After relieving myself, I turned toward the men’s bathroom mirror to find the sink being shared with same performer who minutes ago was about to have his body split apart by four motorcycles. Gustavo was slowly and calmly washing the mud off his lithe body. On that drizzly evening in Houston’s downtown warehouse district, the streets were being repaved, construction materials and its detritus was lying about with a thin layer of mud on new concrete. A perfect site for an outd

Esther Neff ARC IV February 23, 2019 The artist Esther Neff stands on top of a bar in a loose black t-shirt, loose gray, sweat pants, and a green monster or ogre mask that either vomits / reveals her face through the open mouth. In her hand is a stack of grey sheets with hand writing on them. She speaks of emotions. Who is responsible for whose emotions and emotional responses? Who owns the emotion? Who owns its response? As she speaks, she disrobes. First she removes the mas

COLTON WHITE Hot Lips February 22, 2019 The space woven by White through the warm light, the seductive music, the fabrics that enveloped him made me feel like inebriate. The passionate color that surrounded you devoured you. When you sat in front of him, after walking to him, and having enough time to see the silhouette of his back, I was aware that I released from the state of tension and alert in what I normally feel. I know that not everyone has generated this well-bein

Photo by Reema Yeager Saturday night February 23, at 9 pm. For the duration of 45 minutes, at The Secret Group in East Downtown, Rosi entered stage right in a white hazmat suit. She wore a white sick mask and white latex gloves. Her medium-length brown hair was exposed, and in her arms, Rosi carried a red oxygen tank. Soft, pink spotlights illuminated the performance area as she made her way straight to center stage, put down the heavy tank, sat just behind it, and proceeded

GUSTAVO SOLAR I will be millions February 22, 2019 In his work, “I will be millions,” Gustavo Solar demonstrated that the body is a force more powerful than a choreography of re-imagined torture. In the middle of a vacant street wet and muddy from an on-going mist of rain, Solar began his performance floodlit by the headlights of a revving truck engine. Undulating his body before the audience, he seemed a mixture of animal, the sacred, and a butoh interpreter. Through pure m

SARAH SUDHOFF Wired 2.0 February 22, 2019 A pure technologist would have been puzzled if it had walked in on Wired 2.0, a performance during Experimental Action 2019. A woman sat on stage in a stylish sleeveless, black dress and black high heels with her legs spread. Perched on a tripod, a camera aims at her crotch. To her right, projected on a screen was a thermal image of her crotch. The blue-orange-red-yellow shapes undulated over an image of her inner thighs. A readout of

ROOS HOFFMANN Eldorado 2.0 February 21, 2019 Netherlands-based artist Roos Hoffmann directed a participatory work on February 21, 2019 at Experimental Action Festival. Using the ground level of Rockefeller Houston’s open, two-story theatre space, Hoffman asked twelve people to stand, motionless and silent, in a 4 x 3 grid configuration for approximately 15 minutes. If you were one of those people, which I was, this seemed almost a lifetime. At the beginning of the event, Hoff

Photo by Reema Yeagar MICHAEL ANTHONY GARCIA February 23, 2019 Michael Anthony Garcia performed twice; I watched him perform Saturday night February 23, at 10:30 pm for the duration of 45 minutes, at The Secret Group in East Downtown. The lights were dimmed, and a round, white spotlight lit the center of the concrete floor in the main event space. The audience encircled the light, and was thrown into near darkness. Two assistants entered the spot light and gingerly laid down

Experimental Action 2019 was amazing. If you didn't get to experience it in person, you missed out on some creative, visceral, and inspired performances. Luckily, however, over the next month or so, myself and a group of artists and writers will publish reviews, photos, and videos of many of the performances that took place during the festival. Be sure to check back frequently and forward to your fellow performance art fans. Here's a glimpse of what's to come. #ExperimentalAc

photo by Jesse Meredith A self-professed “social strategist,” Chicago-based artist Marcela Torres has been honing her practice for years and is one of several national artists participating in Experimental Action 2019. Prior to Torres’ appearance at the festival, I was able to speak with the artist about her practice, how social structures influence their work, and why Experimental Action proved so appealing. ExA: Tell me a bit about your artistic practice. MT: I think I was