FAÇADE/FASAD aka Gabriel Rivera
Gabriel Rivera is a Brooklyn based artist who uses the moniker FAÇADE/FASAD to represent him and his work. He uses performance to investigate ritual and its role in contemporary culture. Typically site specific and organic in their process, the performances reside in a liminal space where concepts of experience, perception, form, narrative and explanation meet. The re-contextualization of the performances into other mediums such as photography, video and drawings is a facet that explores representation and authorship, in effect rematerializing the “art object” through the medium of performance. Having studied fashion design at Pratt Institute - fashion, textiles and artisanal craft serve as subtexts in his work.
As an extension of his performance work and the desire to engage the public further, Rivera created the FAÇADE/FASAD space in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Serving as an alternative space for performative gatherings, it blurs the line between home, studio and venue.
Chase Granoff
Chase Granoff is a Brooklyn based dance artist. He has worked as a dancer with many choreographers including RoseAnne Spradlin, Jeremy Wade, Beth Gill and Daria Faïn. His choreography has been presented throughout NYC and has toured to Limerick, Berlin and Prague. He has collaborated extensively with Jon Moniaci. Chase co-curated Live Sh-- at the Chocolate Factory with Chris Peck from 2005 to 2008. He is a member of heart the band with Eleanor Bauer, Gill, Moniaci and Peck. He initiated and curates Lobby TALKS at Dance Theater Workshop. Chase published and co-edited a publication with Jenn Joy in conjunction with his most recent performance, The Art of Making Dances, at The Kitchen (2009). Other recent projects include teaching and curating the event ROLLING at Daghdha in Limerick, Ireland, teaching as part of CLASSCLASSCLASS (2010) in NYC and teaching a workshop in Montevideo, Uruguay at Espacio Jexe! Upcoming projects include a new piece that will premiere at the Chocolate Factory as a co-presentation with Abrons Arts Center in November 2011.
Clarinda Mac Low
Clarinda Mac Low creates participatory events of all types. Her work has appeared at the Kitchen, X-Initiative, Center for Performance Research, many other spaces in New York (including a century-old ferry boat and the Queens Botanical Garden), and elsewhere in the world, including a park in Siberia and the Manifesta Biennial in Spain. Recent work includes TRYST, performance interventions into everyday life; Cyborg Nation, public conversation on the technological body; and Salvage/Salvation, an ongoing project investigating the implications of re-use. Mac Low is co-Director of Culture Push, a cross-disciplinary organization encouraging hands-on participation and strong hybrid ideas, with Aki Sasamoto and Arturo Vidich.
Larissa Velez-Jackson
Larissa Velez-Jackson received a BFA from Philadelphia’s University of the Arts (‘98), where her senior thesis won the award for Best Choreography. She has since presented solo work at numerous venues including Joe’s Pub, People's Improv Theatre, Dixon Place and the SoloNova Arts Festival at PS122. Velez-Jackson collaborated with Hilary Clark on Response time with help her out/take 357 for Dance Theater Workshop's Fresh Tracks show and residency in Jan ’09. She was also a Studio Series residency recipient at DTW in ‘09. In September 2010, Velez-Jackson opened her first full evening as part of Danspace Project's Platform 2010.
Velez-Jackson’s curatorial ventures include the Judson Selection Committee for Fall 2010. She was invited to participate in the choreographic research lab ADVENTURE facilitated by Trajal Harrell, which culminated in a group curation for Danspace Project. She is thrilled to be on the curatorial team for MR Spring Festival 2011.
