Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Arranging Tangerines Episode 46 - A Conversation with Dakota Gearhart
21 Plays10 days ago
In this episode, we talk with New York–based visual artist Dakota Gearhart about her four-part animated video series Life Touching Life, currently featured in the Projected Ecologies program within the exhibition Pulsar at MUCA in Mexico City. We discuss the show’s algae femme host Tiffany—part toxic bloom, part human—who travels through time to interview scientists, poets, and caretakers about reimagining relationships between human and non-human life. Dakota shares how humor, multiplicity, and collaboration shape the series, blending found footage, analog techniques, and diverse animation styles into speculative, eco-futurist narratives. We also dive into her sculptural practice, the challenges of large-scale installation, the translation of Life Touching Life into multiple languages, and her upcoming public art commission for Flushing Meadows Park. Plus, we hear about the zine that brings the series off-screen and into readers’ hands.
Dakota Gearhart is a New York-based visual artist born in Arizona, raised in Florida, and educated in the Pacific Northwest. Her work has been exhibited, screened, and presented at the New Museum, Bronx Museum, Queens Museum, St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts, Tacoma Art Museum, Oregon Contemporary Art Center, Northwest Film Forum, and International House of Japan, among others.
https://www.dakotagearhart.com/
https://newinc.metalabel.com/life-touching-life
https://www.instagram.com/_dakotagearhart/
https://muca.unam.mx/pulsar.html
https://www.lydianstater.co/projected-ecologies
https://www.elisagutierrezeriksen.com/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'Arranging Tangerines'
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to Arranging Tangerines, conversations with contemporary artists, curators, and thinkers about the intersection of art, technology, and commerce.
Meet the Hosts: Joseph Wilcox and Elisa Gutierrez-Eriksson
00:00:10
Speaker
Your hosts for this episode are me, Joseph Wilcox, and Elisa Gutierrez-Eriksson.
Guest Introduction: Dakota Gearheart
00:00:16
Speaker
Our guest this episode is Dakota Gearheart. Dakota is a New York based visual artist born in Arizona, raised in Florida and educated in the Pacific Northwest.
00:00:28
Speaker
Her work has been exhibited, screened and presented at the New Museum, Bronx Museum, Queens Museum, St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts, ta coma museum ah Tacoma Art Museum, Oregon Contemporary Art Center, Northwest Film Forum and International House of Japan among others.
Dakota's Exhibition in Mexico City
00:00:45
Speaker
Welcome to the show, Dakota. Thank you So wonderful to be here with you both. Thank you for having me. Yes, our co-host today is a Elisa Gutierrez Erickson. Elisa. Hey, everyone.
00:00:58
Speaker
How's it going? Hi, Elisa. um Yeah, it's really nice to be in the same virtual space together. um Dakota is currently in the exhibition at MUCA campus in Mexico City as part of the Projected Ecologies film ah collection, um which is part of Pulsar, which is a larger exhibition that Elisa curated.
00:01:22
Speaker
Yeah,
Exploring 'Life Touching Life'
00:01:23
Speaker
that's right. and and the And the first question we've kind of been asking people just to kick us off is, could you tell us a little bit about the work that's in the Projected Ecologies show?
00:01:36
Speaker
Of course, my pleasure. ah So, yes, the work that I have in the Pulsar program, exhibition ah is called Life Touching Life.
00:01:47
Speaker
And I'm lucky enough that all four episodes of this animated video series are in the exhibition, which is quite a treat. So this project is an experimental variety talk show ah that features a algae femme host who time travels or teleports to interview or collaborate with like scientists, scholars, poets, caretakers about how they are reimagining relationships with non-human and of course human life.
00:02:26
Speaker
So the series is kind of heavy in knowledge sharing, but also really playful and incorporates fiction and nonfiction.
Exhibition Setup and Collaboration
00:02:36
Speaker
And it's just kind of a way to collectively dream together about less oppressive futures in the era of climate change.
00:02:47
Speaker
Yeah, and you said it was a treat to be able to show all four of them together. I almost interrupted and was like yes, and for the audience, it's a treat to be able to watch watch all four of them together. um Because, i mean they you know, obviously they function as episodes because they are, but it's really, it's cool to see them um kind of like one after another ah because they they like talk to each other a little bit as well, I think, in terms of the episodes, um which I'm sure we'll like, you know, get into. but um but ah But yeah.
00:03:16
Speaker
That's true. And I recently was in Mexico City and got to see the show for the first time after it having it be up, I don't know, for a couple of months. i went like I went last weekend.
00:03:29
Speaker
And I mean, it's funny going to see a show that you've seen documentation of so much. I mean, like not even one that you've done yourself, but but especially like one of your own shows.
Experiencing the Exhibition: Dakota's Perspective
00:03:39
Speaker
ah And so it was really cool to like walk into a space that I've like, I've i've like,
00:03:46
Speaker
put together and seen so many times um and like feel what it felt like to like be in in the exhibition and in especially like the video portion, which was like really, it was just like a really cool organic way that that project came together between me and a Elisa.
00:04:02
Speaker
um And so to like see it in person in that space was really, really ah rewarding. and So I don't know, you also recently, well, or or somewhat recently got to see the show, yeah?
00:04:13
Speaker
I like to think of it as recently, even though it was like June 12th. Right. That's recent. but its no Yeah. and ge In geological time, that's recent. Yeah. That's right.
00:04:25
Speaker
It was such a wonderful visit to be able to see the show in person. And of course, like the installations and all of the programming around the exhibition.
00:04:35
Speaker
but then right to see the videos and the way that they were set up. And it just felt super intentional and careful and, I'm so curious. Can you, you know, i know that we're going to talk about life touching life, but i if you don't mind, I would just love to hear how you decided to set up those videos like that and like how you made those amazing watching stations.
00:05:01
Speaker
are they What do you call them? Like, what do you call them? They're so beautiful. And, um, I was just elated. And also like, like share i went with a group of friends who were in life touching life well you know they're my friends and collaborators and some of them are in the series right so they and then one of them is living in mexico city and so we all got to go and see the work and they were just thrilled right it was don't know it's just such a it's such a great show
00:05:35
Speaker
Well, I'll let Elisa field the question about the ah the viewing stations because she was on the ground doing it. I was just like in a WhatsApp chat
Creativity and Collaboration in 'Life Touching Life'
00:05:42
Speaker
with her and she was sending me pictures. WhatsApp counts. WhatsApp counts. Well, I think it was a process. I mean, we were talking about it and when we started thinking about the videos and how were how they were going to be part of the exhibition,
00:05:55
Speaker
I feel like it was through conversations that we decided, because initially it was just going to be like an auditorium program, like something that we were going to be projecting in the auditorium, which we're still doing. um But then we kind of like thought of like this amazing series of videos that we had and like how it was a bummer for anyone who would go and just like not be able to like see them all, which you can't see them all, right? Like you can't see it and watch them all. It's impossible to do that in one sense. Yeah. But we also thought about like ah this being a university space where students are like there all the time and as a space that you would go see not only one time, but you can come back to. So I feel like in that sense, the idea of like having the the video pieces in the museum space and not only in the auditorium was like an important one.
00:06:42
Speaker
And then through different conversations with the people working at the museum, ah someone kind of like evoked one installation of Nam-Yoon Pai with like multiple screens.
00:06:54
Speaker
And then this image of just like having a ton of screens in the space, not only in the walls kind of like came to my mind. And so from then on, I started working on some like sketches that we would go like back and forth with Joseph and with Marcos Castro, which is another collaborator in this project.
00:07:11
Speaker
um and then these designs were taken by students uh from the um industrial design career at the university and they designed the stations so it was kind of like a first idea and then the students designed the stations that we finally like checked on and that was what was produced so that was kind of like how it how it happened but um a friend of mine was recently there also and she was explaining and and Like her experience as she was saying that she felt like he was like a sea of monitors, which I love that she thought of it as a sea and just like all this like different worlds that happen that you can just like get into. And so, yeah, that's that's kind of like how the whole installation came about.
00:07:55
Speaker
Yeah, and to just like give props to collaboration. yeah we were We were planning on doing this like theater screening, which is awesome. And then Marcos was like, why don't we have them be installed in the show?
00:08:08
Speaker
And like in my mind, I thought that like wasn't necessarily a possibility because we like hadn't asked yet. And like as soon as it was out there, it was almost like it was guaranteed to happen once that idea was kind of like put out there.
00:08:19
Speaker
um and And I don't know if that would have happened ah otherwise, if if we wouldn't have brought in.
The Role of Humor in Art
00:08:24
Speaker
yeah uh marcos and extra people to kind of like talk about and think about yeah the exhibition naie yeah wow um love it yeah was a cool process and i'm not i'm like bad at collaborating so like it's really nice to have good collaboration experiences not i'm not bad at it i just like it takes a little extra work sometimes i'm sure that you know um yeah i know what you're saying yeah but but usually the result is is uh obviously different but sometimes better um I just want to say really quickly about Joseph is one of the best collaborators that I've ever had, honestly. he So you don't get to say that you're a bad collaborator. but but I guess I like I like ah I avoid it sometimes. i think ah Yeah, that's how you know you're a good collaborator. and but You know, because you you like you. It sounds like you choose or like you, you know, this has to have meaning or like this is going to be a process of, you know, it's
Challenges in Collaborative Projects
00:09:15
Speaker
relationality. It's intimate. You work through stress with people.
00:09:19
Speaker
it's hard. yeah So maybe this means that, you know, you kind of choose the path. Yeah. yeah So I do go. I have a
00:09:32
Speaker
question. Yeah. but yeah Okay. Yeah. ah Well, I mean, I, I have, but since we're talking about collaboration, cause that was kind of yeah first question, unless, unless that was probably your first question too, Alisa. Yeah. Um,
00:09:47
Speaker
But, but it was like, if you could talk about that, uh, in terms of like the process of making yeah episodes and, and kind of like, I'm interested in kind of like the construction of them. Like, do they happen linearly or does it kind of like happen like a puzzle? And then like, how much are your kind of like collaborators, especially like the, the interviewees, um,
00:10:06
Speaker
how much are they kind of involved in the, in the whole video process or like their little segment?
Directing Creative Projects
00:10:11
Speaker
Um, yeah, I don't know. it's It's like a big question, but like, how does the collaboration happen or or does it happen differently depending on the collaborators, et cetera?
00:10:21
Speaker
Great. Yeah. And I just, um, yes, I'm here for collaboration. i think it's the way forward. you know, what so as far as collaboration and life touching life goes, me I mean, everyone is different, right?
00:10:37
Speaker
This is, so it's very web like, uh, so usually it's organic, especially for the featured contributors, the people that kind of share a longer, you know, four to five minutes, uh, vignette about their work and about their process.
00:10:52
Speaker
Um, that's a much more intensive collaboration, but honestly, they I usually kind of invite them. And then i offer a so small commission.
00:11:07
Speaker
um And that's kind of a creative collaboration that, that, you know, I do have some director kind of influence on right and I credit myself as the director. So I can kind of ask them to, to go a certain way, like the series,
00:11:27
Speaker
is focused on ecology mostly right so i mean there is some you know collaboration it's a conversation and and so we talk about what you know because people are multifaceted we talk about kind of what part of the work they want to highlight um and then they come back to me a few weeks later with like the project or like the essay or or the topic and we work i mean but honestly it's different every time you know sometimes it doesn't work like that um when i worked with anisha apagandari the software engineer um she didn't really want to talk like you're right like i'm talking right now she didn't want to talk on camera it just wasn't her preference so she decided to write something and then i kind of helped her
00:12:19
Speaker
like sculpt some of the
Collaborative Examples and Approaches
00:12:21
Speaker
writing or kind of edited it. Right. And then she ended up actually being in like her, her face, her likeness, uh, she wanted to perform inside of the video.
00:12:33
Speaker
So that was a really fun collaboration where that kind of came away from kind of academic speaking or like, you know, like the logic of the voiceover.
00:12:45
Speaker
and moved into kind of like, oh, the collaborator is going to perform in front of the camera to express themselves. um That was the one specifically that, that like I had additional questions about, like if, if you had asked that collaborator to be in the video or if they wanted to. So it's nice to kind of like hear a little bit of the backstory of that one and, and about the writing in that one, it felt, um,
00:13:10
Speaker
like they all are educational, right? They all are like educational in their own way. But that one I was like, oh, I could like show this to my students and it would like teach them about this topic, ah yeah about the about the algorithm or or whatever. And they would be able to kind of like, ah kind of like more traditionally learn from that that kind of like monologue, but it also wasn't total academic speak, right? And so I could, I just, that was nice to hear about that kind of like process on that one.
00:13:39
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That one was, ah you know, sound so they're all very dear to me. Um, but that one was sort of especially interesting, especially because it came out before chat GBT. And so now it's, you know, it's this sort of, we can talk all about that for like hours, but thinking more about collaboration, some of the harder ones, some of the more difficult collaborations, let's talk about that. Right. Um, are when it grows from like,
00:14:08
Speaker
three people to like five people, you know, I don't know how it was in your process, you know, cause, but I found that sometimes when the collaboration got bigger, it was like, and especially when, um, some of the collaborators like don't know each other or or there's like a lot of diversity, meaning like different age, different ages. So one of the collaborations I did was, um,
00:14:34
Speaker
was with like ah somebody who was a longtime scholar, Philip Thurdle, who's published many books. And then I worked with a student of mine who I commissioned to animate his sequence.
00:14:49
Speaker
So it's really interesting to see kind of like some of like the generational differences on the concept in the work.
00:15:00
Speaker
It was just fascinating, right? Like, you know for example, Like the concept is talking about grief. It's talking, the concept is about, know, how do we, how do we move from decay? How do we live with decay? it was interesting because Sylvia Kuh animated a brilliant animator and they thought it'd be kind of interesting to put it in a, like, like use comedy. Mm-hmm.
00:15:30
Speaker
And I love comedy, but it was interesting, right? As a collaborator, as the director, I was like, no, this is like, this is like a serious kind of gravitas. Like this, this is an emotional load loaded. loaded Anyway. So ultimately as the director, I got to sort of put my say in and have my way. Right.
00:15:48
Speaker
But it was fascinating to kind of see that, ah it's like the, it's like the tone, right? Yeah. last like That's like why I mean, I think that's why directors exist, right. Is because, ah collaborators and crews get so big that there has to, there has to kind of be someone who can both like listen to everybody, but also to like make or guide like a final decision. Um, or else it can, I don't know, maybe it falls apart, right. If there isn't kind of like a spearhead or something.
00:16:23
Speaker
It's harder, you know? Yeah. Or or it's more work, right? Like, I don't know, you could do a consensus model where you're constantly kind of like voting on every decision. But like, I don't, it's, it's challenging to get things completed.
00:16:38
Speaker
If you do that with every single aspect of a thing, right? Yeah. But I think it's interesting,
Character Development: Tiffany
00:16:44
Speaker
because this zone that you're talking about, where there's like a little bit of comedy, but there's also all this like very serious subjects, I feel like it's something that permeates many of the episodes. And I feel like just like Even that introduction from the beginning, like having like these creatures, you know, like around all this like um technological waste and single-use plastic.
00:17:07
Speaker
and And they're like kind of like a little gross, but a little endearing, but a little, you know, like they have like this like really interesting tone, like you were saying, that I feel like it's like really effective when we're grappling with this contradictions in life and when we're trying to like understand what's going on where like things are equally terrible but also amazing you know like it or mean maybe in different settings but it's like we're like dealing with this to extremes all the time and I feel like using comedy and using like this like more light feeling it's like really important for you to deliver the way it does right yeah yeah totally agree yeah mm-hmm
00:17:53
Speaker
Humor is so powerful like that. You can really, you know, not to sound like so manipulative, but comedians are so fascinating. You can really deliver an idea into somebody's mind through a laugh in a way that like when you just like in a sentence or in writing, it just doesn't like we have all of these sort of kind of protection up, but humor is just so powerful. It can really kind of get in there.
00:18:18
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it's neither here nor there, but you know, the, one of the discussions on the internet, right, is that the the right is a little bit better at ah making meme jokes on the internet.
00:18:31
Speaker
And it's partially what kind of like helped propel, you know, Trump to his presidency in 2016. It was like a real, like humor was a real thing um that that some would argue they did better than the left or or continue to do better.
00:18:46
Speaker
um Although now it's just like, I mean, we don't have to get into it, but it's no, but it's true. Like it's like dystopian. um Yeah, it's true. Yeah, it's true. But yes, humor. Humor is very good at delivering ideas. I agree. While we're here. While we're here. Where is the left? Where are, where are they? Let's talk about it.
00:19:09
Speaker
but okay ah is boston in the in the room with you right now. ah i want to ask a question about Tiffany because I think it's such a wonderful character. And you made a little bit of a description at the beginning when you were i talking about it. But I want i want to know a little bit more about the creation of this character because you...
00:19:29
Speaker
embody Tiffany, right? Like you created this, um I guess, costume that becomes Tiffany, but it also exists in a digital form, you know, that there's like this animation that it's also Tiffany and it has had all this different, um you know, exits in public art. ah And so i'm I'm wondering if you could tell us more about the evolution of this character throughout your practice.
00:19:56
Speaker
Yeah. Thank you for the question. You know, that's one of the toughest and most personal ones. So like, I hope I do a good job. So, so yeah, just prefacing it with that because, um, you know, she's based on me, like be honest, uh, growing up in Florida around a lot of like seaside pollution and a lot of seaside beauty.
00:20:19
Speaker
you know, was kind of curious about this particular type
Performing as Tiffany
00:20:22
Speaker
of algae. It's like a toxic algae bloom. um that just covers so like the ponds and oceans and rivers and I just am obsessed with thinking about monsters and science fiction and thinking about these you know characters that have this kind of great um like these flawed characters these flawed kind of heroes that come from like mud or ah rubble
00:20:51
Speaker
And frankly, i just don't see enough of like women or non-binary or queer. I just don't see enough of that in those characters. And so not that I'm on some agenda, you know, ah for that, but it's just, you know, just coming from my own life experience. I wanted to make this kind of character, this really ultra femme, like hybrid futuristic character that was like made from like some algae and a person like a synthesis, like, you know, when we get to the future and you're already here where people can kind of body, um, modification and people can kind of start, uh, integrating plants and animals into their body. Yeah.
00:21:40
Speaker
Um, we're close, right? We're really close. We're not there already in a way, but this is just a more comical and kind of a more cartoonish way to do it. Um, But her whole thing is is that she is very curious and she's childlike, but she's...
00:21:58
Speaker
she um I'm still developing her as a character. like this was maybe this is kind of why it's difficult to talk about, but I recently did a performance of Tiffany live for the first time, which is kind of the ultimate goal of Life Touching Life. It's like, okay, how can we...
00:22:18
Speaker
how can we experience this live or how can more people contribute to this?
Evolving Personal Connections to Characters
00:22:23
Speaker
And in a way that's like off a screen. Um, but she, it was really fun. it was, it was really fun. And she reminds me of this cartoon show called ah the magic school bus.
00:22:40
Speaker
I don't know if you're familiar with it, but it's this, I think like eighties or nineties cartoon where it's, there's this lady called Mrs. Frizzle and she's an art teacher and she's able to get all of these kids on the school bus and take them inside of human bodies.
00:22:56
Speaker
And so there's this one famous episode where they go through this digestive tract of a person and they're all like shrunk. So in a way I see her as this kind of guide, i and you know, to share some of these more,
00:23:11
Speaker
difficult topics or just strange, or just strange topics with with people that maybe wouldn't be, you know, I'm really interested in accessibility as a first generation college graduate and just has, know, coming from a family or like that doesn't have a lot of access to to to um ideas.
00:23:36
Speaker
Like i I didn't grow up in i and and an intellectual community, none of that. So that was something I found later in life. And I think something i you know, see it gets really personal, you know, as a way to like heal and as a way to share um what I get to access now, i kind of created her as like, what would I gravitate towards to as a younger person or even today, you know, has however old I am, um older person.
00:24:08
Speaker
So yeah, I kind of created her as a guide or to to introduce people to strangeness and ideas that were hard to access um without without a guide.
00:24:22
Speaker
what um What was the performance like? like where Where was it? how did How did Tiffany interact with the space or people ah if there was
Art, Collaboration, and Accessibility
00:24:33
Speaker
people there? and Yeah. So I built an installation this wonderful place called so mad in Manhattan and it's a femme and queer space and they do lots of experimental art. So it was a ah perfect fit and they're very supportive of the project.
00:24:54
Speaker
So they, they suggested it actually. okay Sometimes collaboration, we need that. And so, and so I interviewed, um in costume, I interviewed Sabrina Imbler, who is a kind of a science memoir writer. um You would love them, by the way.
00:25:16
Speaker
like yeah I'll send you their work. But they're in an upcoming episode. And so i we they dressed up in this kind of like sea outfit. And I wore a costume and we created this kind of fiction that they had just dropped underwater and you know it was really calm it was really chill to be honest like it we just talked on stage in this installation and that was enough you know what um what a nice um i mean i i know it wasn't internet based or screen based but like i could imagine a version where a live tiffany interviews people uh
00:26:01
Speaker
and And that's like antithetical to the current kind of like people who do things on the internet, on TikTok or whatever. um Like what ah what a fun contrast that is in my mind to think about.
00:26:13
Speaker
You know, like the Man on the Street series, but it's like yeah Tiffany. um Anyways. You know, she's getting there. She's getting there. I mean, it's, you know, I'm kind of shy, like not not really, but I don't know. Have you ever thought about like who you are as a different character, like who is your drag persona, like, and then like build it out. Like, who is this, who is your avatar? It's so really, I recommend it It's a challenge.
00:26:44
Speaker
It's, it's like creatively fascinating. So I'm working, getting there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, this is a side this is a side question. And then I also have another comment, but did you watch the rehearsal, the TV series?
00:27:00
Speaker
ah You know how you like he like lets his characters be the version of themselves that they could be as like as like actors? um yeah And then it like and then it like allows them to do these like really challenging things that they would never be able to do because they are like get are given permission from a director.
00:27:16
Speaker
Yeah. Which which like you can do that to yourself, right? You can like it you can like give yourself a character and give yourself permission, yeah which I just think is like, uh, uh, could be like a really empowering, you know, like thought exercise slash like life exercise.
00:27:31
Speaker
Um, I also just, I, I found this note that I made when we were talking about humor that I didn't get to mention, or, or maybe irony is more what it is, but I was watching the videos on YouTube, uh, to kind of like rewatch them and prepare for this. Um, and I'm, you know, on YouTube, there's commercials that come up automatically. Right.
00:27:51
Speaker
Uh, and so Phoenix energy is the commercial that comes up. It's like this, like startup oil company in like the, like Northern States or something like that. And they're like talking about how many barrels per year they like produce. And I don't, I didn't even get to the end of it. Right. Cause you can skip, but I was like, Oh, I was like, wow, this like weird targeted ad based on whatever the content it is, is this video is like automatically bringing up this,
00:28:16
Speaker
ah I don't know, this commercial that is maybe antithetical to the content of the actual YouTube video, ah which is was just wild to me that that's like where that got placed by the algorithm.
00:28:29
Speaker
Thank you for sharing that. Yeah. Yeah. I've, you know, I've been, and I'm also. open if you both have any thoughts on being a media artist in the 21st century and how to release your art.
00:28:42
Speaker
and Well, you were talking about accessibility, right? And I and i think about accessibility a lot um because i i didn't not have access to it, but it wasn't um as as ah as a kid, but it wasn't necessarily easy or or kind of like given.
00:28:57
Speaker
And, you know, like putting your videos on the internet is wonderful.
Evolution of Lydian Stater
00:29:00
Speaker
People, a lot of video artists don't do that, right? They hold them... really close and hide them so that they can maybe sell them or or they have more value because you can only see them in gallery spaces ah or museums.
00:29:11
Speaker
but But also even even like on YouTube, right? ah Like accessibility is, one thing is being able to like put in the yeah URL and get there, but it also is like the path to get to the thing, right? The like like knowledge to know that a thing exists or like to have somebody kind of like guide you to a place.
00:29:31
Speaker
um is also accessibility. And I like sometimes think that the arts don't do enough of the of the guiding of the path thing, ah even when they kind of like have spaces and and those kinds of things that people can access for free.
00:29:49
Speaker
But but like money is only one type of access, right? There's like additional gatekeeping barriers that that keep people from... uh, from being able to access things.
00:30:00
Speaker
But mostly what I wanted to say is I think it's wonderful that you put your videos on the internet yeah for people to watch. Thank you. Cause I'm, you know, actually coming from a meeting earlier this morning about trying to understand where to put video and how to share video with people.
00:30:16
Speaker
Um, so yeah, it's really timely to chat with you both because, um, also love how you're putting work into the world. but if you want to share more about that, I'd be happy to hear more. I know that you both are like doing incredible projects.
00:30:33
Speaker
Um, but I don't, you know, if this is just about me, that's okay too, but it'd be great at some point to hear more about Lydian, uh, Lydian stater. Yeah. Yeah. And, and Pulsar and it's just a massive show, like how it all came together. It's just,
00:30:50
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, i'll I'll share a little about Lydian Stater because it's it's kind of new that a Elisa and I have been collaborating kind of more directly on the gallery stuff. But it's also been um the gallery slash what we call it now as a curatorial platform has really kind of evolved through collaboration and experimentation.
Sound and Ecological Conversations
00:31:08
Speaker
And we had we had a proper space for two years and we were showing artists and doing kind of like ah kind of like traditional white cube gallery shows, although I think the shows were a little more...
00:31:20
Speaker
um were a little more challenging than some of the the White Cube Gallery shows that are out there because we were trying to do some cool stuff. um But we moved out of the space and so now we're doing kind of like ah projects that I think like ah were either like led to organically or kind of like show up as like a good collaborative opportunity.
00:31:40
Speaker
um and And so this was one of those things where Elisa had already kind of like had this this show in the works um and then invited me to co-curate the video selection portion because we have done because we've done projects together and and exhibitions together before.
00:31:59
Speaker
and um yeah and it was such a nice don't know was such a nice way to kind of like uh put more work out into the world um as as you said and kind of like meet meet new people um and do and and do new experiences which
Podcast's Role in Artistic Collaboration
00:32:13
Speaker
i think is like for me is like what it's what it's all about but certainly yeah but yeah at least i don't know if you want to share more about About Pulsar.
00:32:23
Speaker
Well, I think that what I maybe want to share... Or your curatorial practice in general, ah because you're doing more than just, um you know... Yeah. More than just this show. that But I guess just connect, maybe just connect Pulsar with a larger project that I'm also developing, which is called Common Frequencies, which stems from a show that I did a few years ago.
00:32:42
Speaker
so this is kind of like a continuation of that and a project that sort of like falls into this ah larger umbrella, which also... um you know aims to be like a platform for um sound practices, ecological conversations, interspecies connections. and you know like um It is a bit of a you know like Everyone, we're all trying to push our projects, so and it can be a bit of a lonely um lonely path, but I think it's... yeah yeah it's like Going back to the collaborations, that's basically what allows for these projects to happen and to evolve.
00:33:18
Speaker
um So... So yeah, I don't want to get too much into like Polestar because I think I want to go back to the quota, but obviously we can talk about this at another time, drink coffee or something. Thank you. Yeah, of course. But also like the podcast, right? Yeah. This is like an extension that is kind of feels natural to us to have a conversation because it's like we want to talk about the things. And so to be able to like have exhibitions and do programming and then do stuff like this and put it out, it's all kind of like this...
Technical and Aesthetic Choices in 'Life Touching Life'
00:33:49
Speaker
this web of of, I mean, content for lack of a better word, but like ah ways ways of kind of like um letting the art and the artists ah speak in different ways, in different avenues, for sure.
00:34:02
Speaker
Yeah. Well, thanks for the the previews of your work. I'm excited to vote to you know to meet you and be connected and like get more involved or you know or just like even watch your projects grow. I'm excited about your work.
00:34:20
Speaker
Thank Thanks. um Do you have a specific question, Alisa? Because I have one for Dakota. Yeah, I have i have one. And maybe it's... Okay, you go. i've been i've been talking about it. No, it's good. It's a bit of a continuation and from what you were talking about before in terms of collaborations. But i wanted to hear a little bit more about your source materials for each episode. You know, like there's like the use of AI technologies, footage that you've created in more analog ways, which also connects a lot with your previous practice.
00:34:49
Speaker
um you know like through your through your website we can see a lot of different things that match a lot what's going on at live touching life which I love that there's like this like consistency and that you have such a such a clear um aesthetic narrative but also i feel like in this episode you're able to like open it up to other aesthetics and to other you know like types of um animations or etc So i'm I'm just wondering if you can tell us more about that um more technical aspect of materials and how things look.
00:35:25
Speaker
Yeah, what a beautiful question um because it ah allows me to talk about multiplicity. and Wow, yay, yay for multiplicity.
00:35:38
Speaker
We are ready. um I am... i we're so ready. The world is infinite and consciousness is infinite.
Multiplicity of Styles and Influences
00:35:45
Speaker
And, you know, to mirror it, so is imagery.
00:35:49
Speaker
And so it's content. It doesn't. So, um, yeah I know that's kind of like, kind of dirty or it doesn't feel right. But in this, in a lot of ways, I feel like people can't really own,
00:36:04
Speaker
just like people can't own sounds and words. I, in a lot of ways, I feel like people can't own images and I'm saying this as a concept. So like, please nobody exsue me for saying such a controversial thing.
00:36:18
Speaker
Um, but just as a concept, I'm kind of fascinated by found imagery. um i'm I'm fascinated by people, other people's, how they see the world and and how they perceive.
00:36:31
Speaker
art and animation and ideas. Everybody's so different. It's incredible. It's a gift. how Our differences are just so vast and interesting. so um So, yeah, so Life Touching Life wanted to you know wants to celebrate that.
00:36:46
Speaker
um Of course, it's my aesthetic because I'm making it. I'm driving the project. But I hope, you know, as the project continues that I'll have more support to to commission different animators to bring in their styles. And because that's when it really gets interesting when, when the, some of the styles can kind of skip around, at least for me, like it has that kind of maximalist, like, oh, now we look through the eyes of this person's style. And then we like shift and we look through the eyes with this person's, we see a documentary.
00:37:23
Speaker
um which I think mirrors a lot of the ways that we are looking at video and internet and it mimics for me, at least it mimics how i input um like media and storytelling. It's like, it's, it's like a collage based kind of perception, if you will.
00:37:47
Speaker
So um yeah, so I use a lot of found images, but I also make my own images. And, I don't 2D, merging of both, documentary, cinema, we love it all.
00:38:03
Speaker
Which I was going to say, it it feels i like even that that idea that um like the merging of styles or the blending of styles in ah in a packaged thing, I think has hit a lot of kind of like even mainstream television and movie production, right? Not you know not not like mainstream like ABC, NBC, but like you know, shows on Netflix and Hulu are are jumping around or they'll do a whole episode in like the style of. um And so it it seems like ah those walls are all kind of like breaking down slowly um for a lot of media that's out there in general.
00:38:38
Speaker
And so it makes sense to me ah that it shows up in your work that way. Yeah. And, you know, to push it further now to really get like strange,
00:38:49
Speaker
Um, to push it further, I'm, I like thinking about the collective consciousness or even the collective unconsciousness, like, you know, but just to keep it safe, the collective consciousness, like what we can, you know, agree that we are collectively making imagery together as a group of humans.
Collective Consciousness in Art and Media
00:39:06
Speaker
Um, I like to think that there's kind of a, um, it's kind of like language where we can learn different languages and we can see it with different images. And in this way, it's kind of like, without sounding super cheesy, but it is a form of unity. It is a form of experiencing what it's like to be a person.
00:39:31
Speaker
and Enough about that. Yeah. Well, like you use the word collective consciousness, right? people People, academics will use the word like zeitgeist to like make it sound ah more, more kind of like, ah like objective, like we're not a part of the production, right? Yeah. So I think, ah like, I don't think it's out there.
00:39:48
Speaker
ah Yeah. Yeah. um I think that i think that most i think most people, especially anybody who's kind of like familiar with art or media, um would agree that we are constantly ah riffing off of each other. and and And there's like these things that happen as a collective, not on purpose or on purpose, that that are our collective kind of like consciousness.
00:40:11
Speaker
um And I know I'm like referencing media production, but I think it happens, you know, with everything, right? Totally. Yeah. And if I may, just real quick, I just want to spotlight you both for helping me translate Life Touching Life into Spanish.
00:40:26
Speaker
And just like, thank you so much for doing that. It it means the world to me. I just, i I'm so grateful that you were able to do that. i don't know how you did it so quickly.
00:40:42
Speaker
you like i just i could say a lot more, but ultimately, it makes the project so much more rewarding. worth it and fulfilling when I, when it gets to be translated into different languages, it's only been translated and well, it's been translated into, Spanish and Japanese, which I'm so excited about. Um, so I just want to thank you for making that happen.
00:41:05
Speaker
You're very welcome. Yeah. yeah and but Mostly Alisa and then me and chat GPT, uh, doing the tech side of it. And your email um that you wrote to me, and I know this is like personal and I won't share too much, but just like your email when I, when I, you know, the for the listener, um part of the deal was like to sort of begin to translate the work into Spanish.
00:41:27
Speaker
And this hit during a week where I was just absolutely swamped with trying to perform Tiffany as a character. It happened like that week and I just couldn't. And so I had to write it.
00:41:38
Speaker
I had to you know say like, hey, I'm so sorry, I just can't do this. And could really use help. And I got this beautiful email um back from Elisa and Joseph about like how it's really important to ask for help when we need it and how no they could they could help me figure it out and and do it And it was just a stunning moment of of mutual care and mutual support.
00:42:06
Speaker
So thank you for... Supporting the work and also just being there for me. yeah Of course. Yeah. yeah and And like what a what a gift to to be able to give in general when you have like when you have the the bandwidth, if you have a skill set that somebody doesn't have where if if they're going to have to do it, it's going to take them.
00:42:28
Speaker
you know, 100 hours, for example, that it's going to take somebody else one hour. ah to be able to do that, I think is is um such a nice thing and like ah such a like good use of of um collective resources,
Cultural Perspectives in Global Art Shows
00:42:43
Speaker
right? If we're like thinking about, um you know, because we're also invested in your project too um and in that way.
00:42:51
Speaker
Yeah, super exciting to see it in Spanish, like in person and just thinking about how it got to be in Spanish. Yeah. I also wanted to say about like the comment before that, but I feel like it also ties to this, ah that I feel like also like this multiplicity of like styles and like different things that come together into one episode. It's also kind of like the acknowledgement of the possibility of like many worlds existing within one world, which I think it's like something very important. And that has like permeated many, many thoughts of like people that are,
00:43:25
Speaker
in the fight and in resistance at this moment and have been for many years. So I think that it is also about that, you know, like translating something is also allowing it to enter into a different world and like, and and within that, you know, like how it can like continue existing and and yeah, I think that's where it is, but yes. Beautiful.
00:43:48
Speaker
Yeah, and this collection of films, right, from from artists all over the world ah showing up in Mexico City, um you know, it isn't, like, directly being spoken about in the work or in the kind of, like, statement, but it's related that there are kind of, like, multiple languages and multiple geographies coming together and kind of and and multiple, like, genres, because the films are, you know, um there's ah there's a wide variety of kind of, like, styles and genres.
00:44:16
Speaker
that I think show up, that those themes show up of multiplicity show up and in more than just the life touching life films, they show up in a lot of them, which is really cool, which was cool to see and not like not something and I expected.
00:44:29
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was so exciting to just see like these big installations, um, that were to my knowledge, mostly Mexican artists. is all of them Right. Like all of them. Yeah. I just don't, you know I want to be not totally sure, but I'm pretty sure. And then all of the video artists were like international or kind of a global from all over the world.
00:44:53
Speaker
And it was just, I love that curation. especially to be there, like standing in Mexico City and, you know, connecting with the history of Mexico, which is massive and just, I
Interplay Between Sculpture and Video
00:45:06
Speaker
don't know. I just so appreciated that curation.
00:45:09
Speaker
Thank you. Yeah. um I had a question about ah sculpture um or maybe just like kind of a... Yeah, or or a general, like, i was wondering if you could talk a little bit about sculpture and video, which which are huge parts of your practice. And um i i often talk about and think about video as being, like, the most accessible media, ah partially because, like, it doesn't require space, and it's easily transferred
00:45:41
Speaker
across the world um in know in a way that any other tangible art is not that requires moving or shipping or money or or people or labor. um Whereas like sending an email with a file is is super easy.
00:45:55
Speaker
And so I don't i don't know if if that's been a part of your trajectory of your practice ah in terms of making video and kind of like making these first episodes of Life Touching Life being kind of exclusively on screen.
00:46:08
Speaker
um So I was just wondering if you could talk a little bit about that because your sop sculpture practice is fantastic as well. Thanks. Yeah. um And appreciate you picking that up. Yeah. Video. I mean, that's the one um wonderful thing about digital media is you can send it in an email.
00:46:24
Speaker
it's It's wild. You know, you can like just to send a file across the world and other people can watch it and yeah or anything. It doesn't have to be video. um But yeah, my,
00:46:37
Speaker
Sculpture. There's something, as you as you both know, i mean, especially thinking about pulsar, I mean, so many of the artists that work in installation are interested in immersion, right? What's it like to be inside of something or physically be part of something. And I think that's the sculpture is really powerful in that way.
00:46:57
Speaker
um And video can do it too, right? Because video is kind of like a dream where you're sort of psychologically inside of a space. But sculpture has this relationship with the body um that we just don't get that often.
00:47:15
Speaker
You know, I hate to say this, but it does seem like installation is kind of, it's really hard to fund and it's really hard to make. um It requires a team. Right? Like, I just want to put that out there. Like, a black lot right a lot of this amazing sculpture we see in the world, like, it requires a collaborative team to make this
Upcoming Public Art Project
00:47:35
Speaker
scalable. Or even not a collaborative team and just, like, kind of, like, paid workers that, like, follow directions, right?
00:47:40
Speaker
Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. all All of the different relationships are there. Yeah. But for me, um, what, you know, I live in New York, right. And there is this saying about artists.
00:47:54
Speaker
Once they move to New York, they become video artists.
00:47:58
Speaker
I've never heard that. That makes sense to me.
00:48:03
Speaker
and Um, but I've all, yeah so before I did video, I did sculpture, and photography and always been interested in that kind of relationship between the image and, um, the physical, the physical, object, physical material.
00:48:19
Speaker
Um, so I love, making installations and sculpture. i think when I make it with video, it really depends on, you know, life touching life. Like those are standalone kind of not short films, but they are kind of a, they are contained.
00:48:39
Speaker
And so when I do make sculpture with video, like if I make a contained video, like a, like a finished piece, then I would make like a set kind of moves into set design and I make something for the finished video.
00:48:54
Speaker
But often i'll also use video as kind of a material or like a projected light. Like a lot of artists, they do this, right? Where you can also use a moving image and light has another layer to put on sculpture.
00:49:10
Speaker
from It's really fun. and I'm happy to talk more about it, but I also feel like it's such an intuitive part of my practice, but sometimes it's hard to put words around it um Sure.
00:49:23
Speaker
Yeah. I hope to experience one of the installations one day. i don't know if you have things coming up. I mean, do have something coming up that I want to tell you about. actually I think this is a great time to do that.
00:49:37
Speaker
i'm I'm going to make a public art piece about life touching life. Okay. Yeah. yeah Yeah. I'm going to have to bug you and share it with you and get your, feedback. Cause it's my first like commissioned public art piece where I'm going to use some like, I'm not sure, but it's about insects. And so I'm going to make out, I'm going to make these um insect creatures.
00:50:01
Speaker
They're flat and they're image based and they're going to be like 10 feet. Sorry. I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm making a a public commission for Flushing Meadows park outside of the Queens museum.
00:50:14
Speaker
through Art in Parks um Artist Grant, which is a really cool initiative to fund public art within the park.
00:50:26
Speaker
So i'm going to do some sort of large-scale, like, photographic sculpture using some of the characters from Life Slushing Night. Awesome. Yeah.
00:50:38
Speaker
And this is like 20, like 20, 26 summer. we Actually, no, it's like November. November. wow Oh, cool. couple of months from now. Yeah. I haven't started.
00:50:49
Speaker
A couple of months. Sculpture is funny like that. So I'm working with the production team just to, you know, I think being in our, we're in the creative field. This is how it goes. So I'm, I'm making the design and I'm working with,
00:51:05
Speaker
um, a woman owns and ran production company that I adore here in Richwood Queens, um, to build this. Cool.
00:51:17
Speaker
Yeah. So I don't, I'm, I feel like as sculpture gets more complicated, it also, but yeah again, it just kind of requires different types of skills people.
Themes and Speculative Narratives
00:51:32
Speaker
Uh, we're, we're going to run out of time in like, in like five minutes, but I have two more things. So maybe we can get to both of them, but how many more things do you have? at least Only one.
00:51:43
Speaker
Uh, you, you go first. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Well, I was thinking that you all four episodes, you know, like presented now analyze this, uh, ideas that dialogue with the human perspective, right? Like from unconditional love, metabolic exchanges through AI fantasy.
00:52:01
Speaker
I'm just kind of like to going through all of it for also for our listeners, you know, like some speculative narrations of eco-sexual futures at Garden Spawn, conversations about life and death from the perspective of a black hole, you know, and the life of a body after death.
00:52:15
Speaker
um And these are all fascinating proposals. And I'm wondering if you could share some of your influences, both like artistic, personal, literary, you know, like what what is it that feeds all this information and all this work?
00:52:31
Speaker
Great. Thank you for asking that. Um, Terrence Nance, the, uh, filmmaker and director, um, who did random acts of violence for HBO.
00:52:42
Speaker
I don't know him, you know, but he had a really big influence when I saw that series because he jumps around from vignettes to vignettes, um, to put it in a nutshell, the series is about black life in America, but it's so, you know, it's expansive. It goes, it's very intersectional or or multiplicity is also very there. And so, but I just love that it was kind of like this meditative, critical, sort of surreal approach to, to sharing speculative and also like really like documentary,
00:53:22
Speaker
documentary points of view. So like real life examples, but just a mixed media perspective on a sprawling topic.
00:53:33
Speaker
So I love waking life by Richard Linklater. think it's like animation that kind of gets very, I don't know anything experimental animation.
00:53:45
Speaker
There's, there's more, but I should probably stop there. Cause I feel like those are, I think those are two great examples. yeah Yeah. My other question was um about the title Life Touching Life.
00:54:00
Speaker
i Because I have ideas about what it means or like how it how it means. um And I'm wondering what it means for you.
00:54:11
Speaker
you know, I love that ask and I love when people ask because it's one of those things that for me it's like so obvious. um It's like... it's so it's like like on on earth, right. We're one big ecosystem and like the, it's like the power of 10, like the further you get away or the closer you get, we start, you can start to feel and see and listen to how everything is just on top of each other and everything's living with each other and all of these different types of relationships. And so um ultimately I just felt like life touching life was a nice, you know, way to sum that up.
00:54:47
Speaker
and also through touch you know not looking at life not when you're just like touching it i love that yeah yeah you're right i like it too yeah um awesome my my last thing is a pitch for you um because i remembered that you have zines for sale that are fairly new right yeah uh and so i i meant to buy one and i forgot to so right before we like did this episode, I was like, I'm going to go get one. And it says very few left on the website.
00:55:16
Speaker
i
Future of 'Life Touching Life'
00:55:17
Speaker
know. So for anybody out there who's listening, there'll be a link in in the bio. If you want one of Dakota's zines that are are kind of like collected screenshots from the life-touching life touching life, their collages from the from the video series, it looks super cool.
00:55:33
Speaker
And so there'll be a link in the bio. um And there's, they're signed, right? They're signed by the artists. They're like a real piece of artwork. Yeah. Thanks for the, for the highlight. Yeah. I loved, you know, it's so fun to see video off the screen. So I'm obsessed with printed matter.
00:55:49
Speaker
Yeah. I'm thinking also about Pulsar. I'm so curious about a catalog, that but I love like this, people can hold this and like, this will last years and years and years. And so, yeah, thank you for recognizing it. And I'm happy to send you Yeah.
00:56:05
Speaker
one so i'm good mine's already it's in you it's in the mail it's very sweet thank you um but yeah i love i love um when videos uh or just when work in general can be translated into into different media and kind of exist in different ways uh so i was excited to see that you had produced that that's cool yeah yeah so fun i thought yeah love books uh when when will that will there be another episode of life touching life you said you were working on some I am. yeah i'm taking Yeah, it's been a minute, and i need you know but I'm back.
00:56:39
Speaker
And I'm going to release an episode actually this coming month with Sabrina Imler, the science essay writer, working with sea creatures.
00:56:50
Speaker
And then I'm going to release another episode in fall with Cesar Soto, who is an exterminator here in New York. Wow. Yeah, those has been long time coming.
Conclusion and Acknowledgments
00:57:02
Speaker
I'm back.
00:57:04
Speaker
That's so exciting. Awesome. We're ready. We're here for it. We're ready. and Thank you for being supportive. Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much for hanging out with us and chatting and taking the time.
00:57:17
Speaker
Yeah, Alisa and Joseph, again, just a pleasure. So happy to be in connection and part of the project.
00:57:28
Speaker
Arranging Tangerines is recorded, edited, and produced by Lydian Stater, an evolving curatorial platform based in New York City dedicated to showcasing emerging artists with a focus on ephemeral, conceptual, and time-based works.
00:57:41
Speaker
You can learn more at lydianstater.co and lydianstaternyc on Instagram. Big thanks to Tall Juan, who graciously provides our intro music. His albums are available at tallwan.bandcamp.com.
00:57:54
Speaker
And thank you to you, listener, for spending your valuable time with us.