Play is older than culture, for culture, however inadequately defined, always presupposes human society, and animals have not waited for man to teach them their playing.

- Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture (1955)

Dave Ghilarducci’s artwork investigates perception on an everyday level, often using popular technology as the subject and object of artistic inquiry. Circle of Complication is an electronically mechanized sculpture designed to make drawings reminiscent of those made by a child using a Spirograph toy. In Ghilarducci’s work, however, the drawings are made at large scale using a program designed to produce a series of random operations.

An aesthetic of mechanization has informed over a century of art making, including, but not limited to the Futurist’s infatuation with machines, Jean Tinguely’s self-destructing kinetic sculptures, and Roxy Paine’s industrial painting and sculpting machines. Such art often considers industrial technology’s modes of production and distribution in relation to vital social and cultural issues. One recurring issue that seems to draw renewed interest as our economy has shifted its base from industry to service to information, is the notion of work and the necessity of citizens to redefine their relationship to the changing nature of the work they do. As technology changes, so do the paradigms we use to understand the world and our place in it.

Dave Ghilarducci is interested in the developmental aspects of play. In Circle of Complication he seems to inquire about how play offers a means of assimilation into a changing world. By simulating the Spirograph’s iconic geometries he points to an era of play – during the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s – in which toys like the Spirograph relied on the developmental aspects of play to reinforce a set of values related to culture and technology.

Now, some thirty years later, and living in the wake of a bygone era’s technological paradigms, we watch this mechanized sculpture dutifully produce an ink drawing over the course of twenty minutes. It offers a stark contrast to our mental image (or personal experience?) of a child absorbed in the spontaneous discovery of his or her Spirograph creation. We consider how, through play, children acquired both aesthetic and kinesthetic awareness of geometric forms. This awareness, no doubt, acted as a seductive precursor to the complex mathematics – technically known as hypotrochoids and epitrochoids – that many of those children would later learn govern these curves.

Drawing machines and sculptures that mechanize the process of art making are not new to art of the last sixty years. Typically such machines flaunted a disregard for traditional artistic skills while making the provocative claim that a machine is capable of making art. Ghilarducci makes no such claim in Circle of Complication. For Ghilarducci, the artwork is the machine, which is, in fact, an impeccably crafted kinetic sculpture. That the sculpture produces drawings does not immediately bestow upon the drawings the status of art. Rather the drawings function more as artifact. Through the process of making a drawing, the artwork reveals the complex math that governs the drawings’ creation. For their part, the drawings function as a synecdoche of sorts that stand in for the often transparent relationship between play and learning.

-Brian Goeltzenleuchter, Curator

Biography

Dave Ghilarducci was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He currently lives and works in Escondido, California. He studied engineering and physics at University of Illinois at Chicago. After graduating, Ghilarducci worked as an engineer, developing a range of culturally substantive objects – from rockets to Palm Pilots. He left the engineering world in 2006 to work fulltime as an artist. Ghilarducci’s work is often interactive and engages viewers while reminding them of the various and often transparent ways technology is used to manage interactions. Although still quite early in his career, Dave Ghilarducci’s work has garnered critical validation. His work has been exhibited at Track 16 Gallery and Oceanside Museum of Art, and later this year at Art Produce Gallery.

Check out the video taken briefly during the installation on Wednesday, February 3: Circle installation

RV parks sprouted throughout the Sunbelt and became “winter homes” for the retired. Today, during the fall and winter, the populations of many small towns in the Southwest increase significantly as retired individuals escape the inhospitable cold and rain in search of a warm, dry climate. Some communities experience a several hundred percent increase in their population during this period. Nationwide, 9 to 13 percent of individuals over the age of 60 spend at least four months away from their self-described “permanent home,” for a total of 6 million individuals nationwide.

Although designed as a temporary travel home, the RV has also become primary residence for many people of limited means. By the early 1950s the RV and travel trailer industry began producing cosmetic shells to hide the mobile features of the trailer – the wheels, axles and tow-hitches. Instead of emphasizing mobility, these shells were designed to evoke a set of conventional values common to postwar US domestic architecture. Due to the discrepancy in construction, materials and craftsmanship between mobile homes and permanent houses, mobile homes quickly acquired the stigma of being low class. Even today, mobile home parks, or “trailer parks” evoke stereotypical images of uneducated “trailer trash.”

However, RV culture is far from a static social-economic dichotomy. In fact, the RV is currently being repurposed by both contemporary architects and D-I-Y cultures seeking to transgress conventional notions of home in favor of self-sufficient or  “off the grid” living.

This world within a vehicle is documented in Snowbirds, an exhibition of photographs by Stephen Chalmers. Stephen Chalmers spent a winter living in an RV in the desert Southwest, photographing people “at home” in and around their RVs, often against the iconic backdrop of the desert. Snowbirds represents a small sampling from Chalmers’ much larger portfolio of images. His photos reveal  “home” to be a flexible concept, an idea that is co-produced by the relationship between self, objects and place. Taken as a whole, the imagery offers glimpses of how identity is constructed in these mobile, domestic spaces while it points to ideologies of transience that have developed over the last century.

-Brian Goeltzenleuchter, Curator

Biography

Stephen Chalmers has been an emergency medical technician, taught gang-affected children photography, and worked as a counselor to severely emotionally disturbed children. His photography practice deals with the psychology of loss and raises questions about the nature of representation. Chalmers has taught workshops in alternative photographic processes and digital imaging, and has been a visiting artist at numerous colleges and universities. He has been contributing photographer to several books, and has exhibited throughout the US and as well as in Australia, Ireland, British Columbia, England, South Africa, and China. Stephen Chalmers earned his MFA in Cinema and Photography from Southern Illinois University. His work can be found in several collections including the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Light Work, Polaroid, and the Getty Research Institute. Selections from his projects and more biographical information can be seen at www.askew-view.com.

Patrick Stewart

Hello again. I know, it’s been a while. But we are back and there is lots going on at Sushi these days. Today I want to introduce you to Patrick Stewart our new Executive Director. Having sat in several meetings with him, and perhaps more telling, had a cocktail or two with him, I can tell you he is going to be a wonderful addition not only to Sushi but the San Diego arts community as well.

Patrick will be rejoining the San Diego arts community in January after finishing his tenure as the executive director of the Atlas Performing Arts Center. Atlas is a multi-faceted center whose development, program, performance, and education accomplishments have served as the leading catalytic factor in the dramatic economic and social redevelopment of a major section of Washington, DC’s Northeast quadrant. With Sushi smack dab in the middle of the burgeoning East Village, his experience in DC is quite fitting.

He brings with him extensive regional management and production experience in San Diego, Seattle, and Washington, DC, including work with many of San Diego’s arts organizations, The Source Theatre and the National Summer Theatre Festival in Washington, and the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture, as well as positions in television on such shows as NBC’s Will & Grace and Good Morning Miami.

In addition to his institutional leadership roles, Patrick extends organization, management and curriculum development assistance to performing arts organizations.  He currently serves as a management consulting mentor to arts organizations via the Kennedy Center’s Office of the President, and lends expertise as a board or committee member to several organizations, most notably as an advisory committee member to the Capital Fringe Festival and service on the Board of Directors of the Takoma Park Arts and Humanities Council.

Patrick has an exciting vision for SUSHI and is committed to strengthening its role as a vital center for the urban arts. Although he will not return full time to San Diego until January, he has been meeting with the Board of Directors monthly to aid in management and planning for the fall 2009 and 2010 seasons. His focus will be primarily on fund development, programming, and community outreach.

Please join me in welcoming Patrick to San Diego. I’m pretty sure he is going to make San Diego a more interesting place to be.

Next up in the PERFORMANCE SPACE:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

September 2, 3 and 4:

SUSHI Presents:

BLURRED SUMMER DANCE FESTIVAL

In conjunction with

ART FAIR SAN DIEGO

Click HERE for tickets and information.

__________________________

September 17 – ONE NIGHT ONLY!!

SUSHI Presents:

MATT WELCH

Brought to you by the

FRESH SOUND SERIES

Click HERE for tickets and information.

__________________________

September 23 – ONE NIGHT ONLY!!

SUSHI Presents:

International stars of all things Fringe -

DIE ROTEN PUNKTE

Click HERE for tickets and information.

_______________________________________________________

Currently in the SUSHI GALLERY

KALEIDOSCOPE

August 27 – September 24

Gallery hours: Wed – Friday 1-6pm and open during every performance.

RECEPTION celebrating the Artist

September 16   6 – 9pm

In his first solo art exhibit, Isaias Crow explores the juxtaposition of street art and abstract expressionism in sculptural paintings that blend graphic design, graffiti art and community activism. Just as a Kaleidoscope uses shifting prisms of light to form fresh images, in Crow’s work geometric shapes collide into loosely figurative forms.

Using wood instead of canvas and spray paint instead of oil, the human form is made abstract and presented through transparent layers of drips and splatters. Crow’s kaleidoscopic eye brings together brightly colored panels with fluid perspectives. Kaleidoscope compels the viewer to look past the explosion of color and behold the humanity within.

A native of El Paso, Texas, who now calls San Diego home, Crow has a background in street art and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Media Arts and Animation from the Art Institute of San Diego. By working in close collaboration with architects and designers, he specializes in community and public art projects.

Since 2008 Crow has been a member of The Prizm Process, a collaborative that uses art and culture to increase civic engagement in underserved communities. This summer, The Prizm Process has teamed up with The Bookman, a nonprofit literacy organization in “Books, Murals and Miracles”: multidisciplinary art workshops geared toward San Diego’s youth.

This exhibit is being curated by Nuvia Crisol Ruland, who joined Sushi this summer as an intern.  Please visit her site at www.artecrisol.com.

And a HUGE thank you to our season curator, Brian Goeltzenleuchter, who is a currently featured artist in the highly acclaimed Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego’s exhibit, HERE, NOT THERE.

While you enjoy your summer, we’ll be over here. Busy planning some new explorations for the fall and a full 2nd season for the winter and spring.

Oh and if you joined us for the Red Ball, thanks! It really was a ball. And if you didn’t, be sure to watch our blog this fall when we announce the date for the next one. You wouldn’t want to miss this party twice.

Now go have a great and artful summer.

Brian Goeltzenleuchter

Acamonchi

James Watts

Joshua Krause

Teddy Cruz

JW Caldwell

The live auction should be most entertaining, as Vernon the Entertainer will be our auctioneer on stilts. He will walk through the Sushi space, tracked by spotlights, while guests indicate their desire to purchase a piece with numbered fly swatters. It should be unlike any auction you’ve seen before.

So what is Steampunk? It seems to be this interesting mash up of Victorian-era English aesthetic with science fiction and modern technology.

And what is Zirk Ubu? According to their web site – part circus and part mystery cult..a visionary amalgam of performance genres…fantasy, buffoonery, aerial acrobatics, surreal tableaux and burlesque vignettes.

Now imagine about a dozen of these folks wandering through the Red Ball crowd, spontaneously entertaining and engaging people. Perhaps you are starting to get a feeling for what the night will be like?

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one, so when a friend sent over this video (click on the link below) I was delighted. It shows the band playing at a wrap party with their friends from Zirk Ubu dancing it up. Better get your dancing shoes on.

Orkestra and Zirk Ubu

We are very excited to have Mark and this talented group of regional artists be a part of the Red Ball. Here are a few examples of the fantastic work you will see in the Visual Arts Gallery on June 13th.

May 9, 2009 – June 9, 2009

Opening Reception: Saturday, May 9, 2009
7pm – 10pm

Participating Artists:

Will Benedict, Robert Billings, Demons, Rachel Detroit, Marlene Haring, Erick Pereira, Nicholas Pittman, Rita Rubas, Lucie Stahl, Pascal Theriault, Alan Zinn, Vickie Zinn

o.o.t.s is part two of a show that first took place in a snow shelter in a backyard in Chicago. This installment features a sculpture, paintings, collage, and sound art pieces, many employing found objects and imagery. The show includes a mid career retrospective by Rachel Pasadena (formerly Rachel Detroit), and new works from master painter Alan Zinn everything from a to z.

o.o.t.s. stands for orphans of the storm, a bunch of friends sharing similar interests in street style visuals. All artists are operating independent from the gallery system, and have always tried to exchange their works for goods, and experiment with new systems of barter. They’re a new pack of artists, kind of like a new litter of kittens, that were raised by witches, ready to put you in a trance with their sight and sound powers.

So come to SUSHI May 9th and please bring a toss away blanket, one plant clipping, one candle, and foreign currency.

You can be late but don’t miss this one!

Thursday, Feb 19th @ 8pm
Friday, Feb 20th @ 7pm & 9pm
Saturday, Feb 21th @ 7pm & 9pm
Sunday, Feb 22th @ 7pm

Performers: Hilary Clark, Heather Olson, Matthew Rogers, Christopher Williams

Original Soundscore: James Baker

Rammed Earth is a 60-minute piece designed for a limited audience of 50 people per performance. It explores architecture as a fundamental, subliminal force in the choreographic form as well as in human experience. O’Connor’s interest in “sentient architecture” in which structures change form in response to temperature, climate or human activity, is a catalyst for this work .Audience members are incorporated into the expanding, contracting, liquid space of the work, as they are escorted into different viewing positions throughout the performance.

Tere O’Connor has been making dances since 1982 and has created over 30 works for his company. The company has performed throughout the US and in Europe, South America and Canada. O’Connor has created numerous commissioned works for dance companies including the Lyon Opera Ballet, White Oak Dance Project, de Rotterdamse Dansgroep, Holland; Carte Blanche, Norway; TRAFO/The Workshop Foundation, Hungary; for Canadian dancers Bill Coleman and Laurence Lemieux in Montreal; Dance Alloy in Pittsburgh, PA; and Zenon in Minneapolis, MN. He recently created a solo work for Mikhail Baryshnikov.

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photo-by-tim-richards

Thursday – Saturday, January 15-17 @ 8pm

Sundary, January 18 @ 7pm

In Residence/Rehearsals Open to the public:
Thursday – Saturday, December 18 – 20, 12 – 5pm
Thursday – Saturday, January 8 – 10, 12 – 5pm

Performers: Dina Academia, Jess Humphrey, Carmen Rojo, Joe Alter
and Lux Boreal: Angel Arambula, Henry Torrez, Briseida Lopez, Azalea Lopez, David Mariano, Raul Navarro, Victoria Reyes

This evening length performance, directed by Leslie Seiters, is a collaboration between dancers of San Diego’s Little Known Dance Theater and Tijuana based Lux Boreal. Incidental Fear of Numbers considers the exchange between audience and performer, precision and abandon, function and futility, density and spaciousness with movement, sound, time, light and the body’s relation to the materials that surround and compose us.

During the last 10 years Leslie Seiters has made performance work that couples movement with visual design to create environments that engage audiences to occupy space and time in unfamiliar ways. Seiters directs Little Known Dance Theater and co-directs Los Angeles based Lean-to Productions. Her choreography and visual design have received San Francisco’s “izzie” awards. Her residencies include ODC and CounterPULSE Theaters, San Francisco. She received her MFA from Ohio State University and currently teaches at San Diego State University.

Advance Pay-What-You-Can Tickets for all 2009 Season performances can by clicking below or by calling (619) 235-8466

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West Coast Premiere

Thursday – Saturday, January 29 – 31 @ 8pm
Post-performance discussion on Thursday
Admission: Pay-What-You-Can

Looking at the sexual psychodrama of our political leaders, this work is inspired by New York Governor Elliot Spitzer’s 2008 confession and apology for patronizing prostitutes.
Finley’s latest spoken word text includes an examination of Spitzer’s confession, his underlying compulsion, the role played by his wife Silda, as well as imagining the sexual encounter and the married couple’s therapy sessions. Finley sees the agony of the son’s need for approval from the father and the ancient wrestling of the feminine archetypes of mother and whore.

Karen Finley is an innovative and controversial New York based performance artist/literary figure/visual artist. She has created countless installations, drawings, performances, and public sculptures all over the world. Finley gained notoriety for her show We Keep Our Victims Ready, which premiered at Sushi in 1989. The show drew the ire of Senator Jessie Helms who used her performances as a focal point in the culture wars. She has also been featured on many television shows and has been a semi-regular on Bill Maher’s “Politically Incorrect”. She has posed for Playboy magazine and collaborated with many artists including Sinead O’ Conner. She currently teaches at New York University.

Buy Tickets Online ticket sales end at noon on Thursday. Advance Tickets can be purchased by calling Sushi at 619/235-8466 until Saturday at 3pm or PAY-WHAT-YOU CAN at the door (which opens at 7:30pm).

from the Trailer Park Queen series

World Premiere

Thursday – Saturday, February 26 – 28 @ 8pm
Sunday, March 1 @ 7pm
Admission: Pay-What-You-Can

Using songs, spoken word, and storytelling, Juanita Goes to Rehab starts with the coach catching Juanita smoking pot and kicking her off the team. Then she starts hanging out with the stoners, it was all downhill from there…she should have joined the Navy.

The Trailer Park Queen series, began with Teresa Gunn’s 1996 “performance art” album, which told the tale of Juanita LaRue, a biker chick from Imperial Beach.
There are six shows in the Trailer Park series, several of which have been presented informally. This is Teresa Gunn’s first public presentation of work from the series.

Teresa Gunn is a rock singer/songwriter, musician, and social activist. In 1998, Teresa Gunn founded Street of Dreams which provides art education as a college preparatory class for high risk adolescents. To date the program has worked with over 2000 young people and their families.

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Hip Hop Saved My Life

World Premiere

Thursday – Saturday, March 26 – 28 @ 8pm
Sunday, March 29 @ 7pm
Admission: Pay-What-You-Can

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Performers: Ant Black, Kendrick Dial, Lauren Dockweiler, Rudy Francisco, grace shinhae jun, Jesse Mills, Lavina Rich, Misa Suiter, DJ KrazyKut and Keomi Tarver

Hip Hop Saved My Life explores the activism in Hip Hop culture that creates voice for the marginalized, bridges global communities, and empowers young women. Following their successful collaboration The Movement, bkSOUL and Collective Purpose have come together again to explore the power of love and Hip Hop.

Bridging the worlds of underground hip hop and dance/theatre, the collaborations of bkSOUL and Collective Purpose use images, words, and the music of movement, both
social and artistic, to give their viewers a window into the lived experience of oppression, rejection, rebellion, and transformation.

bkSOUL, founded in 2001, is a community of artists grounded in rhythm and beats, drawing from different movement traditions. bkSOUL Artistic Director grace shinhae jun is a choreographer, educator, performer, and scholar. Locally, she teaches at UCSD, Southwestern College, City College, and transcenDANCE Youth Arts Project.

Collective Purpose is a group of performing artists whose mission is to elevate, edutain, and enlighten others through words and performance. Ant Black has been called a mastermind of paradox in urban culture, and his work has been described as "fierce, but it’s also camp, and Black’s ability to convey both is a coup de theatre".

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Fringes-Margins-Borders

San Diego Premiere

Thursday – Saturday, March 12 – 14 @ 8pm
Admission: Pay-What-You-Can

Performers: DEADLEE, Alison De La Cruz, Ian McKinnon

Using poetry, music, monologue, hip/hop, dance, and storytelling, Fringes-Margins-Borders includes six compelling autobiographical works that examine lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender contemporary life in California. Our state is one of the world’s leading battlegrounds of change and conflict, and these works artfully articulate our evolving cultural paradigm.

DEADLEE has attracted press with his groundbreaking, genre-screwing approach, including cover stories in Gay City News and Choice magazines and the New York Daily News, Rolling Stone, Wired Magazine, The Advocate, L.A. Weekly, and Variety. He has appeared on the Tyra Banks Show and the Howard Stern radio show. He was one of 18 gay hip hop artists featured in the landmark documentary film “Pick up the Mic”. He has written and performed Tres Leches and LA Weekly’s Pick Of the Week – Doomed Angels.

Alison De La Cruz is a multi-disciplinary cultural worker and artist. Her work ranges from solo theatrical pieces to documentary film narration to community based cultural organizing and productions.

Ian McKinnon is a Gay centered performance artist who has been creating/ curating gay men’s shows in LA for six years. He was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award, for his piece SPANKED! which toured to the NYC Fringe Festival and The New Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. He is also the creator and director of the glitter-rock-musical collective The Discount Cruise to Hell.

Queer Exchange is a National Performance Network Creation Fund Project co-commissioned by Highways Performance Space in partnership with Sushi Performance & Visual Art, and the National Performance Network. Major contributors of the National Performance Network are Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information: www.npnweb.org.

Second Tuesdays @ 8pm
Admission: Pay-What-You-Can

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MAY 12

– Barnyard Drama, voice, percussion, electronics, guitars

From Toronto, a fresh look at improvising combining elements of song, jazz, and sound scape. Christine Duncan, voice; Jean Martin, drums, turntable, and loops with Justin Haynes, guitar. Duncan’s five octave range and extended vocal techniques combined with Martin’s drums and varied sounds make for a challenging and exciting performance.

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World Premiere

Garden of Deadly Sound

San Diego Premiere

Thursday – Saturday, April 30 – May 2 @ 8pm
Sunday, May 3 @ 7pm
Admission: Pay-What-You-Can

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iMan is a multi-media dance theatre collaboration, integrating
projection and visual design, sound, choreography and performance into
a humorous and richly layered exploration of human movement and how
this resonates with the animal world. Social activities and behavioral
patterns evolve into peculiar rituals and dances that are strangely
observed by the eyes of all-knowing animals in another realm of being.
Saturated with ominous sounds and images, the work is inspired by
Yolande’s experiences in Africa with animals in their natural habitat.

Concept and Direction: Yolande Snaith
Chroregraphy: Yolande Snaith in collaboration with the dancers
Lighting Projection Designer: Thomas Ontiveros
Set design: Colin McGurK
Composer: Stephen Kent
Dancers: Eric Geiger, Greg Lane, Deven P Brawley, Tonnie Sammartano,
Elizabeth Swallow, Alison D Smith, Rebecca Bruno, Alicia Peterson
Baskel, Raffaella Judd, John Diaz.
Stage Manager: Anjee Nero.

Garden of Deadly Sound is an unexpected twist on the characters of
Maria Von Trapp from The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins. It explores
the archetypal nanny who protects the children from dangers both real
and imagined.Visit the web page for Garden off Deadly Sound for more
details.

Concept and Direction: Yolande Snaith
Choreography: Yolande Snaith with Buffy Swallow
Set and Costume Design: Yolande Snaith
Lighting Projection Designer: Thomas Ontiveros
Composers: David Coulter and Jean-Jacques Palix
Stage Manager: Anjee Nero

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Opening Reception – Saturday Nov 22th - 7-10pm
Exhibition Dates: Nov 22th – Dec 20th Gallery Hours Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 12-5pm

SUSHI, A CENTER FOR THE URBAN ARTS, 390 Eleventh Avenue at J Street, Downtown

Art Fun Club, Bojan Djordjev, Sinisa Ilic, Nenad Kostic, Tanja Markovic, Vladimir Nikolic, Jelena Radovic

Curated by Maja Ciric

The Beyond Theory project is an exhibition of paintings, video, and installation works and a discussion by the eight artists whose work reflects contemporary artmaking in Serbia. The artists and curator will be in residence for 8 days.

The Beyond Theory project is representative of a cultural-political shift that occurred in Serbia at the beginning of the 21st century. In the past, international curatorial practices have framed Serbia as wild, barbaric, and politically unstable. With the politic shift from totalitarian regime to a democratic society, Serbia is being more fully integrated into the global community. The project will show how this shift has affected contemporary artistic production.

This project is supported in part by grants from the Trust for Mutual Understanding and CEC ArtsLink.

Buy Tickets includes complimentary drinks and appetizers

Performance artists Violeta Luna, Roberto Sifuentes, and Guillermo Gomez-Pena photographed by Zach Gross, 2007

Saturday Dec 6th @ 7pm

Special Event — Formal Opening of New Performance Space

The New Barbarian Collection appropriates the format of an X-treme fashion show, complete with red carpet, runway, and paparazzi. The work engages the audience with a variety of fashion-inspired stylized performance personas stemming from problematic media representations of foreigners, immigrants, and social eccentrics, as both enemies of the state and sexy pop-cultural rebels. Ten invited artists from the San Diego/Tijuana region will develop the performance personas during a five-day interdisciplinary workshop with Guillermo Gomez-Pena, Violeta Luna, Michele Ceballos, and Rene Garcia.

Founded in 1993 by Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Roberto Sifuentes and Nola Mariano, La Pocha Nostra is an ever morphing trans-disciplinary arts organization based in San Francisco with branches and factions in many other cities and countries. With an international performance history of over 800 events, La Pocha seeks to provide both a support network and forum for artists of various disciplines and ethnic backgrounds. La Pocha Nostra is neither an ensemble, nor a troupe, but more of a conceptual laboratory; a loose association of rebel artists thinking together, crossing borders, exchanging wild ideas, and political aspirations.

Guillermo Gomez-Pena is a performance artist, writer, and the artistic director of La Pocha Nostra.

Violeta Luna is a performance artist from Mexico City. Her work explores the relationship between theater and performance art.

Michelle Ceballos is a choreographer, dancer, educator, visual and performance artist and founding director of Opendance.

Rene Garcia is an Los Angeles-based VJ Tekno-artist who creates real-time narratives using historical film footage in performance settings.

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Saturday, November 8th @ 8pm

Special Event — Pre-Opening of Performance Space

Performers: Toby Billowitz, Megan Boyd, Jordan Fuchs, Storme Sundberg
Original Soundscore: Andy Russ

Thicket is an innovative work that is staged in the round and features a sonic environment through individual headphones for each audience member. It explores the entanglements of human interactions between intimacy and abstraction.

Jordan Fuchs has been choreographing professionally, dancer for more than 17 years. His dance-making explores boundaries between choreography, and improvisation, physical relationships at close-quarters, and the experiential nature of dance and audience. His choreography has been commissioned by Danspace Project NYC (2003, 2005, 2008) and Kristina Isabelle High/Jinks Dance Company and has been presented nationally including at Dance Theatre Workshop, Movement Research at Judson Church, Dancers Group Footwork, and Sushi. He is also a dance specialist in the Dance Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. He holds a BA in Religion from Oberlin College and an MFA in Choreography from Ohio State University and is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at Texas Women’s University.

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