We construct different Selves in reaction to varied expectations of society. The Self is constructed and reconstructed in relationship to a social setting. A pair of dichotomous codes, the laws of collectivism and the laws of individualism, illustrate competing social codes that shape the general human struggle to create the Self. We constantly struggle to learn our social roles and at the same time break out of them to know ourselves. Discovering our identity does not mean uncovering something that is naturally there, but rather understanding how internal and external forces in a state of constant alteration shape us.

Her work looks at different aspects of the human condition such as: how we construct different Selves in reaction to varied expectations of society and how we constantly struggle to learn our social roles and at the same time break out of them to know ourselves. What does it take to resolve or integrate dichotomies like the belief that reality is the Self versus the Other, and instead see that nothing is simply itself but always contains a trace of its opposites?

Terese Longva currently lives and works in Norway. She studied at the Aalesund School of Art in Aalesund, Norway, the Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland, followed by three years at Kosta Glass School in Sweden. She received her BFA at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2008.

In recent years Mia Øquist has produced various performances, installations, texts and drawings with the theme; humans in social situations. She is inspired by the spaces humans use.A human body can make images, and the body can be used as a tool to study social settings. Humans are often independent of each other. The artist uses volunteers in several of her performances. One of her main goals in these performances is the cooperation between the volunteers and the choreography of them. The process of making visual elements like costumes, scenography, objects etc. is also something the artist is engaged with. She likes to use own handcraft and likes the idea that the performance is an exhibition, which can be 5 minutes, 1 hour or 3 days. Mia Øquist (b.1980) lives and works in Bergen where she currently has a studio at Bergen Kjøtt. Øquist has a Master from Bergen National Academy , Bachelor from the Trondheim Academy of fine arts and had an exchange to The Royal Art Academy in Stockholm. Øquist has held performances and exhibitions in Norway and abroad. She is also doing projects where she makes art-workshops for children and has been engaged in organizing / curating.

Panoply Performance Laboratory (PPL) is Brian McCorkle, Esther Neff and a flexible community of collaborators. PPL is organizational activities, actions, social projects, and live situations across spheres. Ourcurrent project space is located in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Each site-and-context-specific performance constructs and deconstructs common sensoriums, modes of production, and epistemic geneologies via actions, relational systems, images, and the most problematic of subject-object relationships. Often communal and created in the moment with implicated, catalyzing audience members (IMPULSIVE COLLECTIVE ACTION), PPL performances swing violently between the hyper-structural and the indeterminate, dealing with causation, reaction, conception, cognition, and active human practices of knowing, being, sensing, and reality-projecting. PPL acts have been realized at Defibrillator Performance Art Gallery and MANA Contemporary in Chicago, Casa del Popolo in Montreal, Leibig12, AquaBit, Gruntaler9, ACUD, KuLe, and elsewhere. in Berlin, DE, the Pumpehuset in Copenhagen, and in NYC at Glasshouse Projects, Dixon Place, IV Soldiers, CultureFix, 109 Gallery, Flux Factory, SUPERFRONT at Industry City, and many other galleries, public sites, and spaces. Residencies at University Settlement, through Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) across from the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, at LaGuardia Community College, and many other participations in festivals and functions have also framed our practices and actions. PPL has organized conferences, co-built an International festival framed as a work of constructive institutional critique (BIPAF), 4 years of PERFORMANCY FORUM, and many other initiatives.

Geraldo Mercado is a Brooklyn based Hispanic artist working in performance, video, theatre, print, and photography. Geraldo’s work explores the space that technology occupies in modern life, the idea of popular culture as the new mythology, and how physical movement can be placed in an intellectualized framework.

Geraldo creates experimental videos, mobile installations, and pushes his body to extreme limits.

Education and Honors: BS in Film Production and Communications Media, Fitchburg State University
Video Artist In Residence, Buran Theatre Company

NEXT EVENT

Friday, October 25

Antoni Karwowski [Poland] and Suka Off [Poland]

Curated by Grace Exhibition Space and presented in collaboration with the Queer NY International Arts Festival and MIX NY 26TH NY Queer Experimental Film Festival

www.grace-exhibition-space.com/performance.php?event_id=420