In Conversation with an Evening: A Night at Fried Fruit Art Space

This is an unconventional article - a subjective, sensorial exploration of an evening in the arts. This is exploration took place at the opening reception for the collaborative exhibition, “Embodiment” by Louise Radochonski and Andi Steele with a special pop-up screening of “Muestra Dislocada 2025 - Tecne: the human heartbeat in the artificial age,” an international showcase of performance art on Saturday, October 25, 2025.

This exercise made me take in an exhibition; its visitors; its surroundings; its sounds, smells, temperature, and sights in new ways. I was drawn to explore this evening in such a way because of the themes of creative collaboration, embodiment, and mindfulness present in both the exhibition and the showcase. Challenging myself to be present in new ways and observe the interconnected interaction of art through space - this is my perspective of that night.

6PM - As the sun begins to set, the air cool, and the people wander in, Louise Radochonski and Andi Steele are already in the cargo container that is Fried Fruit Art Space. Visible through the window of the container are steel structures and papered walls of black, pale blue, and scales of grey drawn from floor to ceiling. Shapes emerge as my brain attempts to decipher what it is I am looking at - buildings, faces, and animals; respite and chaos. Andi, wearing green, and Louise, wearing a coral colored jacket, exist in stark contrast to the desaturated space.

“Embodiment” is a display of drawn landscapes and polymorphous figures created by Louise Radochonski that interact with metal structures existing in the space made by Andi Steele. This collaborative artistic interaction and the interaction between the art objects themselves symbolizes the embodiment of the past and present, as well as our human connection to the earth and it’s materials. Moving into the space, navigating the steel structures, the viewer is asked to take in how material and objects coexist with living beings through space and time.

Those entering the space are instantly engaged in an exercise of mindfulness, now coexisting among these art objects as well as other visitors. The materiality of the space is palpable. Viewers move through the space, being drawn to observe the three dimensional aspect of the installation, then seeking out these shapes in the two dimensional wall-to-wall drawings. Observing how visitors take in the art, I see more than one accidentally bump into the low metal works, jolting their awareness of space, material, and their direct interaction with it.

The narrative of these artworks, being at once representational and abstract, lets the viewer come to their own conclusions, to see what it is that calls to them. As I walk through the space, I see buildings, faces, cattle, nature untouched, and nature transformed. I want to stand back and take in the papered walls but I’m nervous to accidentally bump into one of the structures, thus I’m pushed closer to the wall and asked to take in more minute details. To take in the bigger picture, I stand outside the art space, surrounded by adults and children alike, looking in. These figures and the natural framing of the cargo container become part of the artwork and the greater conversation itself.

Radochonski and Steele speak to visitors about their individual and collective processes - their animation and passion radiating through the space. I catch Radochonski saying to a viewer that she is angry with how we as humans are so detached from our innate connection to the earth and its materials. Her process is an intuitive, thoughtful one with her gestural marks capturing this emotion. Looking to Radochonski’s drawings to find her own forms, Steele’s metal work develops from a similarly intuitive process. The physicality of manipulating metal calls on this theme of connection to material, giving Steele a unique conduit for her own mindfulness.

6:30PM - The sun continues to fade and the light of the exhibition space is magnified by the white of Radochonski’s paintings, radiating into the courtyard. There, children play, running in and out of the gallery finding familiar and new friends amongst the other children. All the while, their parents do the same - generations experiencing art, coexisting amongst it, and engaging with it. Their voices fill the space, creating a cacophony of presence.

Simultaneously as this interaction begins to unfold within and around the cargo container, its corrugated surface, the canvas for the screening of “Muestra Dislocada,” is being primed by the settling in of the evening’s darkness.

7PM - The screening begins, saturating the side of the container with a display of performance from artists and creatives around the world. In what was once the fork lift channels of the cargo container, the speaker resonates under the art space from alley to courtyard, drawing visitors to explore an entirely different display of embodiment and intentionality. The bustle continues with the added sound of the performances, connecting the voices of those in the present moment with figures all around the world exploring the theme of technology, AI, and the human body.

Dislocada/Dislocated, beginning in 2019, is an annually recurring international exchanged. Curated by artistic collectives in countries such as Mexico, Columbia, India, and the US, Ana Rankin’s collective BrobDinGnag (BDG) curated the North Carolina showcase. Featuring artists from China, Iran, Spain, Italy, Brazil, and many other countries, each of these creatives intimately explores this year’s theme - Tecne: the human heartbeat in the digital age.

In three minute performances projected onto the corrugated surface of the cargo container thousands of miles from any of the locations captured in the videos themselves, these artists practice mindfulness and embodiment in their own, distinct manner. Many explore themes of materiality as it is impacted by the age of technology - some artists explore our relation to electronic devices while others delve into our lost connection to the earth.

The showcase film begins with the performance of Beile Hu, based in China. Reminiscent of TV static and hallucinations, the sound-video work captures a poetic exchange between humans, the ramie moth, and AI to reimagine how instincts are disrupted by artificial light, and how desire, death, and renewal are “re-coded” in the modern age.

Other artists like Endika Basaguren, based in Spain, explore the supposed improvement of society through technology. In the performance, a figure walks landscapes ranging from ocean to field, attempting to use obsolete monitors as fishing nets and plows. It is a contradictory image - modern technological tools that have been said to provide promise inhibiting these ancient means of survival. Endika Basaguren asks the question: Will technology be a tool that serves us or will it be a weed that overtakes our ability to survive?

These are just two performances out of more than twenty throughout the screening. Some people meander through the parking lot to watch a performance or two before wandering towards the lights and sounds of the courtyard to step into “Embodiment.” Others move from the art space to take a seat on the other side of the container. It is more quiet, darker, slower. Some seem to settle into this calm for the length of the screening while others stay for a few performances, the cold drawing them to keep moving.

It is a changing season in Wilmington, North Carolina, with settling of the night comes the settling in of the cold. Some are dressed for the occasion and others, like me, are not. It is the first time in the season that my hands stiffen from the cold. Yet, there is a warmth to the air, not in temperature but in smell. Coming from other cargo containers and in the hands of people of the evening is the smell of warm food, baked in wood-fire ovens. It is a warm evening in spite of the cold.

8PM - I would have stayed but as I said, I had not prepared myself for the cold, nor the temptation of the smell in the air. An hour before the end of the reception, I ventured home thinking about what I had just taken in. I hesitated to leave, but perhaps that is a facet of the mindfulness exercise undertaken - having been so intent on taking everything in, I was hyper aware of its continuation without me. Rather than instigating a fear of missing something that could serve an article, it became an intrinsic facet of the process.

With that, I went home and frantically detailed the happenings of the evening.

“Embodiment” is now on view at Fried Fruit Art Space through November 21, 2025.

Find more of Louise Radochonski’s work here and Andi Steele’s work here.

Exhibiting artist in Muestra Dislocada 2025 - Tecne: the human heartbeat include: Fran Orallo (Spain), LIBEROTRANSITO (Italy), Endika Basaguren (Spain), Jordina Ros & Pere Estadel (Spain) MURTA (Chile), LIMITES Corpo Colectivo Transfronterizo (Spain/Portugal), Daniel Valladares (Honduras), AnimaeNoctis (Silva Marcanroni Taddei & Massimo Sannelli) (Italy), Tuty Moreno Campos (Argentina), Paulo Brazyl (Brazil), Craphone Liu (Taiwan), Isabel Zeng (China), Arash Akbari (Iran) Oscar Salamanca (Colombia), SITIO Studio (Colombia), Nate Sandercock (Canada/USA), Juan Baena (Colombia), Beile Hu (China), INDESEABLE Lola Perla & Adra Luque (Mexico/Spain), Alba Mireya Cadena Roldan (Colombia), and Gabriel Arroyo Gallardo (Ecuador)

Find out more about “Muestra Dislocada” here and BrobDinGnag here.