photo by Ian Douglas
photo by Tony Turner
photo by Tony Turner
photo by Tony Turner
photo by Ian Douglas
photo by Tony Turner
sitting on a man’s head
2018
sitting on a man’s head is a come and go engagement practice with collaborative aspects that expands on the research of the disruptive protests by southeastern Nigerian women. These women, who actively built community protests in a struggle for civil rights, were later known for the actions leading up to the Women’s War of 1929. The experience intends to form movement and physical extensions of the research conducted by Born and Okpokwasili through gestural expressions and improvisational vocalizations with the artists and local artist collaborators. This activation magnifies previous works while aiming to procure collective bonds and shared dialogue with the community, constructing spiritual and physical room to transform collective protest into song.
How close can we be to strangers and how much time is needed in that closeness, for the boundaries between bodies to become blurred? My concerns are with the movement of people towards each other, my work is always concerned with proximity and a durational practice of sustaining a particular proximity, challenging the borders we hold around ourselves and between each other. How do we undo the dehumanizing language that accompanies the other? This is thinking vocally.
created and conceived by Okwui Okpokwasili and Peter Born
with environment and sound score by Peter Born
at Danspace in New York, in collaboration with:
Martita Abril, Peter Born, Jennifer Brogle, mayfield brooks, Leslie Cuyjet, André Daughtry, Eisa Davis, Brittany Engel-Adams, Lily Gold, Naja Gordon, Melanie Greene, Audrey Hailes, Remi Harris, Jasmine Hearn, Justin Hicks, Shayla-Vie Jenkins, Chaesong Kim, Tendayi Kuumba, Breyanna Maples, Priscilla Marrero, Anais Maviel, Okwui Okpokwasili, Maya Orchin, Kay Ottinger, jess pretty, Greg Purnell, Hans Rasch, Katrina Reid, Jean Carla Rodea, Lily Bo Shapiro, Samita Sinha, Eleanor Smith, Tatyana Tenenbaum, David Thomson, Pyeng Threadgill, Asiya Wadud, Charmaine Warren, AJ Wilmore, Anna Witenberg, and Nehemoyia Young
at KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, in collaboration with:
Adrian Blount, Alexander Carillo, Andre Neely, Birte Opitz ,Danilo Andrés Dessa Ganda, Diana Thielen, Elvina Pinto Jenny Ocampo, Josephine Brinkmann, Josephine Findeisen, Khadidiatou Bangoura, Kyle Patrick, Lena Bagutti, Malika Alaoui,Manuel Meza, Martha Hincapié Charry, Maya Gomez, Michelle Moura, Natascha Roy, Noa Mamrud, Rebecca Korang, Riako Napitupulu, Risa Kojima, Sarah Bouars, Wieland Möller, Yaron Maim, Yin Cheng, Yuri Shimaoka, Zwoisy Mears Clarke
at Project Row Houses in Houston, in collaboration with:
Stacey Allen, Anthony Almendarez, Regina Agu, Emily Ayer, Ilyas Brown, Antonius Bui, Omar Calvin, Christina Carter, Anita Cook, Lovie Davis, Andrew DiMateo, Megan Easely, Chanelle Nicole Frazier, Nick Gaitan, Christie Gorman, Laura Gutierrez, Josh Hadnot, Happy, Nia Imani, Alicia “Jadefly” Jackson, Abijan Johnson, Janae Johnson, Secunda Joseph, Leo Lina, Ayanna McCloud, Laura Napier, Jaison Oliver, Rachel Orosco, John Pluecker, Preetika Rajgariah, S. Rodriguez, Ivette Román-Roberto, José Eduardo Sánchez, Carrie Marie Schneider, Megan Sparks, Elisabeth Commanday Swim, Misha Tyspin, Alexandra Venzke, Julia Claire Wallace, McKenzie Watson, Jailyn Genyse Williams
production management by Michaelangelo DeSario
crew: Joe Silovsky, Sarou Armstrong, Daniel Zettner, David Rice, Kevin Scott Kerin
seamstress: Keely Snook
managing producer: Jen Brogle
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KW Institute for Contemporary Art, 10th Berlin Biennale, June 2018
Project Row Houses, Houston, April 2019
Danspace Project PLATFORM 2020, February 2020