ARCHIVE: LIVABLE FUTURE IN RECALL

Livable Futures Community Archive Site Taken in October 2017

Q&A

LF: What makes more livable futures for you?

LROD: For me, a pursuit to re-imagine justice, resiliency, and love against the current oppressive or destructive ways of living would be a start in making the future livable. I believe it is crucial to create a realm of care, ethics, and compassion to work towards balance in our overly consumptive world. These liberal acts help to reconstruct/heal dilapidated structures in our social, economic, and industrial ways of living but prioritize these acts within the environmental sphere. As an artist, I think creating performative/experiential environments in a community of co-creation kickstarts the imagination needed to unlock the potential of our future.

• A livable future responds to crisis, injustice, and inequality.

• A livable future is continuously adapting.

• A livable future makes and holds space for all.

• A livable future is a possibility manifested through imagination.

• A livable future redefines freedom.

• A livable future is not always polite.

• A livable future is transparent.

• A livable future thrives in equity.

• A livable future redefines love and care.

LF: What are you reading, viewing, listening to right now?

LROD:

Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds (2017), Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good (2019) by adrienne maree brown

Chicano and Chicana Art: A Critical Anthology by Jennifer A. González

Black Brown & Beige: Surrealist Writings from Africa and the Diaspora (2009) edited by Franklin Rosemont and Robin D.G. Kelley

Dawn (2012) by Octavia E. Butler

On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal by Naomi Klein

The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing

Borderwall as Architecture: A Manifesto for the U.S.-Mexico Boundary (Ahmanson-Murphy Fine Arts Imprint) by Ronald Rael

LF: What practices are sustaining you?

LROD:

Sustaining my practice is daydreaming, hyper-creativity in co-creative environments, performance as protest, and ritualized self-care.

• Sun’s kiss on my skin

• The desert

• Aesthetics in environmental design

• Home

• Community

• Daily improvisation

• Mi Familia

• Napping

• Sustento

• Artmaking in all its capacities

• Deep conversations

• Immersing into books/movies/shows

• Truth

• The moment when I am told something is impossible

©LROD

MASK MAKING

I usually get asked this question a lot: Why the masks?

Well, I started wearing the masks back in early 2014, I didn’t have the context as to the why but I had the feelings. Reading many great Chicano/a scholarships has enhanced my understanding of the masking culture that is alive and well today in Mexico and the Borderlands. This vein of studies also operates as a creative and productive outlet for my work as an artist. More so many of my abilities are navigating a world not meant for me usually–I feel.

Back in 2014, I was drawn to omitting my identity and obscuring the image of the body onstage. The mask work has added a layer of surrealism that I am researching from a feminist perspective and admire works from Frida Kahlo, Remedios Varo, and Dorthea Tanning. Masks in these studies stem from Luchador culture which came out of the Tejas Borderlands and is now a pop-culture Mexican staple, however, the use of masks is relevant in Dia De Los Muertos and other traditions.

Starting this semester with a Costume Practicum with Lindsay Simon for 6 hours a week was such an outlet for creativity and production, and gave me time to understand the process of making masks.

To get started, I create a storyboard and gather materials. I created an inspiration board (Pinterest) to gather ideas for the Lucha Libre, Animal designs, and LROD masks I was interested in producing. Since I had only made these masks by hand I was ready to produce a pattern so that I could easily make more on a sewing machine rather than hand-stitch. The goal was to experiment with many fabrics and styles to gain experience making the masks and practicing my sewing machine abilities. For the animal heads, what was the next level of design besides making, shaping, and coloring them?

Here are some previous masks I have made for my work:

Innominate Performance – LROD + Artists Dance Artists: Sierra Hendrix, Levi Ryan, Kince De Vera, Scotty Flores, Hannah Cavallaro, Becca Blackwell, Molly Levy Lighting: Meg Fox Photo: Devin Munoz

BORDERLANDS

LOS MUERTOS

RUPTURE

PUEBLA

PUEBLA

PUEBLA

PUEBLA

STAG FOR DAYS

BUNNY IN BLOOM

THE REVOLT

 Until next time – LROD

©LROD

Intermedia || Interactive Audience

For our last study this semester, we were thinking about how the audience can participate while also folding in the first two studies and reshaping the work. We considered taking an easy approach to lighting and technology limiting down to what and why we use tech, light, sound, and movement. We chose to begin with making a dinner table set with place settings digitally. This work was inspired by Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party (1974-79), a monumental feminist work of its time. Then, we decided to interact by having our cell phones engaged in the work. To talk through with the audience, to text other performers, and to capture video of the event. We also set up an interactive movement study to see if the audience would pick it up and – they did!

Feel free to skip through:

In reflection, this work seemed to be the easiest to complete, and we found a balance between interactions, technology, and movement that seemed to create a holistic environment. While it is important to consider what Marshall McLuhan said, “the medium is the message”… well, we are responding to the message (Dixon 2004). A couple of key questions sit on my mind: What are we saying with the technology we are in collaboration with? What are the stakes that surround this interdisciplinary landscape? The work feels open, free, and uncontained to a specific genre. In a sense Intermedia is freedom.

While maintaining a sense of freedom, I turn to Faye Driscoll’s (2014) Thank You For Coming: Attendance has been a huge influence on the work I do in considering interactivity and connection with the audience. I referenced Faye’s work in the earlier blog post. So when we talk about the community making the work and co-creating, co-authoring, and co-generating the outcome – we are interested in separating from technology for a moment to connect. This is a driving part of the work created in the final study. However, we demonstrated the interference technology has in our daily lives. The way we connect through media to interact has certainly come in full force.

Take a moment to enjoy this work and commentary:

 As the semester came to a close, Norah Zuniga-Shaw asked us what Intermedia is. I responded:

Intermedia is a radical space that allows for interactive engagement that activates the performers, technology, and audience to explore a liminality of openness. This interdisciplinary space transforms the environment to teleport all parties to a sub-dimension of the unknown. Intermedia creates a visual distortion and appetite fostering the collaboration of technological humanness.

Intermedia moves without a container and allows your imagination to run in any direction possible. I gained more insight into the importance of light/projection, how to formulate collaboration within this setting, and how to build a structure around integrating technology. While also learning the array of equipment and programs in the MOLA lab. I am leaving this course with more questions than I entered, but I feel ready to engage and continue the exploration forward. Digital self-signing off for now.

Sources:

Dixon, Steve. 2004. “The Digital Double.” New Visions in Performance: “The Impact of Digital Technologies. Ed. Gavin Carver. Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger, 2004. Print.

Driscoll, Faye. 2014. Thank You For Coming: Attendance. (Film) Walker Art Center. Published 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlB3MrBr2_M

©LROD

Hero Project: GoPro + Community

Archive Date: April 30, 2018

“…everyone who loved sports and adventure wanted a GoPro, and from a niche brand, it moved to being a household name. With GoPro, anyone can be a star. In a context where everyone is self-obsessed and “selfie-obsessed” GoPro’s success was certain. Gopro BE A HERO. Their slogan, and their focus during their entire journey.” – Guilia Berardinetti

What does it mean to be a hero? Hero of what by definition? Why GoPros? What is a love ethic in regards to approach? What makes GoPros and community work important? What is humane about recording people in the community? In capturing care how do I ethically insert the technology and my presence? What is relevant? What is important?

I started this semester in the deep pit of these questions. The questions were in surplus and I was unsure about how the work would unfold moving forward. I knew in the beginning that I wanted to work with a community and Champion Intergenerational Center, and the center was a great match to gain wide perspectives through the community of generations with GoPro Technology. However, I was still missing the scholarly backing for this research for developing my approach and foundation. I felt a little lost and unsure at the beginning of this project.

Creative Knot Session

Taking the new information of Mr. Rogers I began to construct my Creative Knot Session for Research Studies. This knot is specifically for the workshop and gathers information that can help forward the research.

Who gets to be a hero was one of the first things I thought when looking through the GoPro webpage. Browse here. So what defines a hero? Merriam-Webster records the definition of a Hero by 4 main categories:

a: a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability

b: an illustrious warrior

c: a person admired for achievements and noble qualities

d: one who shows great courage

(Definitions lifted from here)

I am fascinated by the roles that Hero takes on. We go from the extremes of Superman, Iron Man, and Wonder Woman to the Doctor, Firefighter, and Good Samaritan. However, what about the unnoticed heroes that lurk outside of our traditional thinking? I wanted to explore this in the Creative Knot and with Champion IG Center to recognize those who go unnoticed. Originally thought of the care team, but there may be a shift, so staying open. We may shift to the elders and children who are showing up for each other daily.

So, thinking ahead that I was going to be integrating myself into the Champion Intergenerational Center, I was thinking about how the guests would wear the technology and what perspectives were central to the end video compilation. Some questions that framed my Creative Knot:

What makes people at IG heroes compared to everyday heroes? 

What is relevant about filming the interactions of everyday heroes that exist daily vs. the radical interactions of athleticism?

What is it like to be a hero for a day and have your experience captured?

How do peacefulness and tenderness translate on film? What does tenderness look like in action form?

Here is the first archive of footage (Research Studies peers featured) I gathered and framed by perspectives of movement I was cataloging:

Experiencing bell hooks All about Love reading where she says, “For example, revolutionary new technologies have led us all to accept computers. Our willingness to embrace this “unknown” shows that we are all capable of confronting fears of radical change, that we can cope.” Her words came with such power, I created a vivid response called a Love + Ethic Manifesto. I am drawn to the notion of change and the constant restructuring of how we operate as human beings through interactions and causes. I am searching for radical change step by step inside my thinking structure and outside of my internal state.

Next came…

Building on Care + Well-being + Ethics

During this course, I read three books that have forever changed my thinking structure: Matters of Care by Maria Puig De La Bellacasa, All about Love by bell hooks, and Art of Relevance by Nina Simon. What does care mean? How do we care? What are the staples of the caring movement? How are we ethically caring? How do we perform well-being? When using a GoPro what actions of care am I capturing? Also, what kinds of care are accessible?

Where do I begin? Maria Puig De La Bellacasa’s Matters of Care: Speculative Ethics in More Than Human Worlds. Bellacasa says, “Care is a human trouble, but this does not make of care a human only matter” (Bellacasa 2017, 2).  Bellacasa uses Toronto’s definition, “care about” vs. “care for” as a means to situate the dimensions of care into effect for aligning with the ethical and political questions that arise per this poignant matter. I realized I was not going to be able to fulfill this project by dropping in and recording with my GoPros. There was much more of myself that I would have to offer to understand this approach and community. I wanted to absorb the community, be present, be still with my observations, and trust the work would develop.

Some key developments:

Being fully present

Actively Listening

Touch (assist a child or elderly navigate space)

Eye Contact

Engaging in a complete conversation, before changing focus.

Smiles and laughing.

Important Quotes:

“I believe relevance unlocks new ways to build deep connections with people who don’t immediately self-identify with our work” (Simon 2016, 23).

“The sooner we start focusing on becoming relevant to the people we most care about “and “Relevance is relative, and people are busy”, not only approaches the word “care” we were just analyzing but reference something other than yourself or desire (Simon 41-42).

“When we see love as a combination of trust, commitment, care, respect, knowledge, and responsibility, we can work on developing these qualities or, if they are already a part of who we are, we can learn to extend them to ourselves” (Hooks 2001, 54).

Champion Intergenerational Center

This part of my journey hits will full force and I still am unable to move past how deeply I am affected by the human beings in this community. I find myself drawn to the energy and goodness that seeps into the foundation of this center. The community is full of bright lights, Elders and Youths, energized, thoughtful, and ready to share at any moment.

Here is where I needed to approach with the Love Ethic Hooks suggests, “A love ethic presupposes that everyone has the right to be free, to live fully and well.” (hooks 2001). How was I going to approach the people, room, and environments I entered? I started by visiting and being a part of the Sign Language Intergenerational class. I made myself available for interactions and conversations. I did not introduce technology into space for a couple of visits. I participated and was present. How would sign language become a part of the sessions and recordings? Would the technology distract? Then when I introduced technology I wore the GoPros and did not live film. Making sure I was available for any interactions and questions the community of elders and children might have.

“To live our lives based on the principles of a love ethic (showing care, respect, knowledge, integrity, and the will to cooperate), we have to be courageous” (Hooks 101).

Over my time there the visits, interactions, ways of filming, and containers for footage have shifted drastically. Eventually, many different ages were wearing and capturing footage, Elizabeth Speidel the director was wearing the GoPros and interacting with the community, and I was set up to teach my session with the IG community about GoPro’s, Care, and love rituals. Thinking about the love ethics and love rituals that are primary in this experience, and reflect the care that happens in this community. We will also bring in our superhero movements to give energy to the room and spark creativity.

When I think about this work I am currently reflecting on my traces and the artist mantras that I created along the way to support the daily intake of information. These tiny mantras have supported me when I am too tired or unsure of what is next.

Artist Mantra

Don’t lose hope.

Do the work.

There is much to be done.

With Love…

Radicalize the space.

Listen actively.

Love accepts.

The challenge is to think collectively.

Think more about equality and equity.

Who are the love ethic heroes?

We are not alone.

Being an artist keeps me sane.

There is more to be done.

I am constantly rebelling – it’s ok.

Be free to do the work.

Being an artist defies reality.

I have permission to make what I want to make.

I am constantly changing.

Next & Final Phase:

I still have a session this Wednesday with CI to deepen the footage and love ritual perspectives and will have a compiled video of edited material by the end of the week that culminates my time there. This last video should run at 6-8 minutes in reality but my end target is 10 minutes. Consent has been a consideration and something to hold care around. Also, just letting the community shape the narrative of the footage each session has become relevant.

Editing will be done through my final artistic perspective on the work framed by the community at Champion Intergenerational Center to celebrate their daily heroics and the environment of care they share. Sign Language has also come up as the sessions are around this and we have talked about weaving heros and sign language themes.

Looking forward to sharing this footage with them, and seeing their reactions when they see themselves on the TV. The celebration of their daily, caregiving, experience, and community witnessed.

Many thanks to all of the community involved in this project. This research is made possible by Norah Zuniga-Shaw, Humane Technologies Fellowship, Elizabeth Speidel Champion Intergeneration Center Community, and Research Studies peers.

Citation Station:

Bellacasa, María Puig de la. 2017. Matters of Care: Speculative Ethics in More Than Human Worlds. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

hooks, bell. 2001. All about love: new visions. New York: Harper Perennial.

Simon, Nina. 2016. The art of relevance. Santa Cruz, CA: Museum 2.0

©LROD

The Internal | Connecting | Creative Process

Date: October 26, 2017

Two levels in Creative Process v.210

Mapping out a creative process to connect two parts of my research resonating with Inside the Room and Outside the room branches. Inside the room’s design is led by the Experiment thread, while Outside the room reflects the Research thread. I was compiling this information from a word bank created in the Grad Composition class with Professor Susan Van Pelt Petry and peers. We then each took the word bank and made a visual map of our creative process.

For my challenge, I only used each word one time and practiced this assignment utilizing a present-moment embodiment. Meaning, that I only allowed myself one piece of paper with no option to have a do-over. Utilizing this assignment as a challenge I was aware of my devising boundaries. This project created a meditative space for me to sit with my pen to the paper, and process my process. Which usually feels meta, however, this project was calming while being informative. Most of my reflections have happened through a stream-of-consciousness or analytical essay, so it felt good to move towards a tangible medium to flush out information.

Further noting the attention and weight of each word resonating within my body I continue to let these words reconfigure inside my body. A digital roadway on the frontier of interconnectivity pulsing, sparking, and transferring connections that re-wires and retracts information before surging it back out again.

The system is operating. 

I recognize these maps are abundant within my body, and mind and are the containers to hold, organize, and connect information used to make co-creative spaces. They are roadways of information. Living knowledge intrigues me as I delve into the internal self of producing art. Maybe the cyborg self is emerging underneath the surface below my skin and responding to the familiarity of the motherboard. While the image below relates to this emerging, I examine the depths and intricacies that are possible in overriding.

Cyborg Self Reflection | Awakening

In trying to navigate my cyborg self-relationship I am drawn to this quote by Donna Haraway a professor, consciousness, and feminist scholar, “Cyborg writing is about the power to survive, not based on original innocence, but based on seizing the tools to mark the world that marked them as other” (Haraway 2016, 55). My journey over the past five years has sent me plunging into words, writing, and language – preparing me for my conversations, arguments, and discourse today. Sometimes my consciousness rejects my impulse to respond, and my unconsciousness delivers connectors to reconnect broken bridges of thought. Tracing the map above throughout my creative process enables me to redirect how I am thinking, feeling, and exploring the material.

Responding to a recent visit by Vida Midgelow who presented at the DSA inaugural Scholarly Conference and is a Professor in Dance and Choreographic Studies at Middlesex University London says, “Coming into language is a significant process through which experiential, material and emergent forms of knowledge can be foregrounded, processed and shared” (Midgelow 1994). Previously, I rarely spoke my stance or dared to share the perspectives that ran rampant in my mind.

The information comes to me as this digital space allows me to write about these developing curiosities that are awakening. Identifying as an “other,” I do claim the tools to unearth my potential as a choreographic researcher, scholar, and free-thinker to engage in practices that move humanity towards change. Structures, rules, and traditions can be broken and reconfigured to make manifest new ways of operating that enhance artistic ability, connect technology and humanity, and revolutionize the central core of art-making.

Free Motherboard Vector Art

The above image is how I imagine the framework for my discourse of choreographic research operating–or what it looks like to strategically choreograph, basically my mind on paper. The motherboard vector art is part – object – abstract – micro-processing –  unit –  internet integrated – modern – non-binary projects – future technological advances – daydreams.

Works Cited

Haraway, Donna J. and Cary Wolfe. 2016. Manifestly Haraway. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. https://muse.jhu.edu/ (accessed October 25, 2017).

Midgelow, Vida. and Jane Bacon. 2014. “Creative Articulation Practice (CAP).”                                      Forthcoming in Choreographic Practices. 5[2]                                                                                  https://www.academia.edu/9956868/Creative_Articulations_Process_CAP_  (accessed October 25, 2017)

©LROD

Home Alter: Living Forward

Date: November 2, 2017

Home Alter: Dedicated to mi abuela Martinez y mi Tio Rubio
Design: LROD + Becky Rubio
Lighting: Meg Fox
Photo: Devin Marie Munoz

What does it mean to remember someone when they have passed on? To hold onto the memories to keep them alive means so much to those who celebrate Dia de Los Muertos and invest in a joyous death culture. My home alter has developed from my desire to connect with my loved ones. Home alters are still huge focal points of homes in southern Mexico. These spaces are the heartbeat of the home usually consuming up to half or sometimes a full room. The alters have different components to help the loved ones make their way back to the living on special occasions such as marigolds, fire, food, and candles. Symbolic meanings and religious meanings entangle in what is pagan and what is holy. Some might find this joining of spiritual and corporal morbid. However, to grieve one must celebrate the life lost by having a moment each year to share the stories of loved ones with younger generations is important and keeps the ancestry intact.

I have been fascinated with death since I was a young child. Mostly because my Tia would take me to the desert to these communal gatherings. We would meditate for 3 hours and eat for another three hours in communal gatherings. Beautiful time, she is a reiki, yogi, and layer of hands. However, I experienced my first laying of hands on someone who had passed and I have never looked back. My investment in learning about the funeral industry grew, and learning other death practices for different cultures around the world exploded. There are so many ways one can choose to be buried these days. Quite beautiful. However, I always return to the sitting with death, maybe because I have been around so much of it, grief, loss, and mourning. I understand. Either way, these moments of recalling, celebrating, returning, and honoring–cultivate a deep stillness inside my body.

The work here makes visible the deep connection and importance to those we have lost. My small daily moments with loved ones whom I can no longer visit or call helps me move life forward. I am my mother, my grandmother, my great-grandmother, and so on. I am my father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather, and so on. Branches of love, care, and family are the ones I desire most as my lineage expands and decays.

©LROD