Christina deRoos

Youth Photography Exchange: La Manzanilla, Mexico & Brooklyn, NY

While in La Manzanilla in April I taught a follow up photography workshop with the La Catalina Wings Scholarship students I began working with in November 2011. For this session, each student created a series of photos reflecting aspects of his/her community. The photos were to be shared with students of PS147 in Brooklyn, NY.

During the workshop we talked about things that might be similar (cars) and things that might be different (for instance sharks, as represented in the photo to the left by Citlalli). See more of the La Manzanilla students' photos here.  

 

The following week I was in Brooklyn and thanks to Ms. Cappelletto and Ms. Poley I was able to  lead two photography workshops with students at PS147 in Bushwick. We reviewed the photos from La Manzanilla students, and the Brooklyn students agreed to take a series of photos of their community to share with the students in La Manzanilla. The next day we reviewed what we saw that was similar (trees) and what was different (school buses, as represented in the photo to the right by Jil). See more of the Brooklyn students' photos here.

Both sets of photos were then shared with photography students in Rwanda, an exchange with the nonprofit Through the Eyes of Hope founded by photojournalist Linda Smith.

Thank you to everyone who helped with this latest round of workshops. It was a unique and powerful experience for the students in La Manzanilla and Brooklyn to represent their community through their own photos, and to step briefly into one another's lives through images. I am grateful for the opportunity to faciliatate this exchange, and look forward to the next creative exchange.

Viva Mexico!

I was fortunate to have a quick trip to Mexico in April. Spring had sprung and the flowers were jaw-dropping. There was also a lot of fog, which is unusual for the area, and a couple earthquakes. A few photos are below. See more here.

 

playing with myself playing with yourself

Thank you Anya Liftig and Thomas Bell for a great collaboration at Bronx Art Space.

 

 

Thomas Bell, Christina deRoos, Anya Liftig
April 29, 2012
Bronx Art Space

Part of ITINERANT: FESTIVAL FOR CONTEMPORARY PERFORMANCE ART

March 30th - May 12th, 2012
Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Bronx, Staten Island
New York City, USA

QMAD, Queens Media Arts Development is pleased to present ITINERANT, the annual festival for Contemporary Performance Art initiated by artist, Hector Canonge in Queens in 2011. This year’s festival is a citywide program to be presented in collaboration with galleries, artist-run spaces and public institutions in the five boroughs in New York City. ITINERANT 2012 focuses on live performative works that treat notions of intimacy, self-reflection, and introspection. Artists working in performance art were selected to participate from an open call that attracted more than 175 local, national and international submissions. Forty five artists will present new and existing works exploring the program’s theme over a period of five weeks, March 30 - May 12, 2012.

Participating artists:
Maria Fernanda Alves da Silva, BabySkinGlove, Michael Barrett , Chloe Bass, Thomas Bell, Anya Liftig & Christina deRoos, Cynthia Berkshire, Jessica Bonenfant, Camila Cañeque , Bryon Carr, John Cichon, Irene Chan, Christen Diane Clifford, Christine Ferrera, Amy Finkbeiner, Carlos Gonzalez, Jil Guyon, Ian Hatcher, Kanene Holder, Whitney V. Hunter, Maria Hupfield, Maya Jeffereis, Marie Christine Katz, Sarah Kipp, Jia-Jen Lin & Yung-Li Chen, LuLu LoLo, Stiven Luka, Nadja Marcin, Rosalind Murray, Zavé Martohardjono, Alex Nathanson & Dylan Neely, Ioanna Neofytou & Klitoras Charalampopoulos, Nancy Nowacek, Panoply Performance Laboratory, Diana Pettersen, Miles Pflanz, Anthony Romero & Marissa Perel, Lizzie Scott, Negin Sharifzadeh, Priscilla Stadler, Alaina Stamatis, Chris Udemezue, Genevieve White, and Jess Whittam & Lorelei Ramirez.

Dates and Venues:
(Featuring different artists)
- Friday, March 30, 8 – 11 pm at Grace Exhibition Space - Brooklyn.
- Saturday, April 21, 6 – 9 pm at Crossing Art Gallery - Queens.
- Saturday, April 28, 7 – 10 pm at Floor 4 Art - Manhattan.
- Sunday, April 29, 6 - 9 pm at Bronx Art Space - Bronx.
- Saturday, May 5, 6 - 8 pm at Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art - Staten Island.

Outdoor Performances:
(Made possible in collaboration with the office of Council Member Daniel Dromm)

- Every Friday, April 6th - May 4th, 3 - 6 PM Public Actions at 37th Road Pedestrian Plaza - Jackson Heights, Queens.

- Saturday, May 12th, 3 - 6 PM Outdoor Performances at 37th Road Pedestrian Plaza - Jackson Heights, Queens.

About the project:
QMAD, Queens Media Arts Development, is under the direction of artist, Hector Canonge, who launched ITINERANT in Queens in 2011. Canonge explains that ITINERANT is “the first program for performance art in this borough,” and that he “wants to introduce audiences to this art form as well as to create dialogue and exchange among artists coming from all over to the festival." ITINERANT started as a mini-festival with handful of local artists presenting their live performances at Crossing Art Gallery. For 2012, Canonge wanted to replicate his unique initiative but in larger scale; a citywide program featuring different artists at different venues in the five borogouhs in New York City. Canonge comments that "organizing the program has been an incredible challenge, and that [his] collaboration with art institutions, organizations, galleries, and artist-run spaces in the five boroughs a fulfilling experience." QMAD, under the leadership of Canonge, presents the monthly LGBT film series CINEMAROSA, the annual program Framing AIDS, and the monthly art series A-Lab Forum.

Allison & Taya's Impressions: 2012 Spread Art Residency in Mexico

Below are reflections and photos from Allison & Taya De Long after returning from a week in La Manzanila, Jalisco, Mexico as part of Spread Art's residency program. I'm grateful they were able to take part, and appreciate their positive contribution to the community. See more photos here.

Our opportunity in Mexico, thanks to Spread Art, turned out to be an even richer experience than we had imagined!  Our location was right where all the action happens, near the plaza and right next to the church.  The day after we arrived, a bishop was visiting and there was a great celebration which included a parade, live entertainment, and a huge "pozole" feast!

On Saturday, we helped with a free art class for the local children.  There were over 20 enthusiastic kids in attendance.  They worked on 4 different projects during the class.  Two ex pat artists living in La Manzanilla give their time and materials to put this on every weekend.

A couple days later we helped with an after school art class in the La Catalina Education Foundation building next to the elementary school.  It was fun to see some of the same kids there as the Saturday class.  Another afternoon we helped with an after school English class in the same location.  It turned out the woman teaching was a friend of ours from back home!  And she was there with her kids who we knew also which was fun for my daughter, Taya.

Our last day we were invited to come to the elementary school to help with the English classes that occur as part of the regular school day.  We saw many familiar faces that we had come to know during the week.  It was fun to see the kids in their school uniforms too!  We were surprised to see as many as 37 kids in one classroom.

We love the small, friendly size and safe feel of La Manzanilla.  We enjoyed being on the streets in town and having kids we had met in classes come up to us and say "Hola" and want to speak with us.  These connections were priceless and unforgettable. 

We gave little of our time and were given so much more in return.  It was much better than a vacation just sitting on the beach day after day (but I admit we did a bit of that too!).

 

Exhibition / Performance list updated

Today I updated the exhibition / performance list since I hadn't added anything since late 2009. I guess I've been busy.

Thank you to the many artist collaborators, curators, galleries, performance spaces, schools, students, friends and family members who enabled so much to happen. As always, extra special thanks to Thomas Bell and Roger & Carolyn deRoos, who believed in me before I believed in myself.

I'll be curious to see where the path leads from here...

Next Performance: April 29th @ Bronx Art Space

I'm looking forward to a performance collaboration with Anya Liftig and Thomas Bell on April 29th at Bronx Art Space. The event is part of Itinerant contemporary performance festival, initiated by artist Hector Canonge in 2011 and presented by QMAD (Queens Media Arts Development).

April 29th
6pm - 9pm
Bronx Art Space
305 E. 140th St., #1A, Bronx NY 10454

Directions
From Union Square: 4-5 train to 125th, transfer to 6, one stop to 3rd Ave/138th St, it's 2 blocks from there. Note there are two exits at 3rd Ave/138th, one at Alexander Ave and one at 3rd Ave.
Ring 3A if 1A does not answer.
Bronx Art Space is wheelchair accessible.

This will be the 3rd time Anya, Thomas and I have collaborated, the first time being part of Fountain Art Fair during Art Basel 2011 in Miami (video below) and more recently as part of the Compendium show at Vaudeville Park in Brooklyn (photo below). This third collaboration, however, will be first time Anya, Thomas and I will all be in the same physical space during our performance. So we've got that going for us, which is nice.

 

 

More about Itinerant:
QMAD, Queens Media Arts Development is pleased to present ITINERANT, the annual festival for Contemporary Performance Art initiated by artist, Hector Canonge in Queens in 2011. This year’s festival consists a citywide program to be presented in collaboration with galleries, artist-run spaces and public institutions in the five boroughs that make up the City of New Yok City. ITINERANT 2012 will focuson live performative works that treat notions of intimacy, self-reflection, and introspection. Artists working in performance art were selected to participate from an open call that attracted more than 175 local, national and international submissions. Forty five artists will present new and existing works exploring the program’s theme over a period of five weeks starting at the end of March.

Participating artists:
Maria Fernanda Alves da Silva, BabySkinGlove, Michael Barrett , Chloe Bass, Thomas Bell, Anya Liftig & Christina deRoos, Cynthia Berkshire, Jessica Bonenfant, Camila Cañeque , Bryon Carr, John Cichon, Irene Chan, Christen Diane Clifford, Charles Dennis, Christine Ferrera, Amy Finkbeiner, Carlos Gonzalez, Jil Guyon, Ian Hatcher, Kanene Holder, Whitney V. Hunter, Maria Hupfield, Maya Jeffereis, Marie Christine Katz, Sarah Kipp, Jia-Jen Lin & Yung-Li Chen, LuLu LoLo, Stiven Luka, Nadja Marcin, Rosalind Murray, Zavé Martohardjono, Alex Nathanson & Dylan Neely, Ioanna Neofytou & Klitoras Charalampopoulos, Nancy Nowacek, Panoply Performance Laboratory, Diana Pettersen, Miles Pflanz, No Collective, Anthony Romero & Marissa Perel, Lizzie Scott, Negin Sharifzadeh, Priscilla Stadler, Alaina Stamatis, Chris Udemezue, Genevieve White, and Jess Whittam & Lorelei Ramirez.

Dates and Venues:
(Featuring different artists)
- Friday, March 30, 8 – 11 pm at Grace Exhibition Space - Brooklyn.
- Saturday, April 21, 6 – 9 pm at Crossing Art Gallery - Queens.
- Saturday, April 28, 7 – 10 pm at Floor 4 Art - Manhattan.
- Sunday, April 29, 6 - 9 pm at Bronx Art Space - Bronx.
- Saturday, May 5, 6 - 8 pm at Newhouse Center for Conpemporary Art - Staten Island.

Outdoor Performances:
(Made possible in collaboration with the office of Council Member Daniel Dromm)

- Every Friday, April 6th - May 4th, 3 - 6 PM Public Actions at 37th Road Pedestrian Plaza - Jackson Heights, Queens.

- Saturday, May 12th, 3 - 6 PM Outdoor Performances at 37th Road Pedestrian Plaza - Jackson Heights, Queens.

About the project:
QMAD, Queens Media Arts Development, is under the direction of artist, Hector Canonge, who launched ITINERANT in Queens in 2011. Canonge explains that ITINERANT is “the first program for performance art in this borough,” and that he “wants to introduce audiences to this art form as well as to create dialogue and exchange among artists coming from all over to the festival." ITINERANT started as a mini-festival with handful of local artists presenting their live performances at Crossing Art Gallery. For 2012, Canonge wanted to replicate his unique initiative but in larger scale; a citywide program featuring different artists at different venues in the five borogouhs in New York City. Canonge comments that "organizing the program has been an incredible challenge, and that [his] collaboration with art institutions, organizations, galleries, and artist-run spaces in the five boroughs a fulfilling experience." QMAD, under the leadership of Canonge, presents the monthly LGBT film series CINEMAROSA, the annual program Framing AIDS, and the monthly art series A-Lab Forum.

Non Grata performance at Tangent Gallery (Detroit)

On March 29th Spread Art and Grace Exhibition Space co-presented international performance group Non Grata at Tangent Gallery in Detroit. Special thanks to 555 Arts and Moonlight Underground for additonal support.

It was an incredible evening and inspired me to think of performance art in new ways. A few photos are below. Follow this link for more.

Spread Art: Allison and Taya residency in La Manzanilla, Mexico

This week Allison and Taya DeLong are in La Manzanilla, Jalisco for a week on the beautiful Pacific coast of Mexico. I met Allison a few years ago when I was teaching yoga in Mexico and was thrilled when she expressed interest in Spread Art's residency opportunity (free accommodations in exchange for a small amount of volunteer work).

Below are Allison's thoughts about returning to La Manzanilla and the opportuities that visiting Mexico provides for her daughter Taya. I look forward to posting their reflections on their trip after they return to their home in Washington State.

My family was in La Manzanilla, Mexico in 2009 and took classes with La Catalina Language School.  One reason I chose that school was because it offered volunteering opportunities.  I spent some afternoons visiting with a teenage boy who was paralyzed from the waist down as a result of a car wreck.  For work, his mom had taken on cooking 2 meals a day for a large number of workers and I was able to help her in the kitchen some also. 

We hold fond memories of the town and its friendly locals.  My daughter is now 12 and has been studying Spanish lately at home.  When the opportunity arose to stay in a house in La Manzanilla in exchange for some volunteer work, it felt so right.  I had been hoping to bring my daughter to a Spanish speaking country but it was also important to me that it included contribution in some way to a local community.  I am so grateful to be able to share this cultural and contributive experience with my daughter.

Detroit views

I'm beginning to settle into Detroit. A few first impressions below...

 

 

Low Lives: Occupy!

Thank you to Jorge Rojas for inviting me to co-curate Low Lives: Occupy! The event and experience were phenomenal and inspiring. Click here to watch the videos.

*****

Low Lives: Occupy! a unique one-night-only program of live performance art, happenings, and public actions, simulcast to presenting host venues around the world. Join us at the Hemispheric Institute or watch online 6pm - 10pm. All details below.

 

 

LOW LIVES: OCCUPY!
Event Date: Saturday, March 3, 2012
Event Time: 6:00 - 10:00 pm (EST)
Online: http://www.occupywithart.com/llo-live-channel/

 

 

Low Lives has partnered with Occupy with Art and The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics to present “Low Lives: Occupy! a unique one-night-only program of live performance art, happenings, and public actions, simulcast to presenting host venues around the world. Low Lives: Occupy! will take place on Saturday, March 3, 2012 from 6 -10 pm (EST). Low Lives: Occupy! partner Mark Read of the 99% Bat Signal / The Illuminator, will contribute a special projection and performance in conjunction with Low Lives: Occupy!

Jorge Rojas, Founding Director of Low Lives, comments: “Over the past four years Low Lives has developed a platform that invites and enables artists, audiences, and presenting venues to “plug in and participate” from anywhere an internet connection exists. This technological platform which brings a history of supporting artists’ full creative freedom to imagine new worlds, is ideally suited to be the support structure to enable artists, activists and Occupy groups from around the globe to present work in solidarity with #OWS. Low Lives: Occupy! recognizes the powerful opportunity that is the presentation of performances from around the world, within which artists are invited to facilitate the process of opening eyes and minds – and present a radical re-imagining of possible ways of existing and relating. The Occupy Wall Street protests have given us The People’s Mic and The People’s Stage. Thanks to a partnership with Occupy with Art and The Hemispheric Institute, Low Lives: Occupy! has the potential to become the The People’s Virtual Stage.”

The Low Lives: Occupy! program will include thirty-five performance artists, Occupy groups, and artist collectives located worldwide in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy movement for the 99%. Participants will expand the reach and visibility of the Occupy protests by broadcasting to an international audience community. Thirteen co-presenting organizations in eight countries including U.S., México, Spain, Colombia, Brazil, Northern Ireland, France, and Argentina, will project Low Lives: Occupy! in their own venues and public spaces. The Occupy protests, and the myriad of perspectives and experiences related to this unique movement, will be amplified, explored, and experimented with, through Low Lives’ internet-based creative platform.

The Hemispheric Institute, presenting partner and official New York City venue for Low Lives: Occupy! will present one live performance during the March 3 event, and screen all other selections in real time using live-streaming technology. Presenting partner and event organizer, Occupy with Art, will host the live simulcast at OccupywithArt.com, providing the means for viewers around the world to access the program online. Co-presenting partners of Low Lives: Occupy! will present the simulcast in their venues and public spaces.

Presenting Partners
Occupy with Art / Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics / Low Lives /

Co-Presenters
99% Bat Signal - The Illuminator (NYC, US) / Antena Mutante (Bogotá, CO) / Casa Brandon- Ciudad Autónoma (Buenos Aires, AR) / La Casa de la Cultura Comunitaria “Guuze´ Benda” (Oaxaca, MX) / Co-Lab (Austin, TX, US) / Dimanche Rouge (Paris, FR) / GT Gallery (Belfast, NIR) / Guerrero Project (Mexico City, MX) / Kaxinawá Occupy. Som, Música e Poesia (Greater Rio de Janeiro, BR) / Museo de Arte Efimero de Cartago, MAEC (Cartago, CO) / Nau Còclea (Girona, ES) / Performance Exchange at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago SAIC (IL, US) / Zona de Tolerancia (Hidalgo, MX) /

Participating Artists and Artist Collectives
99% Bat Signal - The Illuminator (NYC, US) / Alejandro Chellet (Cancun, MX) / Alejandro Guzman (NYC, US) / Alternative Art College (London, UK) / Angela Alegria + Lucía Andújar + Dani d’Emilia (Lisbon, PT) / Antena Mutante + ChicoBauti (Bogotá, CO) / Arun Storrs (Oregon, US) / Astrid Menasanch (Madrid, ES) / Bados Earthling (Melbourne, AU) / Christina Sukhgian Houle (Alabama, US) / The Civilians (NYC, US) / Egg No Ego (Bucharest, RO) / Emerge Collective (NYC, US) / Francesca Fini (Rome, IT) / Ginna Vélez (Bogotá, CO) / Guerrero Project (Mexico City, MX) / Heather Warren-Crow (Wisconsin, US) / Justine Marrion Massey (Buenos Aires, AR) / Kanene Ayo Holder (NYC, US) / Kaxinawá Occupy. Som, Música e Poesia (Greater Rio de Janeiro, BR) / Lukas Avendaño (Oaxaca, MX) / Miles Pflanz (NYC, US) / Minipimer.tv (Barcelona, ES) / Moe Beitiks (Illinois, US) / Nyugen E. Smith New Jersey, US) / Occupy Your Spirituality (NYC, US) / The People Staged (NYC, US) / Proyecto 21 (Mexico City, MX) / Revolutionary Games (NYC, US) / Second Front (Second Life) / The Super Art League (DC Universe) / Tempest Productions + Pilgrim Theatre + Bread and Puppet + Occupy Boston’s CASA working group (Massachusetts, US) / Tara Raye Russo (New Jersey, US) / Tutu-Marambá: Pesquisas das Artes do Corpo (Sao Paolo, BR) / Victoria Gibson (Vancouver, CA) /

About Low Lives
Founded in 2009, Low Lives is an international platform for live performance-based works transmitted via the internet and projected in real time through online broadcasting networks. These networks provide a new alternative and efficient medium for presenting, viewing, and archiving performances. Low Lives celebrates the transmission of ideas beyond geographical, political, and cultural borders, and opens multicultural and intergenerational dialogue through visual language, new technologies, and contemporary expressions.

Watch the live simulcast on March 3 at http://www.occupywithart.com/llo-live-channel/

Address:

The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics
20 Cooper Square, 5th Floor
United States of America