Courtesy of Maria Hupfield, photo by Hally Wolhandler
For this night of performance art, Reenactment artists Maria Hupfield and Alicia Grullón will activate the objects in the BRIC gallery along with special guest collaborators Tusia Dubrowska, and Wiktor Podgorski. Following the performances there will be a discussion led by Harry Weil, Manager of Programs at Green-Wood Cemetery.
A rehearsal of the past for the future: This performance is a reenactment of Alicia Grullón’s preparation for her participation in the Battle of Brooklyn. Before the morning events, Grullón recited the The Black Manifesto and the 20 point position paper of the The Trail of Broken Treaties. She then learned how to shoot a musket by a Red Coat captain and it was the first time she had ever held a gun.
Electric Prop and Hum Freestyle Variations : BRIC is a 20 minute, multi-media performance piece by Maria Hupfield and fellow BRICworkspace artists-in-residence Tusia Dabrowska. The artists will activate objects currently on display incorporating scored and un-scored movement, sound, and vocalizations with sound design by Wiktor Podgorski, that intervene in BRIC’s Gallery. This iteration, the third in a series of site specific interventions, expands on the intersections of land, language, gender, and commodity. Previous performances include Studio Views: Craft in the Expanded Field, Museum of Arts and Design, and DoublePlus, Gibney Dance. The concept for Electric Prop and Hum Freestyle Variations Studio is the result of Hupfield’s 2017 micro-residency at MAD as part of Studio Views. This collaboration stems out of the artists' time at BRICworkspace residency.
BIOS:
Through her performance art, Alicia Grullón critiques the politics of presence and argues for the inclusion of disenfranchised communities in political and social spheres. Grullón draws from social interventions and performative reenactments that assert the lived experiences of people removed from history. In her recent piece, Fillibuster, 2016 she re-enacted Senator Wendy Davis' 11 Hour filibuster against Texas abortion laws in June 2013 adhering to the Texas filibuster rules which prohibited sitting, leaning, drinking, eating, or restroom breaks. For Grullón, the alternative narratives that emerge from these socially engaged practices consider race, class, gender, and activism, and their interconnection in shaping the contemporary social condition. Grullón’s works have been shown in numerous group exhibitions at New York City galleries, including: Smack Mellon, BRIC, and El Museo del Barrio, all in New York. She participated in several biennials and festivals, including The Uptown Triennial at Columbia University, The (S) Files at El Museo del Barrio; Performa 11; the Bronx Museum AIM Biennial; and Art in Odd Places. Grullon completed residency and fellowship programs with the Wallach Art Gallery, Arts Council Korea, the Five Colleges Women’s Studies Center, A Blade of Grass Foundation, and Culture Push, among others.
Multidisciplinary artist Maria Hupfield activates her creations in live performances. She is interested in the production of shared moments that open spaces for possibility and new narratives. In her work, these moments of connection are recalled and grounded by coded and recoded hand-sewn industrial felt creations. A member of the Anishinaabe Nation at Wasauksing First Nation in Ontario, Canada, Hupfield is deeply invested in intersectionality, indigenous feminisms, and explorations of race, gender, and class. Since her first residency at MAD in 2012, Hupfield has exhibited and performed her work internationally, most recently premiering her solo exhibition The One Who Keeps On Giving at the Power Plant, Toronto, in January of 2017.
Tusia Dabrowska is a time-based artist and writer whose focus is on video and live art projects. Exhibiting and publishing internationally, Dabrowska is a 2014 recipient of the Puffin Foundation Grant and an Asylum Arts alumna. She was an artist-in-residence at Signal Culture in the winter of 2017 and is currently an artist-in-residence at BRIC workspace. Dabrowska holds degrees from the New School, Trinity College Dublin, and New York University. She divides her time between Warsaw, Poland, and Brooklyn, New York.
Wiktor Podgorski works at the intersection of sound and moving image. His work encompasses collaborative and solo projects spanning video, live projections, animation, and installation art. Podgorski’s audio projects include sound design and music for theater, video and documentary film, as well as numerous experimental music collaborations. His work has been presented in galleries and concert halls at home and abroad, including Synthetic Zero/The Bronx Art Space, the Banff Center (Canada), and Glasgow University (UK), as well as music festivals, like TAURON (Poland); animation festivals, such as MIAF (Australia); and art festivals, including Currents New Media Festival (US) and Sound Vision (Canada).
Venue Information:
The Stoop at BRIC House is a public cultural gathering space featuring free, drop-in programming, and offering a place to sit, observe, and participate in multi-disciplinary work.
Beginning Nov. 1, 2022, attendees of any BRIC House programming will no longer have to show proof of vaccination or a negative test to enter the building. Masks are encouraged but not required in all BRIC operated spaces. If you have questions regarding this protocol, please email Safety@bricartsmedia.org