Jaamil Olawale Kosoko during one of their many residencies at EMPAC working on the Chameleon project. Courtesy the artist.
Chameleon (The Living Installments)
Dear Viewers,
I hope this finds you in good health and spirits during these tumultuous times. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to share this reimagined proposal for my new project Chameleon (The Living Installments). I consider this an invitation into a new virtual space, a studio where I will continue to work and dream and play and hold future gatherings. This is simply the beginning. You are welcome to stop by anytime.
There are multiple access points to the project to accommodate your level of interaction.
I look forward to spending time with you in The Living Installments.
—Jaamil Olawale Kosoko
A co-production by The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) and New York Live Arts.
Jaamil Olawale Kosoko and a team of collaborators including Everett-Asis Saunders, Nile Harris, and mayfield brooks present a series of remote events on Earth Day, April 22, 2020.
Chameleon is a multimedia live artwork that explores the ever-evolving ways in which digitality intersects the fugitive realities and shapeshifting demands that Black queer people employ to survive and heal within the contemporary moment. Kosoko and collaborators seek to locate space for healing both online and off. They will host a series of events that aim to hold grief while also centering themes of liveness, beauty, humor, care, and joy.
This one day of public engagement will be a series of live streamed remote events on YouTube Live. Audience members interested in an interactive experience can join Kosoko and collaborators in Discord , which will offer a shared online space for performers and audience to collectively be together.
BERLIN, GERMANY ..... TANZ IM AUGUST ..... AUGUST 23, 2020
PORTLAND AND PHILADELPHIA ..... FRINGEARTS AND PICA ..... SEPTEMBER 9–30, 2020
Main Image: Jaamil Olawale Kosoko during one of their many residencies at EMPAC working on the Chameleon project. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Sara Griffith/EMPAC.
Chameleon: A Syllabus for Survival
Web accessibility at Rensselaer / EMPAC statement of venue accessibility, inclusivity, and commitment to diversity.
Dates + Tickets
EARTH DAY!
EMPAC Spring 2020
Season
Chameleon: The Living Installments is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by EMPAC / Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY; the New York Live Arts Live Feed Residency program; and the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, in partnership with Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA), Tanz im August/HAU Hebbel am Ufer, and NPN. New York Live Arts’ Live Feed Residency program is made possible with additional support from the Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation for the Arts, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council with special thanks to Council Member Corey Johnson, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, the Jerome Robbins Foundation, the Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, the Scherman Foundation, and the Shubert Foundation. Chameleon is also made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Additional development support for Chameleon was made possible, in part, with commissioning support from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, through the Movement Research Artist-in-Residence Program, as well as the Bates Dance Festival, Gibney DiP, pOndersoa, D.O.C.H., Within Practice (Stockholm), the Centre for the Less Good Idea (Johannesburg, South Africa), PassaPorta International House of Literature (Brussels), Studio 303 (Montreal), the National Center for Choreography (Akron, OH), and Red Bull Arts Detroit.
Former iterations of Chameleon: A Biomythography held various titles including Chameleon (The Troy Installments) and the hold. The full commission will be premiered at an alternate time and date.
EMPAC Spring 2020 presentations, residencies, and commissions are made possible by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts; and Vlaamse Gemeenschap, department of Culture, Youth, and Media.