Inverse Performance Art Symposium at The Momentary, BEntonville, arkansas, 2021. curated by Emma Saperstein and Cynthia Post Hunt.

-> Loops | Vox populi | Layers | Together and separate <- is a collective performance about individual performances?!

I observed or/and witnessed every performance of the other artists present during the Inverse Symposium. Quietly, in front of them or behind a door, I documented their presence and actions starting in the morning until late that night.

Their individual movements infused life within the architecture and landscape, creating a collective cypher in my mind.

With -> Loops | Vox populi | Layers | Together and separate <- I wanted to encompass the space and the time of seven very different performance pieces inside the same place. So, reunited physically in the same room in the Momentary for one last time, I took the opportunity to invite them to build a land and a language together.

I used a live-looping technique and relied on psycho-geography to invoke each individual moment embodied by each artist. I situated each of them inside the original geolocation and within the timeframe of their respective performances.

I asked them to express with one word what they felt when we all met via screens the first time in June 2021. Every time I travelled from one point to another, from one artist to another, inside the room, I collected another word. This sonic live-looping mixed and layered different emotional manifestations and states of mind which offered an opportunity for catharsis. Ultimately, it produced a chaotic mosaic of voices, thoughts, and feelings. 

I re-looped this collective sentiment while I visited them for another round during which I proposed that the artists use their bodies to express the same paradox of collectiveness on screen.

The live-looping of their voices and their psycho-geographic movements filled the space and time. I documented the entire process with a 360 camera to respect and support the circular and tribal nature of the process. With this immersive approach, I hope that digital viewers will experience the sensitivity and contradiction of this performance.

-> Loops | Vox populi | Layers | Together and separate <- is a research experiment and an intimate closure after eight months of sharing a digital space and our practices.

Together we created a sonic and disconnected Pangea in motion.

I wish to thank all the following artists for participating and holding the space:

• Christian Cruz

• Siri Gurudev

• Sandrine Schaefer

• Tuty Moreno Campos

• Natacha Voliakovsky

• Molly Joyce

• Kyoung eun Kang