ActionHere/BeingThere
Curated by Quinn Dukes
Reception + Curator Talk July 21st
6-9pm @ Understudy
Statement
Performance is Alive is pleased to present ActionHere/BeingThere - a performance art-based video exhibition curated on the occasion of the inaugural Denver Month of Video (.MOV). ActionHere/BeingThere presents an exciting range of performance-based practices from international artists, providing .MOV viewers an opportunity to experience the boundlessness of performance.
Seminal live art tropes such as endurance, repetition, and the political body are boldly displayed throughout the selected works. Performance, as an act of transference is explored by Zaire Kacmarski’s ritualistic performance, Remember. While repetition serves as the anchor point for Caida Libre (Free Fall) by Momo Magallon and Chinasa Vivian Ezugha ’s glossolalic audio piece entitled Tongues.
Durational actions are enacted by Nicola Fornoni in the site-specific video Overshoot Day, filmed within a marble quarry. Riccardo Matlakas’ public performance, Melting Borders, Mexico / USA border presents an excerpt from a project that has spanned multiple iterations across 4 countries.
Actions birthed from an exploration of intersectionality and the political are prominent within works by Zachary Fabri, Arantxa Araujo, and Kiyo Guitierrez. Fabri’s piece, Mourning Stutter, is informed by successive murders of African Americans by police officers. Araujo’s performance for camera punctuates the politics of migration and Gutiérrez organized a fierce public performance on the ‘Roundabout of the Disappeared in the Mexico feminicida.
Within the making and presentation of performance art, performers must be actively engaged in their individual “beingness” while inspiring the viewer to grow aware of their ownness. This exhibition tests the boundaries of self, but also the boundaries of being screened.
Featuring works by:
Arantxa Araujo (Mexico City, MEX)
Vivian Chinasa Ezugha (Nigeria/UK)
Zachary Fabri (USA)
Nicola Fornoni (Italy)
Kiyo Gutiérrez (Guadalajara, MEX)
Zaire Kaczmarski (Venezuela/USA)
Momo Magallon (Panama City, PAN)
Riccardo Matlakas (UK)
Understudy is a sponsor of MOV