With a little sparkle anything is hard

My piece on the Whitney Biennial is finally here! I published on Hyundai Artlab about Nile Harris NILE’s and Precious Okoyomon’s respective work in the show, and I translated a version of the article into a video you can watch.

I tried to approach the show as much as I could (and still fulfill the assignment) informed by something I’ve been thinking about lately. Signal and lore have more value in this moment than interpretation. How to be compelling seems commensurate to not being decoded. Meaning means something different and articulating our sense of this on the tip of everyone’s tongue.

I also have a piece in the milestone issue of PIN–UP (40 issues / 20 years), tracing the objectification of the female form as furniture from Nicola L to Allen Jones via Bianca Censori (not online yet but you can order the issue).

4/18 I saw the second of a two-night series Bárbara Sánchez-Kane presented at Performance Space New York called Aguas Frescas. Serving vessels of horchata on chairs arranged in a circle made up the central set piece. A mechanism stirred spoons as if by ghosts, each at a different tempo, the faint clink of metal on glass—a haunted street fair. Three acts of performances moved through this tableau. Act 1: Pamela Sneed with Gregg Bordowitz. Act 2: rafa esparza Act 3: Debit accompanied by a Mariachi band. For me, the night found its counterbalance in the two potent but divergent stage presences of Pamela and rafa. One resonant like a sermon; the other elusive and grounded in physical endurance. The party after was lit.

4/20 I made it to my first bit of cultural programming at the Queer Nightlife Community Center, or QNCC (some are pronouncing the acronym “kink” but unclear if this will catch on). The warehouse in East New York where the Zero Chill party has been happening the last couple of years, a nonprofit formed to buy the building and transform it into a community center with not just nightlife events but health services and art performances. This was my first invitation to the latter. At 6pm on a Monday, a reading of a play by Borna Barzin called The Perverse (its full theatrical production is scheduled at QNCC in the fall). The uber driver who picked us up was surprised we were seeing theater all the way out there.

4/21 and 4/23 I went to two launches for Lynne Tillman’s new book of art criticism Paying Attention. She read from a Diane Arbus essay at one of them and this Arbus quote really got me: “all of us victims of the especial shape we come in.”

4/22 I saw Maya Mann give a talk about her Dance Moms-inspired show at Bitforms. My favorite piece: “WITH A LITTLE SPARKLE ANYTHING IS HARD.”

4/27 I was in conversation with Roselee Goldberg at Rizzoli about the expanded fourth edition of her book Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present. At the end during the Q&A part, there was some discussion about how iPhone documentation changes performance art and performances which makes part of the work the inevitable phones. Ariana Reines recounted her experience watching Marina Abramović in the beginning of the phones era. People were not just taking photos but talking into their phones while they watched, translating the blow-by-blow of what they were seeing.

4/29 I went to the Triple Canopy gala. The honorees were Howardena Pindell and New Red Order. “Reformed Native American impersonator” Jim Fletcher accepted the award on behalf of New Red Order (a reverse Brando he called it, referring to when Marlon Brando had Sacheen Littlefeather refuse his Oscar). Fletcher’s speech included a teaser about New Red Order’s forthcoming book Give It Back, which Triple Canopy is set to publish in 2027, a how-to manual for giving land back to indigenous people. One of the collective was wearing a hat that had embroidered on its side “Don’t Settle.”

4/30 I got dinner with a friend who gave me his POV on Salone this year. As you may have heard, it’s hit peak saturation. Every brand needs to be in Milan. Not just Gucci and Ikea, but even McDonalds! It’s a bit like a game of media/luxury/art mad libs. New York Mag had a dinner with Bottega Veneta. Theaster Gates mades a teapot with Prada. (The Italian furniture companies don’t appreciate being outshined.)

I’m currently proofreading the seventh issue of The Whitney Review. The launch will be 5/17 at times. Christina Catherine Martinez is performing (she shall clown the art critic) and we’ll have a program of video art curated by Molly Soda (further info and RSVP link here). We’re also doing a special night in Pittsburgh 5/29 (more soon).

For the new issue of The Whitney Review I wrote about both Jacqueline Humphries and Crackhead Barney (very much showing off my range).

Other new work: an interview with Rich Aybar in a Flash Art “fanzine” for Converse & interviews with Arlene Shechet and Formafantasma in a book for Blvgari. I am clearly on the frontlines of a new era of branded editorial, and well-positioned to strategize as a result. Call me.