2017. Video Performance.
Filmed by Branislav Jankic.
2018. Video Performance Projection and Collective Performance.
Performed with Christopher Huizar, Sungjae Lee, Kyra Lehman, and Celia Wickhman.
2017. Site-Specific Performance, Video Installation.
Salem Witch Trial Memorial - Salem, Massachusetts.
"The uterus wanders around the body, causing problems as it went, particularly strangulation as it allegedly crawled up into the chest and windpipe. The panting and shortness of breath associated with the hysterical paroxysm, and eventually the disease itself, came to be called the “suffocation of the uterus” or the “suffocation of the mother.””
- Plato
Contact directly to view performance film
2017. Live Performance, Video Installation. Collaboration with Genna Gmeiner.
To dismantle the sexist body-shaming stigma attached to the presentation of the female nipple, we present a campaign of topless interviews including the giveaway of nipple stickers to oversaturate the public with images of anonymous nipples in an effort to normalize its appearance - and to disconnect it from gendered sexuality.
We are representing the female body in its form as it is percieved in social settings. To encourage gender equity, photographed nipples of partipants were produced into stickers which were given out to the public. These stickers are the first step for exposure and will be released onto the community in an effort to normalize the image of the body part.
My collaborator and I conducted topless interviews on campus with the goal of starting up a dialogue between the body shaming and the root causes.
https://gennagmeiner.com
2015/2016. Video and Installation. Collaboration with Alex Nally.
Alex and I printed several hundred emails, installed them to fit a site-specific 1920x1080p projection and then covered the floor in the remaining emails related to organization and production work during 2015. The result was a looped video of black and white time lapse photos of us installing the emails to the back wall projected on top of the installed emails, on loop with no sound.
We reinstalled the piece in the New Design and Media Center studio for the SIM Annual All School Show and were awarded First Place. The new edition expanded the repetition of hung printed emails covering all walls with the projection. It included a table with the emails we could not fit and coffee for the smell. The sound to typing keyboards and blue LED lights added the setting of our usual "artistic" habitat. The immersive environment invited participants into a glimpse of our organizational methods.
2016. Performance Documentation.
Using bandages to conceal parts that allegedly cause distractions, I reflected on the physical tension between the body as I view it personally compared to how it is viewed publically. Repeated for the duration of an hour, I attempted to cover up any trace of the feminine order, specifically engaging in the thematic pressures girls in public school systems are conducted to do so.
2016. Participatory Performance.
The ceremony was attended by both MassArt academic departments. The faculty and peers were my witnesses as I vowed in front of them to a devoted commitment towards the integration of artistic practices. I lead the participants on a guided tour of my daily path between both departments during my four-year undergraduate career. During our silent walk, we marked our path with flower petals. The engagement of action solidified the union.
2016. Performance and Video Installation.
A self-reflective experience directed on the desire to pause time. Through an internal and external stillness that water brings, I reached a trance of tranquility from surrounding constraints. The burning of candles records the duration.
2016. Interactive Installation and Projection. Collaboration with Elise Orlowski.
Interactive installation inviting participants to use their phone flashlights against the various hanging dichroic glass. The projected image was different effects of light and glass. Our collaboration sparked from our similar curiosity with the way light plays on our eyes. We curated an ephemeral space for viewers to experiment for themselves the role of lightness and darkness.
http://www.eorlowski.com
2016. Collaborative Performance.
Participants entered the space with the pennies laid out face up. They circled around and I lead them through a meditation.
Instructions:
- I collected these lucky pennies and now I want to share them with you.
So while we sit here I want you to close your eyes.
- I will share with my belief in the self-fulfilling prophecy. It is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior. Often it's less about actual luck than it is about a person's general outlook.
- Now think about what brings you luck, where you find your luck, how you instill luck into your days. Now open your eyes and reach for the penny that catches your eye.
- Hold that penny in your hands until it's warm. Instill that luck into the penny- that positive mindset.
- You will now pass the luck forward to the public by placing it in the public for someone else.
2016. Ensemble Performance, Installation, and Sound. Collaboration with Genna Gmeiner and Dylan Soulard. Participation from Experimental Ensembles Collective.
To remark the restrictions of the student bodies' capability to use public spaces with restrictions, we decided to provide a group cleanse. The performance took place as the audience entered the Pozen Center before the start of the SIM annual All School Show. The installation involved a built plastic tunnel, LED lights, projected surveillance footage on the outside of the tunnel, and ambient sound. The 24 "cleaners" were in sterile costume and ready to de-lint anyone walking through with lint rollers. Once de-linted, participants were stamped with approval.
https://gennagmeiner.com
https://dylansoulard.bandcamp.com
#blamesim
2014. Pomegranate Installation.
Photo documentation on fabric embroidered on pomegranates as a mark of individuals taking from others as they choose. The installation mimicked a dining table and/or operating table as a suggestion for picking apart the remains until a person is left bitterly divided from oneself.
2014-2016. Performance Documentation, Site Specific Installation.
Ongoing series marking significant landscapes by binding them with our bodily presence.
No 1-2 Deer Isle, Maine
No 3-6 Tartu, Estonia
Students for Reproductive Justice functions as a collective of organized students that demand Loyola University Chicago provide comprehensive reproductive healthcare. Until these demands are met, Students for Reproductive Justice will continue to organize and advocate for Loyola University Chicago to provide its students the resources to care for the whole self, reproductive system included.
