EQUILIBRIA
DIRECTED BY MARCELA MICHELLE
WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY MALFLOR
VIOLINS BY ARLO SOMBOR AND CREEPING CHARLIE
PRODUCED BY LIGHTNING ROD FOR Q-STAGE 2023
11.11.2023
red eye theater
MINNEAPOLIS MN
DIRECTED BY MARCELA MICHELLE
WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY MALFLOR
VIOLINS BY ARLO SOMBOR AND CREEPING CHARLIE
PRODUCED BY LIGHTNING ROD FOR Q-STAGE 2023
11.11.2023
red eye theater
MINNEAPOLIS MN
THE EARTH IS A BODY
/ IN TRANSITION /
WATER, AIR, HEAT, SOIL
/ A CORPOREAL ENTITY OF MANY ELEMENTS / FUNCTION IN COLLABORATION /
TO SUSTAIN LIFE.
THE BODY IS AN EARTH
/ IN TRANSITION /
ORGANS, WATER, BLOOD, BONES, TISSUE, MUSCLES / IN CONSTANT SEARCH OF EQUILIBRIUM /
TO SUSTAIN LIFE.
A BODY IS NOT NEUTRAL
/ A BODY IS IN CONSTANT EXPERIENCE /
A BODY KNOWS
EVEN WHEN THE BRAIN DOES NOT.
A BODY IS A VESSEL THAT HOLDS
/ MEMORY / STRESS / ANTICIPATION / TRAUMA / LOVE /
ELONGATED SHIFTS /
DE LA TIERRA EMERJO Y A LA TIERRA VUELVO / FRA JORDEN DUNKER JEG OPP OG TIL JORDEN KOMMER JEG TILBAKE.
-
EQUILIBRIA is a one-person performance in which the artist wears “blinding” contacts while traversing a clay landscape on the stage. Two violinists sit at the far corners facing away from each other and perform a 15 second phrase on loop; as one stops, the other begins. From a clay mound the artist emerges, in search of stable ground. The music stops and voice-over audio of short clips of prose in Spanish, English, and Norwegian, are scattered throughout the soundscape in between violins, droplets of water, and gasps of breath. MALFLOR makes their way, on all fours, towards a clay pedestal framed by two column-like vessels, with a bowl of water in front. The artist covers themself with clay as much as possible, first starting at the feet to solidify their place, and slowly moving their way up the body. Their movement comes to a stop and for 30 minutes, they stand still, allowing the clay to dry. Slowly, they break their stillness and begin breaking out of the dried earth. They stumble onto the landscape, all the while still searching with the eyes, head, and hands. They make their way back to the clay mound, disintegrating as they travel. The performance ends in a black out and the artist remains in the mound until the audience has exited.
PRODUCTION TEAM
Executive Artistic Director: Marcela Michelle
Artistic Co-Director: Keila Anali Saucedo
Stage Manager: Connor Berkompas
Assistant Stage Manager: Simone Bernadette Williams
Lighting Designer: VON
Sound Designer:Eric Gonzalez
photos by nouf saleh
video coming soon
Q-STAGE is a Twin Cities queer performance mainstay that has supported and showcased exciting new work from queer artists living and working here on Mni Sota Makoce since 2013. This year’s cohort was selected by Executive Artistics Director and former Q-Stage fellow Marcela Michelle, and features new work from Johanna Keller Flores, Atim Opoka, and MALFLOR.
Lightning Rod is a QTPOC-led arts organism dedicated to the Legacy, Development, and Opportunities of Queer, Trans, and Gender Non-Conforming artists and activists creating culture in the Twin Cities.
/ IN TRANSITION /
WATER, AIR, HEAT, SOIL
/ A CORPOREAL ENTITY OF MANY ELEMENTS / FUNCTION IN COLLABORATION /
TO SUSTAIN LIFE.
THE BODY IS AN EARTH
/ IN TRANSITION /
ORGANS, WATER, BLOOD, BONES, TISSUE, MUSCLES / IN CONSTANT SEARCH OF EQUILIBRIUM /
TO SUSTAIN LIFE.
A BODY IS NOT NEUTRAL
/ A BODY IS IN CONSTANT EXPERIENCE /
A BODY KNOWS
EVEN WHEN THE BRAIN DOES NOT.
A BODY IS A VESSEL THAT HOLDS
/ MEMORY / STRESS / ANTICIPATION / TRAUMA / LOVE /
ELONGATED SHIFTS /
DE LA TIERRA EMERJO Y A LA TIERRA VUELVO / FRA JORDEN DUNKER JEG OPP OG TIL JORDEN KOMMER JEG TILBAKE.
-
EQUILIBRIA is a one-person performance in which the artist wears “blinding” contacts while traversing a clay landscape on the stage. Two violinists sit at the far corners facing away from each other and perform a 15 second phrase on loop; as one stops, the other begins. From a clay mound the artist emerges, in search of stable ground. The music stops and voice-over audio of short clips of prose in Spanish, English, and Norwegian, are scattered throughout the soundscape in between violins, droplets of water, and gasps of breath. MALFLOR makes their way, on all fours, towards a clay pedestal framed by two column-like vessels, with a bowl of water in front. The artist covers themself with clay as much as possible, first starting at the feet to solidify their place, and slowly moving their way up the body. Their movement comes to a stop and for 30 minutes, they stand still, allowing the clay to dry. Slowly, they break their stillness and begin breaking out of the dried earth. They stumble onto the landscape, all the while still searching with the eyes, head, and hands. They make their way back to the clay mound, disintegrating as they travel. The performance ends in a black out and the artist remains in the mound until the audience has exited.
PRODUCTION TEAM
Executive Artistic Director: Marcela Michelle
Artistic Co-Director: Keila Anali Saucedo
Stage Manager: Connor Berkompas
Assistant Stage Manager: Simone Bernadette Williams
Lighting Designer: VON
Sound Designer:Eric Gonzalez
photos by nouf saleh
video coming soon
Q-STAGE is a Twin Cities queer performance mainstay that has supported and showcased exciting new work from queer artists living and working here on Mni Sota Makoce since 2013. This year’s cohort was selected by Executive Artistics Director and former Q-Stage fellow Marcela Michelle, and features new work from Johanna Keller Flores, Atim Opoka, and MALFLOR.
Lightning Rod is a QTPOC-led arts organism dedicated to the Legacy, Development, and Opportunities of Queer, Trans, and Gender Non-Conforming artists and activists creating culture in the Twin Cities.
In this second iteration of Sites of Exhaust, artists MALFLOR and Nancy Julia Hicks present sculptures, videos, and printmaking-based works to investigate the parallels between the environment, human-made structures, and gender non-conforming bodies.
KROPP / BODY / CUERPO
2022 - ongoing
2022 - ongoing
This body of work was created in Kjerringøy, Norway, on the land where my grandfather was born. Since birth, I have visited these mountains, forests, and waters he grew up in. I have sunk deep down in this earth, bathed in her seas, and warmed our house by burning birch logs in the wood stove. This landscape has witnessed my baptism(s) and my rebirth.
In the video “KROPP / VANN (BODY / WATER),” made in 2022, I lay nude in the creek that runs through my family’s land and for the first time, I allow the mountainous landscape to see me and hold me in my truth. In the subsequent series of body-earthworks, I consider how the land itself is a body. These earthworks, made of found and collected natural materials on site, are left to the tides, winds, and animals.
The earth is a body in transition.
In the video “KROPP / VANN (BODY / WATER),” made in 2022, I lay nude in the creek that runs through my family’s land and for the first time, I allow the mountainous landscape to see me and hold me in my truth. In the subsequent series of body-earthworks, I consider how the land itself is a body. These earthworks, made of found and collected natural materials on site, are left to the tides, winds, and animals.
The earth is a body in transition.
sites of exhaust: MALFLOR + NANCY JULIA HICKS
2023
THE REGIS CENTER FOR ART
MINNEAPOLIS MN
2023
THE REGIS CENTER FOR ART
MINNEAPOLIS MN
The Department of Art at the University of Minnesota presents Sites of Exhaust, the Regis Center for Art (RCA) Emerging Artist Program exhibition featuring the work of MALFLOR and Nancy Julia Hicks. These artists unite their individual practices encompassing sculpture, installation, and printmaking to investigate the parallels between the environment, built structures and trans bodies.
AS ABOVE, SO BELOW
This performance for video is a playful exploration of patterns and forms in nature and the use of dirt as a cleansing medium.