Check out my updates and upcoming events! 

Photo: Kari Orvik

Opening Reception for “Erotic Resistance: Performance, Art, and Activism in San Francisco Strip Clubs (1960s-1990s)” Opens at the GLBTHS Museum in San Francisco on May 24th

The opening reception will take place on June 7th from 6-8 pm. The exhibit is based on Otálvaro Hormillosa’s book, Erotic Resistance: The Struggle for the Soul of San Francisco (University of California Press, 2024) and will be on view starting on May 24th. For more information and to RSVP for the opening reception, visit the GLBTHS Museum and Archives’ website. 

30th Anniversary Film Screening of Straight for the Money: Interviews with Queer Sex Workers by Hima B. at the GLBTHS Museum in San Francisco on June 20th

In conjunction with the exhibit “Erotic Resistance: Performance, Art, and Activism in San Francisco Strip Clubs (1960s–1990s),” this special event commemorates the 30th anniversary of the iconic documentary Straight for the Money: Interviews with Queer Sex Workers (1994) by Hima B. The film offers unique perspectives on sex work from queer women who share the insights they gained working in this predominantly heterosexual- and male-dominated industry. Curator and author Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa will introduce the film and facilitate a discussion with the audience afterward. RSVP for the screening here. 

Erotic Resisters and Ecosexuals Unite! Double Book Talk at the Tenderloin Museum with Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens, moderated by Joy Brooke Fairfield on April 27th

In celebration of the recent publication of Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa’s new book, Erotic Resistance: The Struggle for the Soul of San Francisco, Tenderloin Museum hosts the author for a double-header book talk with Annie Sprinkle & Beth Stephens, fellow activist-artists and scholars of human sexuality, who will discuss their latest latest, Assuming the Ecosexual Position:The Earth as Lover.

Join us for these complementary book talks, both of which explore subjects that resonate with the Tenderloin’s history and culture, in a program moderated by professor at Rhodes College, media-maker, and Sprinkle/Stephens collaborator Dr. Joy Brooke Fairfield. Free or suggested donation ($10); please register via Eventbrite to let us know you’re coming! This program is one of many happenings for “I Love Tenderloin Week,” a celebration of the neighborhood and its people, businesses, and culture by a coalition of local individuals and organizations. Complete information here: https://www.tenderloinmuseum.org/public-programs-2024-1/2024/4/27/erotic-resisters-ecosexuals-unite

Mini Book Tour in Chicago to Kick Off 2024!

Three stops in February: 

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: book talk sponsored by the Sexualities Project at Northwestern, Performance Studies, and Gender & Sexuality Studies. Thursday, February 15^th @ 5pm (reception to follow). More info: sexualities@northwestern.edu

COLLEGE ART ASSOCIATION 112^th ANNUAL CONFERENCE: presentation  titled “Feminist and Queer Self-Portraiture” on the panel, Operational Visibility: Trans and Queer Digital Hybrid Art Practices. Friday, February 16^th @ 9:30am. More info: https://www.collegeart.org/programs/conference/conference2024/

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: book talk in conversation with Professor Red Vaughan Tremmel co-presented by the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality & Committee on Theater and Performance Studies. Monday, February 19^th @ 12:30pm More info: https://events.uchicago.edu/event/227333-gigi-otalvaro-hormillosa-on-erotic-resistance-the

Book Launch and Celebration at Stanford University Department of Theater and Performance Studies on March 14^th

From the Stanford Community Calendar:

Join author Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa, co-sponsoring departments, and friends to celebrate the launch of her book, Erotic Resistance: The Struggle for the Soul of San Francisco (University of California Press, February 2024), at the Department of Theater and Performance Studies (Roble Lounge and the Courtyard).

Enjoy celebratory remarks, refreshments, and light snacks. Books will be available for purchase from the Stanford Bookstore. Co-sponsored by Stanford Living Education, the Department of Theater and Performance Studies, the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and the Women’s Community Center.

Please RSVP and access complete information here: https://events.stanford.edu/event/erotic_resistance_book_launch_and_celebration

2023

“Michael Richards: Performance as Ritual and Black-Indigenous Haptic Visuality” by Otálvaro-Hormillosa Published in The Routledge Companion to Decolonizing Art History (November 2023)

This companion is the first global, comprehensive text to explicate, theorize, and propose decolonial methodologies for art historians, museum professionals, artists, and other visual culture scholars, teachers, and practitioners. Otálvaro-Hormillosa’s essay examines the work of Afro-Latinx artist, Michael Richards, who was killed in his studio located in the Twin Towers during the 9/11 attacks. She analyzes several of his works in video, performance, and sculpture as engagements with ritual and abjection. For more information about this collection and to order, visit the publisher’s website. 

First Ever Well-Being Panel at Stanford Alumni Weekend Featuring Otálvaro-Hormillosa and Colleagues, on October 21, 2023 

Otálvaro-Hormillosa Presents at the First Inaugural The Science of Tai Chi and Qigong as Whole-Person Health Conference Sponsored by the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Harvard Medical School, on September 19, 2023

Dr. Otálvaro-Hormillosa and her two co-presenters Dr. Kathy Yep (Asian American Studies, Pitzer College) and Dr. Gwen D’Arcangelis (Gender Studies, Skidmore College) will present on their proposed and accepted panel, “Supporting Well-Being through the Integration of Qigong, the Arts, and Social Justice” at the first inaugural The Science of Tai Chi and Qigong as Whole-Person Health conference, hosted by the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at the Harvard Medical School. This two-day conference aims to attract a diverse group of international scholars, practitioners, and healthcare administrators and policymakers to address the current evidence base of Tai Chi, Qigong, and related mind-body practices. For more information, visit the conference website.

The 2023-2024 Series of the Visual & Critical Studies Forum at California College of the Arts Features Otálvaro-Hormillosa on October 5, 2023

Otálvaro-Hormillosa will be one of the featured speakers at the Visual & Critical Studies Forum 2023-2024 Series at California College of the Arts, which convenes regularly throughout the semester, opens dialogues on contemporary issues in the visual arena. Students and faculty have the opportunity to engage with leaders in a range of creative and scholarly fields, including visual studies, literary criticism, cultural studies, journalism, film studies, design, architecture, curatorial practice, and fine arts. More information about her talk will be updated and can be found on this page. For more information about other featured speakers in the 2023-2024 series, visit this page.

Join Otálvaro-Hormillosa on August 19, 2023 for an Introductory Laughter Yoga Workshop, presented by Stanford Healthy Living

In this interactive online introductory workshop led by Otálvaro-Hormillosa, you will practice and learn about the health benefits of laughter yoga, a unique modality developed in India in 1995 by Dr. Madan Kataria and his wife, Maduri, a traditional yoga asana teacher. Laughter yoga combines yogic breathing with laughter exercises in a playful and creative expression modality which can cultivate joy, imagination, and innovation. To register and read the full description, visit the Stanford Health Living workshop information page here.  

LifeWorks Presents Kinesthetic Delight: Playful Mindfulness in the Museums at the Anderson Museum (curated by and featuring Otálvaro-Hormillosa) 

Kinesthetic Delight: Playful Mindfulness in the Museums, will be a contemplative community gathering at the Anderson Collection celebrating the power of art, mindfulness, and play that highlights the essential role that art can play as a public health intervention to support mental health and wellbeing. The event is sponsored by the Art and Wellbeing Engagement (AWE) initiative of LifeWorks, an integrative learning program led by Otálvaro-Hormillosa within Stanford Living Education (SLED), where she serves as Associate Director. CLICK HERE for more information about schedule, presenters, and registration. 

Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa Receives Visual & Critical Studies Alumni Award and Will Deliver Keynote Address at Symposium 

The Visual & Critical Studies Alumni Award was established to annually recognize an alumni whose work after graduation from CCA exemplifies the interdisciplinary values of the VCS program and the dedication and scholarship demanded within the broader field of Visual and Critical Studies. This award recognizes the innovative and diverse ways VCS graduates mobilize the skills they honed and the ideas they germinated while at CCA in a broad range of creative and professional arenas, further evidencing the versatility of the degree and the luminosity of this community. The VCS Class of 2023 is pleased to bestow this award on Dr. Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa (Class of 2012)! She will deliver the keynote address at this year’s symposium. For more information about the event and registration, CLICK HERE.

LifeWorks Receives McMurtry Arts Initiatives Grant through the Stanford University Office of the Vice President for the Arts to Launch New Initiative in Art and Wellbeing Engagement (AWE)

On behalf of LifeWorks, the integrative learning program that Otálvaro-Hormillosa leads at Stanford, she received one of the two grants awarded by the McMurtry Arts Initiative, through the Office of the Vice President for the Arts. The grant will support the official launch of LifeWorks’ new initiative, Art and Wellbeing Engagement (AWE) which will sponsor a half-day retreat in the spring called “Kinesthetic Delight: Playful Mindfulness in the Museums” and will be hosted by Otálvaro-Hormillosa’s two spring courses: LIFE/ARTHIST 180: Art, Meditation, and Creation and LIFE/TAPS 99: Kinesthetic Delight: Movement and Meditation. The event takes place on May 6th and features an impressive roster of faculty and teaching staff across and beyond the university, who will lead contemplative sessions throughout the day, including Alex Nemerov (Professor of Art History and renowned author), Kelly McGonigal (distinguished psychologist, group-ex instructor, and Lecturer in the Graduate School of Business), Brianna Griffin (breathwork instructor and Student Specialist in Well-Being at Stanford), Ted DesMaisons (mindfulness and improv instructor, and author of Playful Mindfulness), Diane Friedlaender (Head of LEAD Program), and Otálvaro-Hormillosa who will lead walking meditation, contemplative looking, and eye qigong. 

2022

“Indecencia y los cuerpos colonizados” (Indecency and colonized bodies), in Clavoardiendo, by Andrés Senra, November 4th, 2022

Published in Clavoardiendo (a photography magazine out of Spain), this article examines INDECENCIA, an exhibition featuring Otálvaro-Hormillosa and other Latin American/Latinx Artists at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art in New York City. Images of the artists’ works appear alongside the author’s reflections on the transformative and transgressive potential of LGBTIQ Latinx artists of recent decades. READ ARTICLE HERE.

New York Times Preview: INDECENCIA featuring Otálvaro-Hormillosa’s 2015 Psychic Gold and other Latin American/Latinx Artists, mentioned in “A Constellation of Stars from the Latin Art World” by co-chief art critic Holland Cotter, September 2, 2022

“Finally, I’m mightily intrigued by something called “Indecencia” at Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art in Manhattan (Sept. 16-Jan. 15). A gathering of queer Latin American and Latino artists who specialize in performance art, it focuses on what the museum describes as a meeting of religion and sexuality, or “theologizing without underwear.’” Organized by the Dominican-born, Bronx-based conceptualist Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles, founding director of the Interior Beauty Salon, it’s sure to be of interest at a time when religious belief threatens to dictate public policy in L.G.B.T.Q. matters.”

Opening reception on 9/15/22, RSVP required: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/indecencia-opening-tickets-408845135807

The Leslie Lohman Museum of Art in New York presents INDECENCIA, an exhibition featuring Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa and other Latin American/Latinx Artists (9/16/22 – 1/15/23)

INDECENCIA brings together a cohort of queer/rare* artists from Latin America and/or of Latin American descent and living in the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean or in-between spaces/identities, whose praxes center on performance art and ephemeral actions. From the perspective of several generations, countries, and sociopolitical contexts, these artists invite us to consider Latinidad/Latinxidad and its relationship to religion, enfleshment, and sexuality. Their inquiries extend—through videos, props, scripts, costumes, and other channels—to the disjointed corpus of an entire hemisphere where, for many, the colonized and the colonizer can easily wrestle within a single body. READ MORE HERE.

Image above by Nadia Granados

American Theatre and Drama Society Presents “PhDs on the Move: Building Non-Faculty Careers,” featuring Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa 

The conversation touches on how panelists pursued their positions, what their positions involve, and offers advice to graduate students on how to frame their doctoral work when applying to and/or thinking of career trajectories outside of the tenure-track path. Visit ATDS website here for more information. To view the recording of the panel conversation, click HERE (use password: jewel-rabbit-soda-lime).

2021

“Ethnographic Stripping” featured in the Performance and Research Creation Guest Talks, hosted by the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture at Concordia University

In this talk presented in November of 2021, for the Phd students in the Performance and Writing Group and other members of Concordia University, Otálvaro-Hormillosa discussed her upcoming book project, Erotic Resistance: Performance, Art, and Activism in San Francisco Strip Clubs, 1960s-2010s. She focused on issues of ethical scholarship as well as her primary methods to conduct research for the book project, including feminist ethnography, queer herstoriography, archival research, and participant observation as performance research.

2020

“Shedding Light on Neglected Histories and Herstories of Radical Urban Communities: An Interview with LALVC Contributor Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa,” in UC Press Blog

As we begin National Hispanic Heritage Month, we invited Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture contributor Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa to talk about her ALAA award-winning article “Metamorphic and Sensuous Brown Bodies: Queer Latina/x Visual and Performance Cultures in San Francisco Strip Clubs, 1960s–1970s.” READ COMPLETE INTERVIEW HERE.

Otálvaro-Hormillosa’s “Metamorphic and Sensuous Brown Bodies” article published in LALVC wins Annual Association of Latin American Article Award

Otálvaro-Hormillosa’s article, “Metamorphic and Sensuous Brown Bodies: Queer Latina/x Visual and Performance Cultures in San Francisco Strip Clubs, 1960s-1970s,” published in Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture (UC Press) in 2019 won the 2020 Association for Latin American Art (ALAA) Article Award. The award was announced at their annual meeting in February 2020 at the College Art Association Conference which took place in Chicago. See coverage on UC Press blog here.

The Association for Latin American Art, an affiliate of the College Art Association, is pleased to sponsor the ALAA Annual Article Award for a distinguished scholarly article on any aspect of Latin American/Latinx art, architecture, or visual culture, of any period from the Pre-Columbian era to the present, published in a peer reviewed journal, edited volume, or exhibition catalogue during the previous year. The award consists a $500 honorarium and will be presented at the ALAA business meeting at the annual meeting of the College Art Association in February. The name of the recipient will appear in the newsletters of both ALAA and CAA. This Award is generously funded by Edward J. Sullivan, Helen Gould Sheppard Professor of the History of Art at New York University.

2019

“Jerome Caja and the Scalability of Camp” by Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa, published in SFMOMA’s Open Space, December 5, 2019

Custodians of Queer Memory

The day after Día de los Muertos is November 3. It is also the anniversary of Jerome Caja’s passing in 1995. On this particular day in 2019, I had the privilege of viewing Jerome’s works up close in the home of Anthony Cianciolo, a remarkable custodian of memory who has been caring for Jerome’s artworks and ephemera. During our date with Jerome on this beautiful San Francisco Sunday afternoon, Anthony explained that many of the objects on view came from community members; it has taken a village to care for this singular artist… READ COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE.

“Metamorphic and Sensuous Brown Bodies: Queer Latina/x Visual and Performance Cultures in San Francisco Strip Clubs, 1960s-1970s” by Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa, published in Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture (University of California Press), May 2019

In the 1960s, topless entertainment became legal in San Francisco, although cross-dressing continued to be criminalized. This article documents queer Latina/x visual and performance cultures of San Francisco’s strip club industry during this critical moment. It employs visual and performance analyses that draw from ethnographic interviews and archival research about three Latinas who performed as exotic dancers during this period, two of whom were out transsexuals: Roxanne Lorraine Alegria, Vicki Starr, and Lola Raquel… READ COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE.

“Upward and Downward: Composing in the Midst of Decomposition” by Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa, published in SFMOMA’s Open Space, April 2, 2019

In response to Session 4, March 26

Preset: Glittery golden fabric draped over a table. A casual Sage tea ceremony: Keith invites the early birds to ingest the Indigenous herbs of the land.

My distilled reading of tonight’s performance-pedagogy score: 1) breath, 2) body, 3) earth, 4) spirit, 5) mind, 6) spirit, 7) all at once-ness… READ THE COMPLETE PIECE HERE 

“Michael Richards’s Alchemical Performances of Blackness” by Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa, published in Art Practical, March 20, 2019

Michael Richards: Winged, a solo exhibition at the Stanford Art Gallery, offers a majestic display of the artist’s sculptural and embodied ruminations on the past, present, and future. Richards used his own body as casts for many of these works, transforming sculpture and performance into a shared expanded field. Curated by Alex Fialho and Melissa Levin, the exhibition functions as a choreographed performance space of ritual memory. One of Richards’s most known works, Tar Baby vs. Saint Sebastian (1999), is sculpted from his full body, posed in a standing, meditative posture while miniature planes referring to the Tuskegee Airmen pierce into him. Given the artist’s tragic death during the 9/11 attacks while working in his studio on the 92nd floor of Tower One of the World Trade Center, the work’s prophetic nature sets the tone for the exhibition… READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE

“Teacher, Writer, Scholar: Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa,” featured in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric Newsletter, Stanford University (March 2019 edition)

By Tessa Brown

My notes from my interview with Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa begin with her words, “A few things…” Small and unassuming, yet leading in a thousand directions. As Gigi expounded on these “few things,” I was soon astonished by the span of her scholarly, curatorial, and pedagogical projects and their bold range across themes of feminism, labor, sex work, race, meditation, visual art, writing and rhetoric, and performance studies… READ THE FULL FEATURE HERE 

2018

Otálvaro-Hormillosa presents “Virgins, Whores, and Femme-Machos in the Inter(in)animated Works of Isis Rodríguez” at the National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference

Otálvaro-Hormillosa will present at the National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia on a panel titled “Performance of New Selves.” The title of her talk is “Virgins, Whores, and Femme-Machos in the Inter(in)animated Works of Isis Rodríguez,” which culls from her dissertation, Erotic Resistance: Performance, Art, and Activism in San Francisco Strip Clubs, 1960s-2010s.

Time: Sunday, November 11th from 11am – 12:15pm
Location: Hilton Atlanta, 3, 308

More info about the panel: http://tinyurl.com/yaylxpga
More info about the conference: https://www.nwsa.org/conference2018

Otálvaro-Hormillosa presents “Metamorphic and Sensuous Brown Bodies: Latinx Queer Performance Cultures in San Francisco Strip Clubs, 1960s-1970s” at the International Society for Cultural History Annual Conference, September 2018

Otálvaro-Hormillosa will present this section of her manuscript in progress, Erotic Resistance: Performance, Art, and Activism in San Francisco Strip Clubs, 1960s-2010s. The theme of this year’s conference is “Performance, Politics, and Play,” and the panel she will present on is titled “Sexuality, Politics, and Performance” which takes place on Sunday, September 16^th from 11:30am to 1pm. This year’s conference takes place at the Faculty Club at Columbia University in New York. Click here for more information about the conference.

Stanford Women’s Community Center Feminist Voices Podcast Features Otálvaro-Hormillosa

Image credit: Promotional flier for Exotic Dancers Alliance and Exotic Dancers Union (1997). Art work by Isis Rodríguez.

This podcast is an initiative of the Feminist Narratives Project which seeks to uplift feminist voices and experiences across backgrounds and disciplines, at Stanford and beyond. The episode was produced by Lillian Bornstein and Taylor Crutison in June of 2018. The following is taken from their announcement:

“Our third episode of Feminist Voices features an interview with Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa, who is currently completing her Ph.D. at Stanford in Theater and Performance Studies. We discuss her thesis, which is titled Erotic Resistance: Performance, Art, and Activism, in San Francisco Strip Clubs, 1960s-2010, academia, meditation in the classroom, and much more. We hope you give it a listen and enjoy!” Listen to complete the interview on SoundCloud here.

Otálvaro-Hormillosa’s Feature, “The Performative Drawings of Dorian Katz, aka Poppers the Pony,” published in Art Practical on May 8, 2018

Excerpt from the feature: “Katz exposes forces of nature in the animal world that help to deconstruct human-held views of normative sexuality and gender. Katz’s metamorphic animals exist in the liminal spaces between species and genders, illustrating and leveraging other ways of embodiment and being.” Read Otálvaro-Hormillosa’s complete feature on Katz HERE.

“Entangled Vulnerabilities: Julie Tolentino’s .bury.me.fiercely.” published in SF MoMA’s Open Space on March 20, 2018 

Otálvaro-Hormillosa was recently commissioned by SF MoMA to review Tolentino’s .bury.me.fiercely at The Lab. Open Space is SFMOMA’s online and live interdisciplinary commissioning platform. Tolentino’s performance in February was part of SF MoMA’s Limited Edition series–a partnership with CounterPulse, The Lab, ODC Theater, and Z Space. The series explores questions of legacy and lineage through performances, discussions, and gatherings at various locations throughout the city from January to March 2018, with commissioned texts appearing regularly on the Open Space website.

Read Otálvaro-Hormillosa’s complete review HERE.

Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa Presents at CAA 2018

Otálvaro-Hormillosa will present at the College Art Association Annual Conference in Los Angeles, on a panel titled “Chican@ Art: Interdisciplinary Foundations and New Directions.” The title of her talk is “Virgins, Whores, and Femme-Machos in the Inter(in)animated Works of Isis Rodríguez,” which culls from her dissertation, Erotic Resistance: Performance, Art, and Activism in San Francisco Strip Clubs, 1960s-2010s.

Time: 02/24/2018: 4:00PM–5:30PM
Location: Room 404B

Chair: Karen Mary Davalos, University of Minnesota Twin Cities; Mary Thomas, University of California, Santa Cruz

“Disrupting “the Apartheid Imagination”
Jennifer Ponce de León, University of Pennsylvania

“Virgins, Whores, and Femme-Machos in the Inter(in)animated Works of Isis Rodríguez”
Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa, Stanford University

“Cholas on the Gram: LACMA’s Instagram Artist Residency and Guadalupe Rosales’ Chicana/o Digital Communities”
Claudia E. Zapata, Southern Methodist University

“(Re)Sounding Painting: Visual Practices of Improvisation in the “Tormenta Cantata”
Mary Thomas, University of California, Santa Cruz

Click here for more info.

2017

Otálvaro-Hormillosa is finishing research and dissertation writing!

2016

The C.O.U.P.

The script for “‘Indig/urrito’: Re-enacted and Re-visited,” one of the vignettes from Otálvaro-Hormillosa’s 2015 performance, Psychic Gold, was published in The C.O.U.P. Issue 1.2 on privilege (Summer 2016). The issue was co-edited by crystal nelson and Tessa Wills who were also the curators of the This Is What I Want Festival 2015 at which Psychic Gold premiered. To view the journal, click here.

Missing Persons Exhibition at the Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University

Detail of the artist book 43: Cuarenta y tres by Lorena Velázquez, featured in Missing Persons. 

Otálvaro-Hormillosa was one of five Ph.D. students who co-curated the exhibition, Missing Persons, at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University. The exhibition ran from November 11, 2015 through March 21, 2016. Otálvaro-Hormillosa’s essay “Monumental Intimacies: Visual Poetics of Mourning and Resilience” was published in the exhibition catalog.  The show considered both the aesthetic and political implications of what it means to be missing. The 50 photographs, prints, artist books and archival objects on view visually play with the tension between absence and presence, so that the absence of the subject becomes the substance of the work. Otálvaro-Hormillosa’s catalog essay and gallery talks presented to the general public and to various graduate and undergraduate classes focused on works by Latin American artists addressing political violence and forced disappearance through the intimate medium of the artist book. For more information about the exhibition, click here.

April 2015

Premiere of Psychic Gold at This Is What I Want 2015 Festival

Performing vignettes based on her critical sex writing and erotica, Otálvaro-Hormillosa inspires sensual thinking and dialogue around gender, race, and sex. In her new work Psychic Gold, she stages images of desire and converses with historical and contemporary figures like Freud, Sor Juana, and men of different backgrounds to reflect on female “masculinities.” This year’s festival also features Ass Capital: Reflections of a Contemporary Culo by Cristina Victor.

May 29-May 31, 2015 at CounterPulse in San Francisco. Click here for more information about the festival and to buy tickets (please use code: “Gigi” when purchasing tickets). Visit the Facebook page here.

January-February 2015

Intertwining Roots at the Nitery Theater, Stanford University

Otálvaro-Hormillosa Presents on Joan Mitchell at the Abstract Expressionism Forum (11/22/14)

Join me for an afternoon of focused gallery talks at the Anderson Collection, held in conjunction with Professor Pamela M. Lee’s graduate seminar on Abstract Expressionism. Five advanced students from the Department of Art and Art History and Theater and Performance Studies, will discuss the history and artists behind specific works in the Collection. Come for one or all! The talks begin at 1:30 pm in the galleries (in front of the works) and continue until 4:00 pm. Free and open to the public with a reception to follow.

Schedule:

1: 30   Lexi Johnson on Franz Kline

2:00    Yinshi Lerman-Tan on Ad Reinhardt

2:30    Henry Rownd on Mark Rothko

3:00    Gigi Otalvaro on Joan Mitchell

3:30    Sydney Simon on Jackson Pollock

More info: http://anderson.stanford.edu/exhibitions-programs/events/

April 2014

Otálvaro-Hormillosa Presents on Tehching Hsieh’s One Year Performance 1980-1981 at the CCA Graduate Program in Visual and Critical Studies Annual “Reports from the Field” Faculty and Alumni Panel

Every year the VCS community comes together to celebrate the new and evolving work being done by faculty members and alumni of the program in the field of Visual and Critical Studies at California College of the Arts.

November 2013

“Ex-ESMA: Memory as open source” Recently Published in Performance Research

Otálvaro-Hormillosa’s essay “Ex-ESMA: Memory as open source” has just been published in Performance Research. The article was originally developed as one of the chapters in her Master’s Thesis “Embodying Spaces: Memory and Resistance in the Aftermath of Argentina’s Dirty War (1976-1983).” The article is based on her research while in Buenos Aires, during her visit to Ex-ESMA, one of the most notorious torture centers that existed during the Dirty War. Access the article HERE. The print version will be available at libraries before the end of the year.

Performance Research is a specialist journal that aims to promote a dynamic interchange between scholarship and practice in the expanding field of performance. Interdisciplinary in vision and international in scope, its emphasis is on contemporary performance arts within changing cultures.

Performance Research is an independent, peer-reviewed journal published by Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd for ARC, a division of the Centre for Performance Research Ltd, an educational charity limited by guarantee.

August 2013

Otálvaro-Hormillosa Receives NALAC Fellowship for Work in Progress Presentation of Intertwining Roots at Galería de la Raza in San Francisco this September

Otálvaro-Hormillosa was recently awarded a fellowship from the National Association of Latino Art and Culture (NALAC). Her arts organization (a)eromestiza was also funded by the Zellerbach Foundation to develop Intertwining Roots, which will be presented at Galería de la Raza in San Francisco’s Mission District on Saturday, September 21. This work in progress is a collection of vignettes and literary readings of stories about Argentina’s Dirty War (1976-1983). These stories are culled from Otálvaro-Hormillosa’s fieldwork and encounters with human rights activists and memory sites in Buenos Aires, such as former torture centers and public art projects commemorating the 30,000 disappeared. The performance also incorporates a separate but parallel process during her fieldwork that relates to her Filipino grandfather who worked as a diplomat in Buenos Aires during Juan Peron’s term in the 40s and 50s. Her quest for him and research material about the disappeared are intertwining processes of memory recuperation. The performance presents a microcosm of the related histories of the Philippines and Latin America through the eyes of Otálvaro-Hormillosa and an exploration of her bicultural roots. It also sheds light on one example of historical amnesia—one of various catastrophes that took place in the Southern Cone in the 70s and 80s in which the U.S. was directly implicated. This project is co-presented by the Queer Cultural Center, Kearny Street Workshop, and (a)eromestiza.

Details

Saturday, September 21, 2013, doors open at 7:15 with performance at 8pm. Galería is located at 2857 24^th Street (at Bryant), San Francisco, CA, 94110. Info: 415-826-8009 or info@galeriadelaraza.org.

Suggested Donation: $5 – $20 (no one turned away for lack of funds).

Signature cocktails at Galería’s bar (no host) will feature Fire Dragon Love Sauce: the Official Hot Sauce for Gay Marriage, made by Otálvaro-Hormillosa and her wife Heather Carducci.

About Galería de la Raza

Founded in 1970, the Galería is a non-profit community-based arts organization whose mission is to foster public awareness and appreciation of Chicano/Latino art and serve as a laboratory where artists can both explore contemporary issues in art, culture and civic society, and advance intercultural dialogue. Visit galeriadelaraza.org for more information.

July 2013

On July 5th, we reached our Kickstarter goal for Fire Dragon Love Sauce: the Official Hot Sauce for Gay Marriage! Visit the Kickstarter page HERE.  

June 2013

The Gay Marriage Hot Sauce Revolution is on! Please consider supporting our Kickstarter project and obtaining your own bottle of Fire Dragon Love Sauce: the Official Hot Sauce for Gay Marriage, by clicking HERE. We have until July 5th to reach our goal and would appreciate your help spreading the word to other marriage equality supporters and hot sauce aficionados!

May 2013

Otálvaro-Hormillosa to Begin Doctoral Studies at Stanford in September… Plus Summer Launch of the Fire Dragon Love Sauce: The Official Hot Sauce for Gay Marriage!

Otálvaro-Hormillosa will begin her doctoral studies in the Department of Theater and Performance Studies at Stanford University in September of 2013. Until then, she will be busy this summer with the launch of Fire Dragon Love Sauce: The Official Hot Sauce for Gay Marriage, in collaboration with her wife Heather Carducci. They are both fire dragons according to Chinese astrology; hence, the name of the sauce. The couple produced the sauce as party favors for guests at their wedding in San Francisco last September during the year of the water dragon.

The dragon wives will launch a Kickstarter for the sauce on June 5th in celebration of Pride month and in anticipation of two major Supreme Court cases related to gay marriage (Prop 8 and DOMA), the outcomes of which will be determined by the end of June. To learn  more about the Fire Dragon Love Sauce and watch related videos, click here. Inspired by the tradition of conceptual artists who have used food for subversive and political purposes, Otálvaro-Hormillosa considers the hot sauce project her debut into the world of food, art, and politics. Otálvaro-Hormillosa and Carducci celebrate the sauce’s synaesthetic qualities in its ability to stimulate the political senses by way of the gastronomic ones.

March 2013

“Implicated Spaces” in Emergency Index 2013 and at Art History Conference at Princeton… Plus Upcoming Projects!

Documentation of “Implicated Spaces” will be featured in Emergency Index 2013, which will be released later in the year. Emergency Index (New York: Ugly Duckling Press) is the only publication of its kind, revealing a breathtaking variety of performance work as it actually exists today. Emergency Index offers a cutting edge view of performance as it is used in dance, theater, music, visual art, political activism, scientific research, advertising, poetry, and other disciplines.

Otálvaro-Hormillosa is excited to present “Implicated Spaces” in March at the “Why Art History Matters: Politics, Ethics, and Objects” conference at Princeton University, where Hal Foster will deliver the keynote address. Since October, she has presented artist talks, guest lectures, and her performative lecture “Implicated Spaces” for graduate and undergraduate classes at Stanford, University of San Francisco, and California College of the Arts, as well as at the Critical Information Conference (School of Visual Arts, New York City) and the National Association of Latino Art and Culture Annual Conference (Philiadelphia).

Otálvaro-Hormillosa is in the fundraising stages of her upcoming project, “Intertwined Roots,” a multimedia solo performance that will synthesize her current research about the Dirty War with archives of her Filipino grandfather who lived in Buenos Aires during Eva and Juan Peron’s term in the 1950s. Her quest for him and research material about the “disappeared” are intertwined processes of memory recuperation. Though one aspect of the project occurs on a personal level through family history, the performance as a whole can be approached as a microcosm of the related histories of Asia and Latin America throughout the 20^th and 21^st centuries. If she is successful with her grant applications, she intends to develop the piece over the summer and perform it as a work in progress in September of 2013—the month of her birthday and also her grandfather’s.

October 2012

Publication and Videos of Visual and Critical Studies Graduate Symposium Now Online

“Persistence and Embodiment in Argentina’s Visual Politics for Remembrance,” Otálvaro-Hormillosa’s essay for the California College of the Arts Visual and Critical Studies Journal, Sightlines, is now available online. Click HERE to download the PDF and to access the link for the 2012 graduate symposium on YouTube, including Otálvaro-Hormillosa’s performative lecture, “Implicated Spaces.”

July 2012

Otálvaro-Hormillosa Wins Core77 Design Award in Writing and Commentary

On July 10, the 2012 Core77 jury for the category in writing and commentary announced Otálvaro-Hormillosa’s essay, “The Intertwining—Bodies and Spaces in the Aftermath of Argentina’s Dirty War,” as the winning entry! She is delighted about the news and hopes to go to the awards ceremony in New York City this fall to receive the Core77 Design Awards Trophy in New York City. For more information about the entry, click HERE. To view the video of the live broadcast announcement of the video, click HERE and scroll to time code 6:40.

About the Core77 Design Awards
Recognizing excellence in all areas of design enterprise, the Core77 Design Awards celebrates the richness of the design profession and its practitioners. In 2012 there are 17 categories of entry, providing designers, researchers and writers a unique opportunity to communicate the intent, rigor and passion behind their efforts. From client work to self-initiated projects, entrepreneurial to pro-bono engagements, the Core77 Design Awards embrace a wide diversity of enterprise: commercial, cultural, social, environmental and discursive. Since 1995, Core77.com has been an indispensable design magazine and resource serving the greater online community. Founded by designers living and working in New York City, today the Core77.com network includes daily design news, thought leadership, professional development, industry advocacy, and community outreach.

MAY 2012

Devil Bunny recently obtained her Master of Arts in Visual and Critical Studies from California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Since she began her graduate work, she has taken an interest in Latin American visual cultures. During her first year, she expanded her approach to theoretical concepts of hybridity and performance by applying alternative aesthetics such as Mexican-Chicano/a rasquache and Brazilian carnivalesque and cannibalist tropes to an analysis of contemporary performance. In the spring of 2011, she received All College Honors in the category of Critical Writing for a paper on Mexican-Chicana diasporic performance practices. She also received scholarships from P.E.O. California and the Chicana Latina Foundation.

Her master’s thesis, “Embodying Spaces: Memory and Resistance in the Aftermath of Argentina’s Dirty War (1976-1983)” explores the intertwining of memory, corporeality and the politics of space with a focus on public art, memorials and human rights. She presented “Implicated Spaces,” a synthesis of her research which interwove excerpts from disappeared journalist and activist Rodolfo Walsh’s “Open Letter to the Military Junta” at CCA’s Graduate Symposium in Visual and Critical Studies in April, and at the Northern California Performance Studies Platform Graduate Plenary at Stanford in May. More about the presentation and symposium is on CCA’s site: http://cca-viscrit.com/about/thesis-symposium/2012-2/gigi-otalvaro-hormillosa/.

In addition to her thesis work during her last semester at CCA, Devil Bunny also participated in an Engage courses sponsored by CCA’s Center for Public Art and Life. “Building Narratives” brought together a unique group of students in design, architecture, visual and critical studies and writing. The students worked on creative projects inspired by the community of Esparto in Yolo County, to be presented at the town’s train station that had been abandoned for decades and was recently acquired by architect and CCA professor Maria McVarish. For the final exhibition, “Building Narratives: Installations for a Transitional Space” which took place at the train station, Devil Bunny presented her sensory engagement installation featuring wine and almond tastings (in exchange for memories or hopes for the train station), care of local business owners with whom she connected during her adventures in Yolo County. These adventures were documented in her psychogeographic-autoethnographic videos that were part of the installation (see video player of solo performances on this website). Devil Bunny also connected with the local Esparto dancers during her visits to Yolo County. Another component of her project was an exploration of the train station’s potential as a site for performance, dance, and/or yoga. During the hot afternoon of April 21, Devil Bunny joined the Esparto dancers as they performed three numbers at the station. For more information about the project and train station, visit: http://mnemictrain.com/.

Getting ready to sweat and Zumba at the Esparto Depot, April 21, 2012.

Esparto Zumba dancers, Maria Robles and Thanya Oliveira.

ARCHIVES

DEVIL BUNNY IN 2010

In the spring of 2010, Devil Bunny presented “Exploring Metaculture with Devil Bunny” at the University of California Santa Cruz (sponsored by the Art Department) and the University of California Los Angeles (sponsored by the Women’s Studies Department, with co-sponsorship from the Asian American Studies Center, the Center for the Study of Women, and the Chicana/o Studies Research Center). The presentation included performance, writing and video works, featuring a diverse cast of characters such as extraterrestrial, feminist heroes, cinematic gorillas in pink-ray, ethnotopic inverted minstrels, and supernatural mestizas existing along various points of the time-space-culture continuum. The presentation also featured an artist talk and Q&A.

In August of 2010, Devil Bunny collaborated with Choreographer/Cultural Activist, Pearl Ubungen, at ODC/SF Theater, where Ubungen was in residence. The residence culminated in a new work-in-progress, “Queen of Broken Hearts.” This new work featured Cria Merchant, Margit Galanter, Kara Davis, Devil Bunny, Otter Cushing and Janine Trinidad – all exceptional movement artists who have worked with Pearl Ubungen and/or her company Pearl Ubungen Dancers and Musicians at some time over the past 17 years. The music was composed by Gabe Celestino Higgins and Ubungen’s  longtime collaborator, Randy Odell.

In April, Devil Bunny was a featured artist in Low Lives 2 (in its second year). Low Lives was a one-night exhibition of performance-based works transmitted via the internet and projected in real time at numerous venues throughout the U.S. and abroad. International artists and artist collectives participating in this exhibition transmitted their performances live from countries including Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Singapore Trinidad & Tobago and from the following cities in the United States: Austin, TX; Houston, TX; Nashville, TN; New York, NY; Miami, FL; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Minneapolis, MN; Las Vegas, NV; Gunnison, CO; San Francisco, CA; Chicago, IL and Los Angeles, CA. Devil Bunny’s performance (excerpts from Big Pink) was presented to a live audience and streamed from one of the sponsoring venues, Galeria de la Raza, in San Francisco’s Mission District.

DEVIL BUNNY IN 2009

Devil Bunny started out 2009 preparing for a two-week tour of “Big Pink,” which was performed as part of the Fringes-Borders-Margins Festival in March. The festival was presented by Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, CA, in collaboration with the National Performance Network and the Queer Cultural Center (San Francisco). The festival featured work by eight performance artists based in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and began with a weekend run at Highways Performance Space. The artists then performed at the Claremont Colleges, and also participated in a panel discussion with the students. The tour ended with a weekend run at Sushi Performance and Visual Art, in San Diego.

In May, Devil Bunny and artist collaborator, Heather Cox Carducci, participated in “EPIC: Visualizing Heroes Within” during the 12th Annual United States of Asian America Festival. The event was sponsored by the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance. Devil Bunny and Carducci presented a triad of performance-based photographs of Zenitha, the pink-haired lady, a character who also appears in Big Pink.

In June, Devil Bunny presented “Big Pink” as part of MythFITS, a literary event curated by Michelle Tea, which took place at the Koret Auditorium at the San Francisco Public Library. The event was part of the 12th Annual National Queer Arts Festival. Literary artists such as Sadie Lune and Robin Coste Lewis were also on the line up.

In July, Devil Bunny and Carducci presented “Dimension of IS: A Spectacular Future,” at the 5th Annual Queer Women of Color Film Festival, to a sold out theater. The event was sponsored by the Queer Women of Color Media Project and took place at Brava Theater in San Francisco’s Mission District.

In the fall, Devil Bunny had the opportunity to present on a panel with other performance artists, such as Guillermo Galindo and Tina Takemoto, at California College of the Arts. The Performance Art Round Table was sponsored by the Visual and Critical Studies Department and involved discussions about performance art as a dynamic site of contemporary cultural production, and its evolving status in art schools and colleges.

Devil Bunny ended the year preparing for upcoming engagements in 2010 at UC Santa Cruz and UCLA.

HotLezbosInAction.com Provides a Social Justice Networking Platform for Artists and Activists to Explore New Strategies for Advancing LGBT Equality

San Francisco, CA—January 10^th, 2009—Today, Heather Cox Carducci and Gigi Otalvaro-Hormillosa, the founders of HotLezbosInAction.com announce the alpha launch of their online social justice networking platform targeting LGBT artists, activists, and professionals, as well as their allies.   Hot Lezbos In Action is part of a small number of niche social networks that cater to those seeking an alternative to mainstream networking sites that haven’t been effective in addressing concerns specific to particular communities and industries.

“We see the Hot Lezbos in Action online community at the forefront of niche social networks that are primarily focused on social justice issues,” says Otalvaro-Hormillosa, who is also the Artistic Director of Aeromestiza, the sponsoring organization of the project.

In recent months, anti-gay initiatives have passed in California, Florida, Arizona, and Arkansas.  Clearly we are seeing an increase in efforts by anti-gay groups seeking to perpetuate homophobia nationwide.  Since the website will be an online community of people from all over the nation and beyond, the founders intend to make a national impact by educating the public about the harmful, discriminatory basis of anti-gay initiatives, which jeopardizes the advancement of civil rights in a pluralistic society.

As a result of participating in this online community, the founders hope that their audience members will be inspired to have many conversations with people within their communities and outside of their communities, as part of the overall effort to raise awareness about LGBT issues.   Hot Lezbos In Action provides a highly effective online platform that includes resources such as forums, blogs, and its own Action TV Station featuring videos that address the most current issues around LGBT equality.

As the backlash against LGBT rights intensifies, LGBT activists, artists and their allies will seek alternatives in working towards social justice.  Fortunately for them, Hot Lezbos In Action will have a strong web presence.  HotLezbosInAction.com will facilitate discussions and provide a platform for networking opportunities and the development of effective strategies for coalition building.

DEVIL BUNNY IN 2008

Join Hands at “Love in Motion” and Benefit Let California Ring

Marriage Equality Fundraiser Promises Lively Performances, Sumptuous Treats and Decadent View

“Love in Motion” is an affiliated event of Love Fest www.sflovefest.org/afterparty.php

San Francisco, Calif. —September 15, 2008—Local performance and video artists, Heather Cox-Carducci and Gigi Otalvaro-Hormillosa, today announced the upcoming event, “Love in Motion,” a marriage equality fundraiser to benefit Let California Ring, a public education campaign that believes lesbian and gay Californians deserve the freedom to marry the person they love.

Gathering a group of cutting-edge performances, including Urban Folk Music Project by Khalil Anthony, Queer Cheer by host artists (Heather and Gigi), and music by DJ Kinetic of Drift, the event vows to provide vivacious entertainment as well as delicious hors d’oeuvres and beverages.  Attendees will also have an opportunity to bid on an original piece of art by local artist, Catherine Butler, during the silent auction.  In addition, there will also be a drawing for two six-month memberships at Gold’s Gym in the Castro.

Day/Time: Saturday October 4th, 2008, 6:00—9:00 p.m. Performances start at 7:15pm.

Location: The San Francisco LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street @ Octavia, Ceremonial Room and Roof Top / 4th floor. 415-865-5555

To Attend: $15 minimum donation (tax deductible)

Generous supporters include 21st Amendment Brewery, (a)eromestiza, Bi-Rite Market, Blue Ice Vodka, Catherine Butler, Colour Drop, Drift, Frey Winery, Gold’s Gym Castro, The Harrison Team of Sotheby’s International Realty, Leslie Brody of Luscious Catering, Cheerleading Costumes by Marilyn Yu, NCLR, San Francisco LGBT Community Center, Dara Sklar, SpaceSuperStar, Trader Joe’s SoMa.

Donations to this event are tax deductible and all proceeds will go to Let California Ring, a project of Equality California. Let California Ring is a public education campaign that believes lesbian and gay Californians deserve the freedom to marry the person they love.

Press Contacts:

Gigi Otalvaro-Hormillosa

415-699-4167

aeromestiza@sbcglobal.net

Heather Cox-Carducci

415-235-9091

hcox@pacunion.com

May 2008 

In May of 2008, Devil Bunny was commissioned to create a new solo work entitled “Big Pink,” which premiered at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco as part of “Identity Shifts: Bay Area Response,” one of the performance programs that took place during the exhibit, “The Way That We Rhyme: Women, Art and Politics.”  In this interactive video-based performance, Devil Bunny encounters Big Pink, a pink gorilla which symbolizes a conflation of stereotypical notions of femininity, colonialist constructs of the “primitive,” and addiction / substance (ab)use.  Approaching substance (ab)use from a hybrid (fe)male perspective, Devil Bunny ruminates about the complexities of being a well-healed woman in a world in which ideas about “femininity” exclude those who choose not to be well-heeled, all the while attempting to balance multiple perspectives and experiences only to find herself caught in a perpetual state of addiction to substances, patriarchy, expectations of “ultimate” forms of femininity, and the many other internalized ism’s and phobias that obstruct women’s empowerment.

March 2008 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 1, 2008

CONTACT:

Gigi Otalvaro-Hormillosa
aeromestiza@sbcglobal.net

The National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC) has selected Gigi Otalvaro-Hormillosa to receive a grant for the 2007-2008 cycle of the  NALAC Fund for the Arts (NFA). This award supports the final phase of “Dimension of IS: A Spectacular Future,” created in collaboration with Heather Cox Carducci.

The final phase of “Dimension of IS” will entail the completion of the video portion of the piece which was initially presented as an interactive video / performance, and which incorporates performance, science fiction, sound design, and video.  “Dimension of IS” is inspired by the history of world’s fairs which many have interpreted as being explicitly racist in their display of non-Western people as specimens.

“We are happy to support Gigi Otalvaro-Hormillosa through an NFA award and look forward to strengthening our support of the Latino arts community in San Francisco. The NALAC Fund for the Arts successfully completed its third year funding cycle and will launch its fourth year effort in 2008. We are excited about the diverse group of supporters that have invested in the NFA to support the Latino arts sector. We will continue to grow the circle of stakeholders who are supporting Latino creative expression,” states Maria De Leon, Executive Director of NALAC.

Funding for this grant award of the NALAC Fund for the Arts is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Ford Foundation, the JPMorgan Chase Foundation and Southwest Airlines. NALAC is also proud to welcome new NFA partners the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Heineken USA. For more information on the NALAC Fund for the Arts, please visit www.nalac.org

Through the NALAC Fund for the Arts, NALAC has provided 128 grants totaling more than $379,000 to Latino artists, ensembles and small and mid-size Latino arts and culture organizations throughout the U.S.

Abel López, Chair of the NALAC Board said, “NALAC’s support of Latino artists and organizations ensures that the nation’s cultural life is enriched and made vital through the diverse artistic and cultural expressions of our artists. We are pleased to support the creative process of Latino artists and organizations across the country that engage communities, stimulate ideas and local economies, and build audiences for all of the nation’s arts.”

The first phase of “Dimension of IS” was funded by the Astraea Foundation, the Horizons Foundation, the San Francisco Art Commission, the Zellerbach Family Fund, and individual donors.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT DIMENSION OF IS

(a)eromestiza (the arts organization for which Devil Bunny acts as Artistic Director) presented the video of “Dimension of IS” at the 6^th Annual Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute on Performance and Politics (Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender) that took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina last June at the Centro Cultural Recoleta.  In addition, Devil Bunny and co-creator, Heather Cox-Carducci, spoke on a round table discussion entitled “Utopic Bodies,” along with other performance artists and academics from the U.S. and Latin America.

In 2006, Devil Bunny and Heather premiered “Dimension of IS: A Spectacular Future” as part of their residency at the Lab, in San Francisco.  Presented by (a)eromestiza and SpaceSuperStar, “Dimension of IS” is a hybrid live performance that incorporates science fiction, sound, video, and installations to create an expansive world in which the artists speculate about the (d)evolution of America’s role as a “super” power beyond earth.  The piece educates the public about the history of America’s global domination, starting with the Filipino-American War at the turn of the 20^th Century and the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair.  At this Fair, 1200 so-called Filipino “savages” along with many other ethnic “specimens” and gender ambiguities were displayed to the American public to garner support for the war, which propelled America into its new role as an imperial power.  “Dimension of IS” also provides a critical perspective about America’s Military Industrial Complex by questioning its role in outer space and revealing the Nazi origins of NASA’s “Masters of Space Program.” The piece meshes past, present and future to illustrate the commonalities of histories of oppression in an effort to unite communities with an enlightened and revolutionary vision for the future.  Go to the Performance and Curatorial link to view video clips and additional information about the performance.

Heather and Devil Bunny collaborated with artists Elise Baldwin, and Eliza Barrios to create this historical and science fiction based work in progress.  Elise Baldwin has been active in the Bay Area experimental music scene as a sound designer, recording engineer and composer for theater, film, live performance, and audio installations.  Eliza Barrios is one of the founders of the Mail Order Brides (MOB), whose work ranges from performance, to installation, and video/film.  Heather is a designer and performer who is currently establishing SpaceSuperStar, a company that creates art and clothing for individuals and their journeys.  Other collaborators include Valentin Aguirre, Alan Chun, emael, Gary Gregerson, Kendall Li, Al Lujan, Tony Otalvaro, S. Trotter, Jenifer K. Wofford, Marilyn Yu, and Soo Yuan.

(a)eromestiza’s funders for this project included: San Francisco Art Commission, Horizons Foundation, Astraea Foundation, Zellerbach Family Fund, and individual donors.  Founded in 2001 by Devil Bunny, (a)eromestiza creates dynamic live performances that incorporate complex sound, movement and video components.  Devil Bunny is currently seeking funds to complete the final phase of the project so that the work can exist as a video in its final form.

In June of 2006, Devil Bunny performed an excerpt from the past/present segment of “Dimension of IS” at “The Next Big Bang Conference,” at the Aratani/Japan America Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles.  She was also a featured panelist on the “Dynamism of Aesthetics in Asian American Theatre” panel, along with Alice Tuan, Mia Katigbak, and Esther Lee.  From August through October of 2006, the video of the future segment of “Dimension of IS” was exhibited at MACLA in San Jose, as part of their “Frontera Electronica” exhibit.  In September of 2006, (a)eromestiza performed at Kearny Street Workshop’s APAture Festival, as the featured artist group in the category of performance.

In July of 2007, Devil Bunny and Heather participated in “The Last American Icon: Under House Arrest,” a week-long performance installation by San Francisco-based artist, emael.  As part of emael’s retrospective, Devil Bunny and Heather appeared as the “elders” from the Dimension of IS to visit with the artist, who was also an elder from the Dimension of IS in a previous incarnation.  They sat and vibed with each other, engaged in minor calisthenics, and joined in communicine – a remnant ritual from MUVE, another previous work in which emael so beautifully collaborated with (a)eromestiza and SpaceSuperStar.

From November of 2006 through 2008, the video of the future of segment of “Dimension of IS” will be on exhibit in venues throughout Argentina, as part of a traveling exhibit entitled “Subjected Culture: Interruptions and Resistances on Femaleness.”  See venues and dates in calendar of events below.