Beatrice Glow

I have recently began the EMERGENYC program with the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. Gathering every other weekend with 15 other young New York based artists we do workshops with radicals.

Today, we had the honor of sharing an intensive afternoon with renowned performanista Guillermo Goméz-Peña. Infamous for his 1992 collaboration with Coco Fusco on the celebration of the quincentennial of Columbus discovering the Americas, the "Couple in the Cage" played a newly discovered 'indian' couple from a virginal island outside of Mexico and toured North America and Spain (at the Plaza de Colón) spoofing the archaic and offensive stereotypes of the 'indians.'

I have seen GGP (yes, his status has attained him the title of GGP) perform in Buenos Aires Mapa Corpos, of which has been censored in the US for its radical nature. The impression from that piece left me very intimidated...yet, in a workshop setting he has proven to be inspiring, respectful and approachable---really, no diva.

In these workshops ego is gleaned as energies of the entire collective 16 of us are blended, exchanged, grappled and caressed through practicing piercing (or gentle) eye contact, surrender, movement in darkness, risk taking, and allowing ourselves to be vulnerable around each other. By exploring our physicality we experienced our phenomenology lost in a cold urban setting.

One of the most memorable as well as revealing exercises we did today was derived from ancient Celtic warrior practice--minus the testosterone. Standing in a line at the end of a long studio, each of us took turns running full speed at GGP--EYES SHUT CLOSED.

Another involved a lengthy (approx. 20 min) dialogue of unwavering eye contact built in with physical contact to force us to acknowledge the presence of the Other. That tapped into some deep emotional zones that I didn't know I possessed... or that I could absorb from another being tacitly. I think I got a friend for life today.

GGP is in town this week with a performance at El Museo del Barrio on Wednesday April 23rd at 6:30 PM-8:30 . Get ready for El Mexorcist 3: America's Most Wanted Inner Demon!!!!!

Admission: Free.
(Museo del Barrio, Teatro Hecksher, 1230 5th Ave at 104th Street. 6 train to 103rd Street)

"In the end they all wrote back" 1/2 inch by 19 feet and 1 inch long of text

Installation view of 'Bisection' video.
The mural wall of overwhelming text behind the video is a piece by Pamela Jue where she amassed blogs from countries that heavily censor the media...

Inaccessible books by Shirin Khaki

David Kim created these fantastic swords: Divine, Brutal, Justice and Trauma.

Dearest Friends,

Beatrice Glow, Pamela Jue, Shirin Khaki and David Kim are enthusiastically inviting you to DECOUPAGE, our Senior Thesis Show Opening up on Wednesday, March 26th from 6-8PM at the Rosenberg Gallery located at the NYU Barney Building 34 Stuyvesant Street (9th street between 2nd and 3rd Ave).

The work will be on view from March 26th through April 5th.

___________________________________________________________________

A little preview...

After being censored on her freelance writer job in China, Pamela Jue has been concerned with information access. The new work brings existing material from the public into a private realm and at the same time censors information to the audience.

Obsessed with the loss, distortion and preservation of memory through the passage of time, Shirin Khaki plays with the frustrating denial of exclusive information in her new editions of books and prints.

In a series of self-indulgent actions, Beatrice Glow exorcises emotional residues by bisecting an ex-lover with henna in the video "Bisection," and then asked him to keep a diary about coexisting with the skin inscriptions until they disappeared a month later. Accompanying the video is a nineteen-feet-and-one-inch-long text of loaded sentimentality, "In the end they all wrote back," where Glow asked separated loved ones to send her handwritten letters on the theme of separation to speak the unspeakable.

AND...

David Kim will have "An Exclusive Box."

___________________________________________________________________

Truly hope to see you there!
We might have some Spring Equinox cleansing lemon juice, cayenne pepper and maple syrup!

Light, space, positivity,
Be, Pam, Shirin and Dave

When was the last time you saw a show on love? the glorified love praised erotically, and not the 'my woman left me' blues or cheesy pop songs?

I recently had the privilege to experience John Zorn's 'Shir ha Shirim, Song of Songs,' where he scored it for five female vocals to accompany two narrators, Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed. What was it like to have two of the world's best storytellers in the same room reading the world's first erotic verse, Song of Songs? Lush. Sensual. Romantic. Spiritual and Trancendental.

The night opened with Zorn's Sefer Shir Shel Shir Ha-Shirim (Songbook for the Song of Songs) that immediately lured the audience into an otherworldly mood. Then appeared Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson standing opposite of each other onstage with the five spectacular female vocals in centerback of the stage. Between the two strong magnetic presences, the vocals wove in and out seamlessly sealing the cadence and vibration of the performance space at the Abrons Art Center.

Seeing this performance was particularly helpful as I have been working on projects about separation, requesting love letters and reading Roland Barthe's "A Lover's Discourse, Fragments." Two of the love letters arrived yesterday. Let's see how they work into my installation within the next 3 weeks.

Announcements:

La Monte Young's permanent light and sound frequency installation "Dream House" downtown at 275 Church Street, is now open 3 days a week (Thur-Sat). I highly recommend taking a meditative nap inside. But I must warn you that tumbling too much will make you dizzy in this perception-altering space.

Quick Announcement:

I have the honor to present my senior honor thesis show with Shirin Khaki, Pamela Jue and David Kim in the Rosenberg Gallery at NYU on Wednesday, March 26 6-8 PM. The tentative title for now is "Decoupage," in reference to Roland Barthes' analyzation of the demarcation of the image and hence, the complete alteration of its meaning.

I cannot speak for the others, but let's just say I'm working on self-indulgence and reading a lot of Roland Barthes' "A Lover's Discourse."

More details to come!

Brightness and Clarity
Be

Heterochrono: The horology of timeliness and timelessness

I think I walked in on a heterochrono today at the Metropolitan Museum's "The Art of Time" exhibit. Beholding a clock that seemed to safeguard humanity's laws of linear progression, as well as keys to existence in the celestials, as cheesy as this sounds, I was on the brink of tears. Standing in a room full of clocks from France, the Netherlands, England, Germany, in all shapes and sizes, their intricacy and commitment to the abstract invention of time is moving.

The metal frame wrapped around the globe encircles at each tick of time.

This one still chimes every half hour.

Glass!

img sources:http://www.metmuseum.org/special/art_time/european_clocks.asp

So, remember that entry months and months ago on submitting the Fulbright application to go to Peru? I just got a response stating that I have been recommended by the IIE (Institute of International Education) to go onto the next selection stage for the Fulbright Grant. Whether or not I receive the grant (which I will not find out until anywhere between February-late June), I am already very content to have made it to this stage. Cheesy, but very important, I must thank all of my friends, mentors, and family members who have challenged my self-righteousness, banality and critical thinking. This was a communal effort. Thank you everyone.

I have been very sincere, lately.

Now that there is a possibility that I may end up in Lima this August working with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Theater Group, Yuyachkani, as well as the local Lation-Asian communities, I admit to be dumbstruck. Returning from Argentina last summer, I started to dream up the wildest yet feasible project that could be a worthwhile mission with my equipo (language skills, artistic interests, socio-political aspirations...), and it became "Performing Collective Memory: Retracing Coolie Geography." Below is an abstract of my project proposal:

Since the first Chinese male contract laborers, also known as coolies, were transported across the Pacific Ocean in 1849 to replace the African slave labor in the New World, multiple migration waves from China, Taiwan, Macao, Hong Kong and Indonesia have reached the Peruvian coast and burgeoned into the largest Latino-Chinese population on Earth, centered in Lima, Peru. Beginning at one of the earliest Chinatowns of Latin America, I will retrace landmark moments in Chinese-Peruvian history and create site-specific performances relating the cultural and political clashes and backlashes they face to their immigrant experience. In my initial research, I will venture out to the slave ports where human cargo first entered Peru, trek through the guano pits and sugar plantations located in Callao and Lima, and travel along railroads built by the Chinese to a town called El Chino. Using the information that I will have gathered, I will map the journey from coolie days to the complexity of the contemporary multicultural community with performances that embody elements of invisible theater, culture jamming, rituals and testimonies. This journey will culminate in a series of live performances nurtured by activist theater group Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani. I will exhibit the documentation of performances in both the Yuyachkani Cultural Center as well as in spaces where these cultural clashes occurred so that I can invite the public to share, participate, comment on and testify to this lesser known history of multicultural Peru.

I strongly recommend graduating seniors as well as young 'professionals' and artists to try out the application process as it rigorously forces one to tackle one's skeletal framework of artistic, academic and cultural influences. It is a mental cleansing experience.

Another reason to celebrate: My friend Juan Pablo Ferlat just returned back to civilization from Bolivia after a month of filming in the world's biggest salt bed "Salar de Uyuni" in collaboration with Berlin-based Argentine artist Charly Nijensohn and Argentine artist Teresa Pereda.

Check out these photos...

Image source http://weblogs.clarin.com/itinerarte/

Picking up life and catching the NYC-speed train is always a heterochrono as, before we get settled into the rhythm of city life, we question the possible alternative outs. Many say that this is a microcosm, not America, very America, giant classroom, island of opportunities, etc. I am beginning to see it as a supply store. We shove through it, mumble an excuse me, before we try to get to our ultimate destination.

destination. earth. origin. earth.

I have been consulting a little green book called "Letters to a Young Artist," published by Darte Publishing LLC to reaffirm to myself that my corporate job will not convert me into a yuppie. I sincerely recommend this book to young artists struggling in NYC. One of my favorite quotes is by Joan Jonas along the lines of " Fear is a device to control us...Sometimes I go towards fear, and it is a veil. What are you afraid of?"

Fearless woman.

Last semester of school has just started.

My advanced projects video art professor Peter Campus' inspiring quote of the week

"I am turned off by work that is too intellectually crafted. I prefer to see something with emotional impact as that will lead to intellectual outlets."

This projects course is dedicated to nurturing us as there are no assignments. We are expected to continue our own projects We can bring in work every few weeks to get critiqued. Critiques are very important as it tests the solidity of one's concepts, dedication to stand behind a statement, and own to it as one's belief and life force. I have been warned on multiple occasions that in the near future I will have to beg people to come visit my studio. IF I have a studio.

However, the 'Outsider Art Fair'...or as I prefer the 'Other System Art Fair' was truly inspiring as it shows that there are people who cannot not make work.

Forget the pedophilia or obsession. Darger's 70,000 pages of stories lives on as the Good continues to combat the Evil.

This Louis Soutter was priced so outrageously. Let's just say it is worth a nice mansion.

Adolf Wolfli accessed the otherworldly. Was tucked away in a mental institution after alleged child molestation reports.

Taking advantage of Winter Vacation, I have been searching for Native American Burial Grounds in Bay Area, California. Due to the secrecy surrounding the actual locations as to protect them from grave robbers, my search has been largely limited to the missions along the California coast. There are a total of 21 missions established by the Spanish Padres that arrived to 'civilize' the Native Americans for the crown during the mid eighteenth century. Due to time and geographic constraints I have only been able to visit the ones in the Bay Area, including Mission Dolores (aka Mission San Francisco de Asis), Mission Borromeo de Carmelo, Mission San Jose, Mission San Juan de Bautista, Mission Santa Clara, and Mission Santa Clara. In addition to the Indian Burial Grounds that I found In these locations, I was also fortunate enough to find an Ohlone Burial Ground where 4000 rest, as well as discover that the San Jose Post Office was an Ohlone Village and the office buildings and construction sites across from it occupy the old burial ground.

Deserted construction site across from the USPS.

Near Mission San Jose. One headstone for four thousand.

Mission Carmel. Probably the most beautiful cemetery I've seen decorated with shells.
The mozarabe architecture style of the mission itself is quite authentic. Breathtaking to say the least.

This was an unexpected site as I exited the Basilica and found these decrepit marks sitting over a little hill with cabbage patches in the distance.

Linking back to the Obstruction Project where all students had to go against habits to create a final project, my Obstruction #1 yielded...

NOTE: Contains nudity.

This was projected on the wall in my studio during a critique.

equator. meridian. cut.meditation. open. close.touch.

Bev Semmes handed me another obstruction in the spirit of Lars von Trier.

Obstruction #2: Be more self-indulgent.

I think maybe I will ask her to fund my art project: Vacation.

It is so nerve-racking that I have lost all my teeth as I grind them away at night.