FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 1, 2008

CONTACT:

Gigi Otalvaro-Hormillosa
aeromestiza@sbcglobal.net

 The National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC) has selected Gigi Otalvaro-Hormillosa to receive a grant for the 2007-2008 cycle of the  NALAC Fund for the Arts (NFA). This award supports the final phase of “Dimension of IS: A Spectacular Future,” created in collaboration with Heather Cox Carducci.

The final phase of “Dimension of IS” will entail the completion of the video portion of the piece which was initially presented as an interactive video / performance, and which incorporates performance, science fiction, sound design, and video.  “Dimension of IS” is inspired by the history of world’s fairs which many have interpreted as being explicitly racist in their display of non-Western people as specimens.

“We are happy to support Gigi Otalvaro-Hormillosa through an NFA award and look forward to strengthening our support of the Latino arts community in San Francisco. The NALAC Fund for the Arts successfully completed its third year funding cycle and will launch its fourth year effort in 2008. We are excited about the diverse group of supporters that have invested in the NFA to support the Latino arts sector. We will continue to grow the circle of stakeholders who are supporting Latino creative expression,” states Maria De Leon, Executive Director of NALAC.

Funding for this grant award of the NALAC Fund for the Arts is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Ford Foundation, the JPMorgan Chase Foundation and Southwest Airlines. NALAC is also proud to welcome new NFA partners the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Heineken USA. For more information on the NALAC Fund for the Arts, please visit www.nalac.org

Through the NALAC Fund for the Arts, NALAC has provided 128 grants totaling more than $379,000 to Latino artists, ensembles and small and mid-size Latino arts and culture organizations throughout the U.S.

Abel López, Chair of the NALAC Board said, “NALAC’s support of Latino artists and organizations ensures that the nation’s cultural life is enriched and made vital through the diverse artistic and cultural expressions of our artists. We are pleased to support the creative process of Latino artists and organizations across the country that engage communities, stimulate ideas and local economies, and build audiences for all of the nation’s arts.”

The first phase of “Dimension of IS” was funded by the Astraea Foundation, the Horizons Foundation, the San Francisco Art Commission, the Zellerbach Family Fund, and individual donors.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT DIMENSION OF IS

(a)eromestiza (the arts organization for which Devil Bunny acts as Artistic Director) presented the video of “Dimension of IS” at the 6th Annual Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute on Performance and Politics (Body Politics in the Americas: Formations of Race, Class and Gender) that took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina last June at the Centro Cultural Recoleta.  In addition, Devil Bunny and co-creator, Heather Cox-Carducci, spoke on a round table discussion entitled “Utopic Bodies,” along with other performance artists and academics from the U.S. and Latin America.

 

In 2006, Devil Bunny and Heather premiered “Dimension of IS: A Spectacular Future” as part of their residency at the Lab, in San Francisco.  Presented by (a)eromestiza and SpaceSuperStar, “Dimension of IS” is a hybrid live performance that incorporates science fiction, sound, video, and installations to create an expansive world in which the artists speculate about the (d)evolution of America’s role as a “super” power beyond earth.  The piece educates the public about the history of America’s global domination, starting with the Filipino-American War at the turn of the 20th Century and the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair.  At this Fair, 1200 so-called Filipino “savages” along with many other ethnic “specimens” and gender ambiguities were displayed to the American public to garner support for the war, which propelled America into its new role as an imperial power.  “Dimension of IS” also provides a critical perspective about America’s Military Industrial Complex by questioning its role in outer space and revealing the Nazi origins of NASA’s “Masters of Space Program.” The piece meshes past, present and future to illustrate the commonalities of histories of oppression in an effort to unite communities with an enlightened and revolutionary vision for the future.  Go to the Performance and Curatorial link to view video clips and additional information about the performance.

 

Heather and Devil Bunny collaborated with artists Elise Baldwin, and Eliza Barrios to create this historical and science fiction based work in progress.  Elise Baldwin has been active in the Bay Area experimental music scene as a sound designer, recording engineer and composer for theater, film, live performance, and audio installations.  Eliza Barrios is one of the founders of the Mail Order Brides (MOB), whose work ranges from performance, to installation, and video/film.  Heather is a designer and performer who is currently establishing SpaceSuperStar, a company that creates art and clothing for individuals and their journeys.  Other collaborators include Valentin Aguirre, Alan Chun, emael, Gary Gregerson, Kendall Li, Al Lujan, Tony Otalvaro, S. Trotter, Jenifer K. Wofford, Marilyn Yu, and Soo Yuan.

 

(a)eromestiza’s funders for this project included: San Francisco Art Commission, Horizons Foundation, Astraea Foundation, Zellerbach Family Fund, and individual donors.  Founded in 2001 by Devil Bunny, (a)eromestiza creates dynamic live performances that incorporate complex sound, movement and video components.  Devil Bunny is currently seeking funds to complete the final phase of the project so that the work can exist as a video in its final form.

 

In June of 2006, Devil Bunny performed an excerpt from the past/present segment of “Dimension of IS” at “The Next Big Bang Conference,” at the Aratani/Japan America Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles.  She was also a featured panelist on the “Dynamism of Aesthetics in Asian American Theatre” panel, along with Alice Tuan, Mia Katigbak, and Esther Lee.  From August through October of 2006, the video of the future segment of “Dimension of IS” was exhibited at MACLA in San Jose, as part of their “Frontera Electronica” exhibit.  In September of 2006, (a)eromestiza performed at Kearny Street Workshop’s APAture Festival, as the featured artist group in the category of performance. 

 

In July of 2007, Devil Bunny and Heather participated in “The Last American Icon: Under House Arrest,” a week-long performance installation by San Francisco-based artist, emael.  As part of emael's retrospective, Devil Bunny and Heather appeared as the “elders” from the Dimension of IS to visit with the artist, who was also an elder from the Dimension of IS in a previous incarnation.  They sat and vibed with each other, engaged in minor calisthenics, and joined in communicine - a remnant ritual from MUVE, another previous work in which emael so beautifully collaborated with (a)eromestiza and SpaceSuperStar.

 

From November of 2006 through 2008, the video of the future of segment of “Dimension of IS” will be on exhibit in venues throughout Argentina, as part of a traveling exhibit entitled “Subjected Culture: Interruptions and Resistances on Femaleness.”  See venues and dates in calendar of events below.