the body is the brain

Episode 15: Jerome Ellis

We talk about…stuttering as a teacher, "bending the clock" as a disability justice and a racial justice practice, sitting with the ethics of living on stolen land, engaging with the fraught archive of slavery, "opening time" on the page, wrestling with questions of voice in the archive, the healing work of putting the archive of slavery in conversation with an archive of plants, collaborating with ensemble, singing hymns, Saidiya Hartman, m. nourbeSe philip, and much more.  ABOUT THE ARTIST Jerome Ellis describes themself as a “blk disabled animal, stutterer, and artist.” They were born in 1989 to Jamaican and Grenadian immigrants. Jerome lives in Tidewater, Virginia with their wife, ecologist-poet Luísa Black Ellis. Jerome has been awarded a United States Artists Fellowship, a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award, a Creative Capital Grant, and 2 MacDowell residency Fellowships. Ellis was in the 2024 Whitney Biennial as both a solo artist and as a member of the People Who Stutter Create collective. Jerome's debut album, The Clearing in 2021, which was accompanied by a book, is a score of stuttering and an act of resistance against performative fluency. Most recently, Jerome is the author of Aster of Ceremonies, a multi-layered book of poetry and music that came out in 2023 from Milkweed Editions. Aster of Ceremonies engages with the fraught archive of slavery by bringing the voices of "runaway slaves" into conversation with an archive of plant life. It weaves together practices of history, ecology, and disability justice and claims stuttering as a portal into a liberatory relationship to time.  www.jjjjjerome.com [https://www.jjjjjerome.com/] @jjjjjeromeellis Photo credit: Annie Forrest SHOW NOTES Jerome Ellis, “The Clearing: Music, Dysfluency, Blackness, and Time [https://bakonline.org/en/research+publications/prospections/the+clearing+music+dysfluency+blackness+and+time/]," Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies, 5, no. 2 (2020) Saidiya V. Hartman, Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery, and Self-Making in Nineteenth-Century America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) Craig Dworkin, “The Stutter of Form,” in M. Perloff and C. Dworkin, eds., The Sound of Poetry / The Poetry of Sound (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2009) Robin Coste Lewis, The Race in Erasure, Portland Arts & Lectures, [https://www.de-canon.com/blog/2017/5/9/on-erasure-from-robin-coste-lewiss-lecture-literary-arts](April 20, 2016)  Fred Moten and Saidiya Hartman in conversation with J. Kameron Carter and Sarah Jane Cervenak, “The Black Outdoors,” Franklin Humanities Institute, Duke University [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_tUZ6dybrc], (September 23, 2016)  Christina Sharpe, In the Wake: On Blackness and Being (Durham: Duke University Press, 2016) Ashon T. Crawley, Black Pentecostal Breath: The Aesthetics of Possibility (New York: Fordham University Press, 2017) ///// Are you an artist in need of value-aligned legal support? Reach out to Movement Law. movementlaw.net [www.movementlaw.net]

Episode 14: Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener

We talk about: attention as a material, the politics of audio description, queer abstraction, tuning ensemble in improvisation, avoiding saying "no" when directing, translating site-specific improvisation to a proscenium context, the difference between impulse and desire, refusal as a practice, making experimental dance with AI, and much more… ABOUT THE ARTISTS Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener's work involves the building of collaborative worlds through improvisational techniques, digital technologies, and material construction. They met as dancers in the Merce Cunningham Dance company and since 2010 they have created over 25 multidisciplinary dance works including site-responsive installations, concert dances, gallery performances and dances for film in venues such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Barbican Centre, REDCAT, The Walker Art Center, and MoMA/PS1. Throughout they have maintained a commitment to queer culture and aesthetics. Their partnership intentionally blurs authorship and maintains a deep commitment to collaboration with a diverse community of dancers, performers, artists and cultural institutions. https://www.rashaunsilasdance.com/ [https://www.rashaunsilasdance.com/] @rashaun.silas SHOW NOTES Rashaun Mitchell, Silas Riener, and Claudia LaRocco, Already & Not Yet: Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener in Conversation with Claudia La Rocco [https://openspace.sfmoma.org/2019/11/already-not-yet-rashaun-mitchell-and-silas-riener-in-conversation-with-claudia-la-rocco/], SFMOMA's Open Space, Nov. 7, 2019 Megan Metcalf [https://openspace.sfmoma.org/author/meganmetcalf/], Future Formers, Former Futures [https://openspace.sfmoma.org/2018/02/future-formers-former-futures/], SFMOMA's Open Space, February 13, 2018 Ted Chiang, Why AI isn't going to Make Art [https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/why-ai-isnt-going-to-make-art], The New Yorker Danielle Goldman, I Want to be Ready: Improvised Dance as a Freedom [https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/monographs/wp988k694] Hope Mohr, Self and System [https://openspace.sfmoma.org/2019/10/self-and-system/], SFMOMA's Open Space, Oct. 24, 2019 Signals from the West: Bay Area Artists in Conversation with Merce Cunningham at 100 [https://www.hopemohr.org/2019-bridge-project] /// Are you an artist or arts organization in need of legal support or capacity-building? Reach out to Movement Law, dedicated to building power with artists and mission-driven organizations. ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.movementlaw.net/⁠ [https://www.movementlaw.net/]

Episode 13: Eric Avery

We talk about: audience-determined structures, reparations as a culture-building project, Augusto Boal's "rehearsal for revolution," balancing audience choice with a desire to "get into the harder stuff," the "curb cut effect" (why reparations are for everyone), and much more…  ABOUT THE ARTIST Eric Avery is an interdisciplinary artist and cultural organizer with over eighteen years of professional experience in theatre, interactive performance, and community-based projects. Since 2018, they have focused on applying a reparationist framework to their creative practice, organizing projects, and life. This dedication to relationship-centered process has put Avery in partnership with non-profit organizations, municipalities, social service agencies, universities, farms, community centers, prisons, art galleries, and private homes. In addition to collaborations, Avery has independently created over 25 original productions. They earned a Bachelor's in Theatre & Film from the University of Kansas and an MFA in Theatre Arts from Towson University. Honors/Awards, including a Bessie Award (Outstanding Visual Design), Lavender Magazine Best of List (Outstanding Performance), Elliot Norton Award (Outstanding Design), 2024 MAP Grant Awardee, Zellerbach: Community Arts, East Bay Fund for Artists, Dresher Ensemble Artist Residency, and a TBA CA$H Grant. @efranklin.tv [https://www.instagram.com/efranklin.tv] RESOURCES Eric Avery, The Pla[y/n] for Reparation$ [https://efranklin.tv/the-play-n-for-reparation/] Eric Avery, 67 Simple Operations [https://efranklin.tv/67-simple-operations/] ARTIST INSPIRATIONS Theater of the Oppressed [https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745339290/theatre-of-the-oppressed/] (Augusto Boal) On Theater of the Oppressed [https://imaginaction.org/media/our-methods/theatre-of-the-oppressed-2/]  10,000 Things Theater Company [https://tenthousandthings.org/] Lee Bruer [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/04/theater/lee-breuer-dead.html] Basil Twist [https://basiltwist.com/] Pina Bausch [https://www.pinabausch.org/] 36 Questions to Fall in Love [https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/36-questions-to-fall-in-love?srsltid=AfmBOoq2sSDwiOZGuxeoADETCiDCGFgWyHWnF_9oFsVc7dOvLarjXNO-] REPARATIONS RESOURCES California Reparations Report [https://oag.ca.gov/ab3121/report] Reparations in California [https://www.kqed.org/reparations] (KQED) On "the curb cut effect" [https://www.policylink.org/resources-tools/curb-cut-effect] Nine Charts about Wealth Inequality in America [https://apps.urban.org/features/wealth-inequality-charts/] Center for Belonging [https://belonging.berkeley.edu/targeted-universalism] (UC Berkeley) SPECIFIC REPARATIONS PROJECTS Bruce's Beach [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/03/bruces-beach-los-angeles-county-reparations] (Southern California) Wildseed [https://www.wildseedcommunity.org/history] (New York) Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration [https://www.stocktondemonstration.org/about-seed] (Universal Basic Income pilot program) More on the Stockton UBI project [https://www.npr.org/2021/03/04/973653719/california-program-giving-500-no-strings-attached-stipends-pays-off-study-finds] Land Back to Shasta Indian Nation [https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/06/18/governor-newsom-announces-historic-land-return-effort-on-the-5th-anniversary-of-californias-apology-to-native-americans/] Virginia Policy regarding "Enslaved Ancestors College Access Scholarship and Memorial Program [https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title23.1/chapter6/section23.1-615.1/]" UBNC Chapel Hill tuition proposal [https://www.wral.com/story/proposal-calls-for-free-tuition-for-descendants-of-slaves-who-built-unc-chapel-hill/19147294/]  /// Are you an artist or arts organization in need of legal support or capacity-building? Reach out to Movement Law, a law practice dedicated to helping artists and mission-driven organizations build power and navigate change. Schedule your free 30 minute consultation today at ⁠⁠⁠https://www.movementlaw.net/ [https://www.movementlaw.net/]

Episode 12: Chloë Bass

We talk about… the difference between social practice and socially engaged art, how Bass' installation Wayfinding relates to performance, the "singular family narrative" as a fiction, how lawmaking and artmaking differ, using language as a material, being a "writer for the encounter," and much more… ABOUT THE ARTIST Chloë Bass is a multiform conceptual artist working in performance, situation, conversation, publication, and installation. Her work uses daily life as a site of deep research to address scales of intimacy: where patterns hold and break as group sizes expand. She began her work with a focus on the individual (The Bureau of Self-Recognition [https://www.chloebass.com/projects/the-bureau-of-self-recognition/], 2011 – 2013), followed by a study of pairs (The Book of Everyday Instruction [https://www.chloebass.com/projects/the-book-of-everyday-instruction/], 2015 – 2017), and recently concluded an investigation at the scale of the immediate family (Obligation To Others Holds Me in My Place, 2018 – 2024). She will continue to scale up gradually until she’s working at the scale of the metropolis. She is currently working on Since feeling is first [https://www.chloebass.com/projects/since-feeling-is-first/] (2023 – ongoing), a series of works examining intimacy at the scale of the courtroom and the law. You can learn more about her work at chloebass.com [http://chloebass.com]. @publicinvestigator RESOURCES Links to specific projects by Chloë Bass discussed in the podcast: Wayfinding [https://www.chloebass.com/projects/wayfinding-phase-1/] #sky #nofilter: Hindsight for a Future America [https://caamuseum.org/exhibitions/2023/public-sculpturechloe-bass-sky-nofilter-hindsight-for-a-future-america] this is a film [https://www.triangleartsnyc.org/chloe-bass-this-is-a-film] soft services [https://henryart.org/exhibitions/chloe-bass]Perspective Alignment [https://thebentway.ca/event/perspective-alignment/] ⁠Recess⁠ [https://recessanalog.org/chloe-bass] Analog Residency Art as Social Action: An Introduction to the Principles and Practices of Teaching Social Practice Art [https://www.amazon.com/Art-Social-Action-Introduction-Principles/dp/1621535525], by Gregory Sholette (Editor), Chloë Bass (Editor), Social Practice Queens (Editor) Social Practice CUNY [https://socialpracticecuny.org/] socialpracticecuny@gmail.com Lauren Berlant, Cruel Optimism [https://www.dukeupress.edu/cruel-optimism] Aruna D'Souza, review of the exhibit Cantando Bajito: Chorus [https://4columns.org/d-souza-aruna/cantando-bajito] at the Ford Foundation Gallery, featuring Chloe Bass, Archivo de la Memoria Trans Argentina (Trans Memory Archive Argentina), Tania Candiani, Hoda Afsharand, and Textiles Semillas (Textiles as Seeds), and curated by Roxana Fabius, Beya Othmani, Mindy Seu, and Susana Vargas Cervantes. Aruna D'Souza, Writer and Art Critic [https://www.arunadsouza.com/] Judith Butler, The Psychic Life of Power [https://www.sup.org/books/theory-and-philosophy/psychic-life-power] Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Abolition Geography: Essays Towards Liberation [https://www.jezebel.com/ruth-wilson-gilmore-says-freedom-is-a-physical-place-bu-1849079415] /// Are you an artist or arts organization in need of legal support or capacity-building? Reach out to Movement Law, Hope Mohr's client-driven law practice dedicated to helping artists, arts organizations, and mission-driven organizations build power and navigate change. Schedule your free 30 minute consultation today at ⁠⁠https://www.movementlaw.net/ [https://www.movementlaw.net/]

Episode 11: Lu Zhang

We talk about: supporting socially engaged artists, how design of arts funding pathways influences outcomes, co-leadership in the arts, the overlap between art practice and arts leadership, A Blade of Grass, and much more.... ABOUT THE ARTIST Lu Zhang is an artist and arts administrator. She’s been at A Blade of Grass (ABoG) for two years. Before joining ABoG Lu was the Initiatives Director of United States Artists (USA), a national arts funding organization headquartered in Chicago. In that role, Lu launched Initiatives, a department dedicated to expanding holistic support for artists and their communities. In partnership with foundation leaders, Initiatives conducts research, shares learnings with the field, and increases direct support to individual artists across discipline and geography. Key programs include Disability Futures, a fund to increase the visibility of disabled creative practitioners, and Artist Relief, a $23.4 million emergency initiative to support artists facing dire financial circumstances due to COVID-19. Prior to joining USA, Lu was Deputy Director of The Contemporary, a nomadic, non-collecting art museum in Baltimore, Maryland, where she provided strategic and operational oversight, and led resource initiatives for local artists. As an artist, Lu creates projects that take various forms—including books, drawings, installations, interventions, and an institute. She has collaborated with Press Press to produce publications and The George Peabody Library to launch a studio residency program. Lu is the founder of the Institute for Expanded Research which activates sites and leverages resources to produce and present projects in collaboration with artists. Lu received her MFA from the Frank Mohr Institute in the Netherlands and her BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. https://www.abladeofgrass.org/ [https://www.abladeofgrass.org/] @zhanglux @abladeofgrassorg RESOURCES Paper Monument, "As Radical, As Mother, As Salad, As Shelter: What Should Art Institutions Do Now?"  [https://shop.nplusonemag.com/products/as-radical-as-mother-as-salad-as-shelter-what-should-art-institutions-do-now?srsltid=AfmBOorkfrvA2N76rNlJ1PKuIj062y3kg9ZT2OorK-6s2oR_uAvznvGH] I Want to Be With You Everywhere [https://hyperallergic.com/499651/i-wanna-be-with-you-everywhere-performance-space-new-york/] Performance Festival by and for Disabled Artists Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process [https://lizlerman.com/critical-response-process/] /// Are you an artist in need of legal support? Are you a mission-driven organization in need of consulting or capacity-building? Reach out to Movement Law, Hope Mohr's client-driven law practice, dedicated to helping artists, arts organizations, and mission-driven organizations build power and navigate change. Schedule your free 30 minute consultation today at ⁠https://www.movementlaw.net/ [https://www.movementlaw.net/]