Contemporary Performance and the Social Self

• In Event: Invited Session - Marginal Bodies, Marginal Subjectivities: The Body as Medium in Contemporary Latin American and Latino Art

Abstract

This presentation addresses the work of three New York-based Latino artists and their varying approaches to performance. Papo Colo's insterest in and committment to avant-garde theater is balanced by his exploration of the limits of the body and its ability to act as a vessel as well as to represent complex exlorations of nationhood, citizenship and the legacies of the "post" colonial era. Ivan Monforte's performance works combine references to traditional aspects of Mexican culture with explorations of the depth of human emotions and restrictive social norms. Melissa Calderón's performances address her relationship to family structures and to the power of language as a measure of authenticity or belonging. All three artists consider the relationship between self and other, body and gesture, to explore social interpretations of the body.

Author

• Rocio Aranda-Alvarado, El Museo del Barrio