This roundtable brings together local artists, curators, and academics whose research bridge performance art, architecture, and the urban environment. Their ten to fifteen minute presentations will be followed by an open discussion. QUESTION: What is the place of performance, as a “live”, sometimes interactive and interventionist, medium in (and out) of architecture? How do performance theories and performance practices shape, change, and/or affect space, place, and architecture in urban, suburban, rural, and natural contexts?
The City in Between features Performances by Didier Morelli that focus on the intersections between the urban environment and Chicago’s architectural history. Through various architectural constructs, Morelli looks to shift habitual functionalist relationships and spatial-identities through ordinary human gestures. These performances will transform, challenge, and question the spatial poetics of both interior and exterior spaces. The artist will unpack and examine notions of how performance (art) and public space intercept and collide in contemporary and historical discourse and practice. Morelli’s PHD subject at Northwestern University, in the department of Performance Studies, examines performance artists in dialogue with built environments. Morelli wishes to explore Chicago’s unique architectural history as a site of performative action.
Biographies of Speakers/Presenters:
Didier Morelli
As an interdisciplinary artist, Didier Morelli combines his performance practice with academic research. In 2013 he had a solo exhibition at Katharine Mulherin Gallery (Toronto, Canada). He participated in the 2012 edition of the Scotiabank Toronto Nuit Blanche at Whippersnapper Gallery, as well as the 2014 edition of the Performance Arcade (Wellington, New Zealand). Based in Chicago, he is currently a PhD candidate in Performance Studies at Northwestern University. Please visit www.didiermorelli.com
Alexandria Eregbu is a visual artist and disciplinary deviant. Her practice has often taken shape in the form of performer, curator, educator, and programmer. Eregbu’s concerns frequently address performativity, visibility, trauma, resistance, locality, and mobility. Her work tends to insert itself at the axis of personal experience and myth— usually reliant upon the collection of artifacts, popular culture, and an attentiveness to current and historical events. Eregbu has been featured in a wide spectrum of exhibitions including the Arts Incubator in Washington Park, Hyde Park Art Center, Woman Made Gallery, Nightingale Cinema, Roots + Culture Contemporary Art Center, and The Franklin Outdoor in Chicago, IL; Milwaukee Art Museum in Milwaukee, WI; Distillery Gallery in Boston, MA; and Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, NY. She was a recipient of the Propeller Fund Grant (2013) and the DCASE IAP Grant (2015); Resident Curator with HATCH Projects (2013-14), and a Public Studio Artist in Residence at the Chicago Cultural Center (2015). Eregbu received her BFA from the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago. She recently co-curated, The Annual: An Exhibition of New Chicago Art at Chicago Artists Coalition; was highlighted in Newcity’s Breakout Artists: Chicago’s Next Generation of Image Makers (2015)— and is a current Resident Artist and Curatorial Fellow with ACRE this year.
Faye Raquel Gleisser is currently the Marjorie Susman Curatorial Fellow at the Museum of Contemporary Art and an advanced PhD candidate in Art History at Northwestern University. Her research focuses on contemporary art and its intersection with embodied histories of militancy, the construction of race, and campaigns for safety in visual culture. Her essays on modern and contemporary art have appeared in Theorizing Visual Studies(Routledge Press 2013), Artforum, and ArtVoices.
Carron Little is an interdisciplinary artist working in performance, drawing and installation. She creates interactive performances in public space to create transformative experiences for viewers and participants to feel liberated and empowered. Little received a first class honors degree from Goldsmiths College, London UK in 1996 and her MFA from The School of the Art Institute in 1999. She worked with the Art Not War Collective and the Red Velvet Curtain Club in London prior to moving to Chicago in 2009. In 2011, Carron co-founded a public performance series, Out of Site Chicago, facilitating more than 60 public performances across Chicago to date. In 2014 she was artist in residence for Ragdale for one month and a six month artist in residence for Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Carron has exhibited around the U.S, U.K., Germany, and Morocco and exhibited most recently at the Chicago Cultural Center, Hyde Park Art Center, 6018North, Open House Chicago, Slow Gallery, Defibrillator’s Air Pocket Project, and 2nd Floor Rear. She teaches in Performance and Contemporary Practices at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Defibrillator Gallery is partially supported by grants from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The Illinois Arts Council Agency, and an Anonymous Donor.
