Join us on May 19th as Yeseul Song and Maya Simone Z. with collaborator Cinthia Chen kickstart the Spring 2023 season of our Gates, Borders, Barriers public program series! Developed in response to Fred Wilson’s sculpture, Mind Forged Manacles/Manacle Forged Minds, artists from More Art’s Engaging Artists 2022 Fellowship program present work that highlights invisible barriers, community, and monuments.

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Maya Simone Z. and collaborator Cinthia Chen present seen/unseen:

This performance incorporates movement and visual imagery to consider and amplify certain themes of Fred Wilson’s installation — particularly incarceration and perceptions of self in a racialized society. Together, we consider the power and implications of asserting/subverting agency, the act of surveillance, and who is looking in (or who is looking out).

Yeseul Song presents Two Subtle Bodies:

Two Subtle Bodies (2022) is an interactive auditory experience where two strangers (YOU!) walking inside a space experience each other’s peripersonal space. As the two bodies move together, they generate and listen to sounds through bone conduction that corresponds dynamically and in real time to their movements. The subtle body is a concept that appears in Taoism and Dharmic religions to indicate bodies that are neither solely physical nor solely spiritual, in contrast to the mind-body dualism that has dominated Western thought. In neurology, the space surrounding a body is called Peripersonal Space and is enabled by visuotactile senses. By recognizing and perceiving this soft and fluid space between us, we can lock in new ways of connecting with each other by extending the sense of self and others.

Project by Yeseul Song with sound design collaboration from Jesse Simpson & Greg Halleran and garment design collaboration and production by Daniel Ryan Johnston. Originally commissioned and supported by the Korean Cultural Center in Washington, DC, Embassy of the Republic of Korea.

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This event is part of Gates, Borders, Barriers, a series of public programs in connection with Fred Wilson’s year-long installation Mind Forged Manacles/Manacle Forged Minds. This program is produced in part through the Downtown Brooklyn + Dumbo Art Fund, a grant that funds projects that serve to enhance public space, increase access to cultural programming, and connect the neighborhoods of Downtown Brooklyn and Dumbo. The grant is part of the New York State Downtown Revitalization Initiative.

Time: 4:00-8:00 pm EDT

Free!

Registration