for certain that as the project culminated I left with new ideas, and a renewed sense of self.
Based on post-performance feedback, the performance was captivating. The audience got a rare opportunity to witness power in the hands of Black women publicly. I am so proud to have been a part of this project and look forward to the progression of Wura as well as Diaspora Vibe Gallery.
~S. Laraia Dean
Post a Comment