HOMEOSTASIS
Thursday, September 26th, 6:00-8:00pm
at Viridian Artists, 548 West 28th Street, #632, New York.
“The search for peace is an endless human endeavor. I feel that we live in an increasingly violent and unstable time, and I think it is important to counteract violence and fear by promoting art performances that inspire tolerance and mutual understanding”. Verónica Peña, Curator of Collective Becoming.
Collective Becoming is an ongoing Performance Art initiative of international scope that wants to contribute to the above mentioned endeavor by fostering collaboration amongst artists to promote empathy, freedom, and human unity. Homeostasis is the third project to be developed under the umbrella of Collective Becoming. The second project, Expressions of Love, Freedom and Resistance, took place at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, SAIC, Sullivan Galleries during Peña’s residency as a guess artist for the Art As a Social Force class, hosted by Professor Howenstein. The first project, The Urban Caress, took place on 2015 in Berlin, Germany, as part of the Month of Performance Art. Through an open call, The Urban Caress invited artists to create art performances that would transform the city into a less hostile place.
Homeostasis highlights the work of artists who, by bodily reacting to violence, inequality, racism, rooted stereotypes, hypocrisy, the perfect, and the negative, contribute towards the opposite generating a more balanced, open, and just society. In its medical definition, Homeostasis describes a healthy state sustained by constant biochemical and physiological adjustments that happen between elements within an entity to achieve equilibrium, and preserve its existence. Overcoming obstacles, and working towards the positive and the transparent, the live realities created by the showcased artists publicly challenge personal, social, and political disequilibrium in pursuit of a healthier system, and a more harmonious state of being. The first enactment of Homeostasis presents the work of artists Kevin Quiles Bonilla, Nicole Goodwin, and Jenna Kline.
Participating Artists:
Kevin Quiles Bonilla (Puerto Rico) is a visual and performance artist born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He is a graduate from Parsons, The New School of Design in New York City with an MFA in Fine Arts and the University of Puerto Rico with a BA in Fine Arts. His artistic production has been presented in a solo show in Puerto Rico, as well as collective exhibitions in The United States, Mexico, China, Belgium, and Japan. He’s the recipient of a 2017 Emerging Artist Award from The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. He has recently presented his work at The Brooklyn Museum, Queens Museum, The Shelly & Rubin Foundation’s 8th Floor Gallery and Leslie-Lohman Museum’s Project Space. He explores ideas around power, space, and history with his identity as context. http://www.kevinquilesbonilla.com
Nicole Goodwin (New York) is the author of Warcries, as well as the 2018-2019 Franklin Furnace Fund Recipient, the 2018 Ragdale Alice Judson Hayes Fellowship Recipient, 2017 EMERGENYC Hemispheric Institute Fellow as well as the 2013-2014 Queer Art Mentorship Queer Art Literary Fellow. She published the articles “Talking with My Daughter…” and “Why is this Happening in Your Life…” in the New York Times’ parentblog Motherlode. Additionally, her work “Desert Flowers” was shortlisted and selected for performance by the Women’s Playwriting International Conference in Cape Town, South Africa.
Jenna Kline uses intense physical actions to create her work. She imposes obstacles to overcome which results in a grotesque, uncoordinated display. She wears bright red lipstick, high heels and lacy bras to achieve a hyper-feminine persona. Gradually, the lipstick smears and the delicate undergarments get dirty. Donuts and chicken nuggets are rapidly consumed. The performance ends when she reaches her physical and emotional limits. Once she reaches this state, she is her most transparent self. Exhausted and sweating and she has transcended her body. The air is left with lingering aroma of fried foods and hand sanitizer. http://www.jelliebeers.com
Curator:
Veronica Peña is an interdisciplinary artist and independent curator from Spain based in the United States. Her work explores the themes of absence, separation, and the search for harmony through Performance Art. Peña is interested in migration policies, cross-cultural dialogue, liberation, and women’s empowerment. Peña has presented her work in various countries around Europe, Asia, and America. In the United States, her work was featured at Times Square, Armory Show, Hemispheric Institute at NYU, Queens Museum, Smack Mellon Foundation, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Grace Exhibition Space, Triskelion Arts, Defibrillator Performance Art Gallery, Momenta Art Gallery, Pøst Art Gallery, Gabarron Foundation, Dumbo Arts Festival, and Consulate General of Spain in New York, amongst others. She is a recipient of a Franklin Furnace Fund 2017-18 and was nominated to a VIA Art Fund. She published “The Presence Of The Absent”, a thesis about her body of work. She was a visiting artist at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She curates “Collective Becoming”, an initiative to make cities a place less hostile. She is currently at work on her new project about freedom, fear, and resistance, “The Body In The Substance.” http://www.veronicapena.com
For information, contact:
Verónica Peña
Viridian Artists Contemporary Art Gallery
