The MAC is pleased to present an evening of performances by local artists on Saturday, October 26, 6-9 PM as part of the ongoing exhibition, Cosmic to Corporeal: Contemporary Queer Performance Practices curated by Liss LaFleur. Cosmic to Corporeal is on view through November 9, 2019.
Local artists performing were selected from the international open call and include Melanie Clemmons, Yuliya Lanina, Joanna Lugo, Gibson Regester, and Colton White. Works expand on the exhibition’s themes and specifically address concepts related to technology, trauma, confession, emotional understanding, and queer love and heartache.
Cosmic to Corporeal seeks to provide an intergenerational, and intersectional exchange of artists who are working to redefine the constructs of performance art and identity, specifically in relation to the queer body and the relationship of the body to technology. The exhibition expands notions of corporeality through performance, time-based, photographic, and sculptural works. Many of the works in this exhibition reach beyond the typical idea of performance art by prompting the viewer to engage or to consider everyday life as an act of performance. The viewer is encouraged to reflect on the body beyond a physical occupation of space and explore the charged border between ‘queered’ bodies and society, narratives and politics, or private selves and public views.
Melanie Clemmons
Melanie Clemmons is a media artist interested in the effects of technology on society, culture, & the environment. She makes videos, net art, installations, & VR experiences. Clemmons toured with Pussy Riot doing visuals during their first North American tour and has collaborated on several of their music videos. Her work has been shown at, among others: HeK, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Gene Siskel Film Center, & Echo Park Film Center. She is an assistant professor at SMU in Dallas, TX.
Yuliya Lanina
Yuliya Lanina’s multimedia works and performances have awarded her invitations to many art fairs, festivals and conferences, as well as to SXSW Interactive (TX); SIGGRAPH Asia (Japan); SEAMUS (Oregon), 798 Beijing Biennial (China); Seoul International Media Art Biennial (Korea); KunstFilm Bienalle (Germany); Fusebox (TX), Currents New Media (NM), the Creative Tech Week (New York City), and AIFF (Athens, Greece). Her work has been featured in Brooklyn Rail, Houston Press, Glasstire, Art Review, Wagmag, Bloomberg News, Austin-American Statesman, Australian Art Review, Sight Lines, NYArts Magazine, ART on AIR.com/MOMA, PS 1, Bejing Today.Revolt Magazine chose Lanina as one of their top ten New York City artists of 2013.
Lanina’s honors include fellowships and scholarships from Headlands Art Center (California); Yadoo (New York), Marble House Project (Vermont), NY Studio Gallery (NYC), The Puffin Foundation Grant (Teaneck, NJ), I-Park (CT), CORE Cultural Funding Program (Austin, TX); ArtSprinter (New York City), BluePrint/COJECO (New York City); TEMPO (TX), Award of Excellence in the Manhattan Arts International Competition (New York City) and an honorable citation from New York State Assembly.
She spends her time between New York City, which used to be her home for more than two decades and her recent home in Austin where she is an Assistant Professor of Practice at the Department of Arts and Entertainment Technologies at The University of Texas at Austin.
Joanna Lugo
Joanna Lugo is a Latinx director, writer, performance artist, and activist, currently serving as Associate Director and Dramaturg for Pulitzer prize-winning drama, Fairview, at Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C. Prior to this, she assisted in producing AURORA 2018, a Dallas biennial arts event that featured one of the nation’s largest outdoor exhibitions of light, video, sound, and performance art from artists all over the world. Joanna also helped curate a season of plays and musicals at the 2017 Tony Award-Winning Dallas Theater Center as Interim Artistic Producer, performed in internationally-renowned artist Kate Gilmore’s exhibition, Only in Your Way, and served as an Adjunct Professor and Student Advisor at the University of North Texas, where she designed Performance Studies courses. Her work spans across educational and artistic institutions, where she has worked in various roles such as Visiting Director, Teaching Artist, Grant Writer, Literary Assistant, and more. Recently, Joanna co-wrote an article entitled, “Still Here, Still Enraged: A Manifesto”, published through Howl Round Theater Commons, and she continues to participate as co-creator and artist member of Spiderweb Salon, a local artist collective that engages the community through artistic showcases while donating proceeds to local charities. She is a Cum Laude graduate of UNT, having received her B.A. and M.A. in Communication Studies, and is a recipient of honors such as “Thesis of the Year” and “Outstanding Performance by a Graduate Student” for her germinal work.
Gibson Regester
Gibson Regester is an interdisciplinary artist based in Dallas, TX whose work investigates human interaction and identity through experimentation with the use of materiality and color, from the perspective of a queer female. Regester practices in various outlets such as, installation, video, performance, photography, sculpture, and painting. Their ideas and concepts are heavily driven by the roles played by each of the processes and materials that are involved in their art making.
They hold their BFA in Photography and Sculpture from the University of North Texas. They have had their work shown at numerous locations in north Texas, including, Holly Johnson Gallery, Craighead Green Gallery, 500x Gallery, and they are the co-owner and co-founder of Plant Gallery.
Colton White
Colton White is a new media artist and performance artist whose work explores themes of relationship, sexual frustration, queerness and “Glamour” through installations, videos, photography and performance. Born and raised in the DFW Metroplex of Texas, White received their BFA from the University of North Texas in 2016. They currently reside and work out of Dallas, Texas, a recipient of the 2018 Nasher Microgrant and has performed in Dallas, Houston and New Mexico.
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Liss LaFleur (b. 1987, Humble, TX) is an interdisciplinary artist who works with video, new media, and performance. Through the merging of digital and physical space, she explores queer identity, the future of feminism, and historical narratives. In 2018 she was named an Immersive Scholar by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including presentations at the TATE Modern, UK; Cannes Court Métrage, FR; PBS/ POV Digital; the Reykjavik Art Museum, IS; the Museum of Glass, US; Sister Gallery, AU; and the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, South Korea. LaFleur received an MFA in Media Art from Emerson College, and is an Assistant Professor of New Media Art in the College of Visual Art & Design at the University of North Texas. She is currently represented by Galleri Urbane Marfa + Dallas. www.LissLaFleur.com