2021 Space Taking Residency Artists

Resident artists for 2021 were chosen with the help of a curatorial panel comprised of members of the FreshArts programs team and local creatives Deborah DEEP Mouton, Francis Almendárez, and Jhon R. Stronks.

KOOMAH | IN RESIDENCE: MARCH - APRIL 2021

ARTcade

ARTcade by Koomah, in collaboration with the artist collective The Locas, premiered March 2021. ARTcade explored the art of video game arcade cabinets, re-imagines arcades as immersive art experience, and re-examines nostalgic children’s commerce of purchasing small toys as purchases of small art pieces.

Instead of video games, these arcade cabinets house short films made by local video artists. Each arcade cabinet prominently featured video game style artwork on the sides related to the video works that they contain. Additionally, various vending and skill machines allow audience participation through the purchase of art; such as a sticker/tattoo vending machine repurposed to vend small prints and poetry as well as a capsule toy vending machine dispensing small clay art pieces. Audiences also tried their luck on a skill crane claw catcher machine filled with small art pieces and treated to special live performances. See some photos!

 

ABOUT THE ARTIST TEAM:

Koomah is an intersex & genderfluid multidisciplinary artist, performer, and filmmaker currently residing in Houston, Texas. Koomah has facilitated several interactive public art projects including: “Chalked” around the outside of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, “Intersex Welcome Mat” at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, and the immersive multi-sensory interactive art experience “No Such Thing As A Free House” inside a home in South Park. Koomah has performed, showcased artwork, presented workshops & lectures, and screened films across the US & internationally.

The Locas include local artists Stephanie Saint SanchezMelelani PetersenJennifer MarieAkili SosaSondee Gonzales, & Stalina Villarreal.

Y. E. TORRES (MS. YET) | IN RESIDENCE: MAY - JUNE 2021

The Renegade Telegram

 

Debuting in May 2021, The Renegade Telegram is a site-specific performance installation featuring costume creation, specialty performance, live music, workshops, and dance on films. During our residency, we will create a series of short dance films in response to the COVID19 global pandemic with an emphasis on featuring the fringe and emerging art forms of flow arts alongside folkloric and fusion bellydance, inventive costuming, and original music.

We will be offering a robust program of online and in-person events, performative gallery activations, workshops, and 6 week Renegade Telegram Fan Club membership.

The goal of this project is to bring specialty dance, flow arts, and fire manipulation to the big screen, to encourage collaboration between underrepresented artists, and supports our mission to introduce and elevate fire theatre and specialty dance as fine art forms. See some photos!

Featured artists include Y. E. Torres (ms. YET)Renegade CarniesArcadia (Jam Boss Mr. B and The Crimson Vagabond)AlieRoseRemy DillensegerOn & Up Productions (Kristin Masa and Anna Tran).

STACY ALLEN + SAIDA CARTER  | IN RESIDENCE: JULY - AUGUST 2021

A Single Thread Weaves a Future

First launched in July 2021, A Single Thread Weaves a Future is an exploration of time and sustainability drawing inspiration from accomplished and stylish Black women who revolutionized the Houston community and serve as a prototype for imagining a glorious Black future. This multimedia installation will communicate via the mediums of photography, dance/movement, fashion, and literature the personas and future tense embodiments. Movement artists will be styled in fashion that represents the work of their respective prototypes and future embodiment. Additionally, vintage fashion will be utilized because it is sustainable in a very literal way and the planet’s future is dependent on all us living a lot more green. On display, the photography will be hung in repurposed vintage framing complete with displays of attire and accessories that complement. Vignettes of each prototype will be choreographed inspired by their life and its significance to African American culture. A Single Thread Weaves a Future will provide a succinct anthology of each prototype. This included works that give a deeper inquiry into their work, their favorite pieces of pleasure reading, and works that parallel their future embodiments. See some photos! Featured artists and collectives include Amber Henderson-Stevens, Candice D’Meza, Carters Girls, Cassandra Jones, Foliage Faerie, Free Black Women’s Library, Healthy Women Houston, Holi Mamma, Iman Eli, Joethella Gipson, Josie Pickens, Kam Franklin, Loren Holmes, Nia’s Daughters Movement Collective, Sacred Line Home Services, Sacred Twerk, Secunda Joseph, and The Catastrophic Theatre. ABOUT THE ARTISTS: Stacey Allen is a native Houstonian, who has been cultivating a career in dance upon earning her BA in Dance from Sam Houston State University. She also has a MA in Cross-Cultural Studies for University of Houston Clear Lake where her research focus includes dance anthropology. In addition to a plethora of freelance opportunities, she was most notably a company member for Urban Souls Dance Company. She began pursuing her own artistic visions and co-founded Pretty Cultured which is an artistic collaborative that uses art as a voice for dialogue and healing. In 2019, Stacey co-created the installation “Formed in My Grandmother’s Womb” as a part of Project Row Houses’ Round 50: Race, Health, and Motherhood. Saida Carter launched ERA Vintage in 2018, bringing together her interest in fashion, vintage, style and art as well as her experience in literature and design to create a business that would celebrate freedom of expression and a sustainable retail experience of the future.