brilliant you
materials used: mylar paper, video, carpet, bells
sound design by: Charlotte Stickles
lighting by: Matthew Morris
Sept 25 + 26 2021
The Backyard at Triskelion Arts
brilliant you is an interactive installation with participatory scores guided and inspired by this inquiry from MetteIgvartsen’s The Artificial Nature Project : What does it mean to make choreography for materials where human movement is no longer the center of attention? Which in turn brings this interactive installation work to ask its own question: How do materials reflect our humanity back to us?
brilliant you blurs the lines between thing-ness and us-ness and highlights and manipulates mylar’s reflective surface to articulate vibrant materiality that runs alongside and inside humans, creating a space for the transformation of self.
Listen to my feature on Unsequenced Podcast, produced by Trina Mannino, to hear more about the development and process of bringing brilliant you to life.
brilliant you x dumbo
materials used: mylar paper, bells, clothespins, nylon rope
video footage: Angel Acuña Del Villar
Sept 16, 2022
for MotiVE Brooklyn’s Annual Gala
A reimagining of the original iteration of brilliant you presented at Triskelion Arts, situated under the Dumbo Arch for MotiVE Brooklyn’s Annual Gala. brilliant you is an installation that uses participatory scores to invite the public to explore and reflect while manipulating mylar paper. The installation adapts and transforms depending on the space it is presented in.
mylar studies
an inquiry into: recognizing objects/materials as vibrant knowledge systems that teach/exchange with the viewer [Vibrant Matter, A Political Ecology of Things – Jane Bennett].
object: mylar paper
location: corner of Banker St. + Calyer St. - Greenpoint, Brooklyn NY (munsee lenape land)
observation period: Dec 20, 2020 to January 26, 2021
With the onslaught of Covid-19, the glaring inequities in our systems, the uncertainty of my identity as a performing artist and the cancellation of my premiere performances of re-titled: led from the yard, I was left without a physical space to perform and a deep questioning of the importance of it all. I was unsure then and still unsure now where that solo work’s place in the world is and continue to question: why share solo work? why is using my body as the vehicle for expression, for asking the questions, important or needed? Can I reorient the performing body to the witnessing body, and instead use the witnessing of materials in relation to what surrounds us, as the access point for provoking the reflection and the thought?
With the desire to continue to make/create but the restrictions of quarantine and limitations in being with others, I decided to remove the moving body from the equation altogether. This is a study of mylar in relationship to its surroundings and the reflections it projects back on the witness. A deep listening practice as a way to interrogate these questions and continue my journey of uncovering the layers of self-reflection and expression.