JUST FOR YOU!!! Supporting No Budget Film + The Ladies Almanack

The Ladies Almanack is the first feature film based on a novel by the rebellious and brilliant Djuna Barnes.  Still in production, this massive no-budget project takes on the voices of women into an ecstatic plane inhabited by a mulit-generational cast brings the poetics of the past into the collage of the present.  As producer and art director I have been working with director Daviel Shy since the projects inception, from recording our iconic narrators like Hélèn Cixous and Eilleen Myles, to location scouting in our sister films sister cities Paris and Chicago, cutting teasers, writing grants and hosting fundraising + reading events along the way.  And now we are headed your way New York!

J U S T    F O R     Y O U!!!

To entice you I have a limited offer for donations made before Feb 25th who contact us with a confirmation number from donation will be eligible to receive:

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• $100 will receive an artwork  by me in the form of a limited edition publication, original short video or art object, mail art. (10 available)
• $200 will receive an ART PACKET from me including an art created FOR YOU as well as a surprise piece from a participating artist from the film or myself. (10 available)
• $500 will receive an original work created FOR YOU BY ME in the form of performance or film/video/installation piece. (NY/CHI/PARIS ONLY for LIVE - All other locations can be streaming or performance for video only) (5 available)
• $1000 will receive an original multisensory performance work created FOR YOU BY ME and up to 3 friends, 4 total. (NY/CHI ONLY) (5 available)
• $1500 will receive an original multisensory performance work created FOR YOU BY ME and up to 7 friends, 8 total. (NY/CHI ONLY) (5 available)
• $2000 will receive an original multisensory performance work created FOR YOU BY ME  for an audience of your choosing + a select couple of limited edition publications/object works/videos. (3 available)

And you can DONATE HERE  (tax-deductible thanks to Filmmakers Alliance) to help support this cast and crew, we even have a list of other ways to CONTRIBUTE!

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We even have our own custom tarot deck, being created by the brilliant Jessica LeMaster, for sale HERE!

That's ME as in my cameo role as Mercedes d'Acosta, aka the SUN! You can see my profile and all our contributors HERE with a new one every Tuesday! 

The Ladies Almanack - As a multidisciplinary artist the question of "What is it you DO?" comes up a lot, there's a lot of questions about primary disciplines, focuses, desire for narrowing is common.  I on the other hand, though sorry for the confusion, feel that my process has finally found it's proper place at the center of many intersecting lines.  The Ladies Almanack found me at the intersections of cinema, historical fictions, feminist theory, collage, poetry, and Paris. 

A Celebrtion of Djuna Barnes + The Ladies Almanack Film - Feb 20th NYC

A Celebration of Djuna Barnes: writer, artist, malcontent.

A benefit for The Ladies Almanack, the first feature-film based on a novel by Djuna Barnes.
featuring readings by the incomparable 

Deborah Bright , Mairead Case  , Barbara Hammer , and Jackie Wang

Join us for an evening of Barnsian texts, titillating silent auction, and an introduction to the kaleidoscopic whole of The Ladies Almanack film.

FRI - February 20th | 6:30-8:30pm 

$25/$15 with valid student ID

26 Wooster Street
New York, New York 10013

Tickets include bar and entry to the current museum exhibition, Irreverent: A Celebration of Censorship. 
And now we are headed to New York!
WATCH OUR EVENT TEASER! 

Winter Residency - Temple Gallery - CHI

This fall my friends from Posterchild Art made me an interesting offer.  After moving my primary practice and address to NY this summer I have missed this space that became home for so many of my creative explorations in the past 5 years.  They found themselves with a month of open space in their gallery calendar after booking some work in Latin America and wanted to know if I'd like a return for a 21 day residency...in Chicago...in January. I am a rare lover of urban winters and was bemoaning the loss of our shared courtyard that would each year fill with snow and ice, like a sensory deprivation tank.  I thought yes here I can think. 

This prompted the ask, what would I do with 21 uninterrupted days? And I decided to double down, to make it a shut-in's residency. I shopped on day one, prepared menus for how I might eat for 20 days, came home, locked the door and had at it.  I also went to Home Depot where I purchased a few supplies including 2 palm trees, and 2 american flags.  I stopped at my Chicago studio which I still utilize, and collected some items that had been living on the shelf for months. Slides, a photo of my mother from before I was born, a blue tarp, a spray bottle, a slide projector, tape recorder, newsprint pad, charcoal. No required sleep schedule, no live contact with anyone (I lied and ended up with 2 visitors, one which was a silent stay for 2 days).

In the days that followed I found myself up in the middle of the night working, talking to myself and an ancient cat who was my main contact, listening to music, drawing, painting, singing, dancing, making videos. Disjointed working for works sake, no single goal, but patterns emerged. I cleaned the palm leaves on the first day, it woke up memories of my childhood  home, of Miami, of the large scale contradiction of snow outside and palms inside, of what the last decade of my life had been. I continued to do this every day on and off camera for the remainder of the stay.  I started to write, I began to imagine. A new world of work has opened from this discursive creative rambling.  And I find myself grateful for the reminder that to make the work we must come to the work, be willing to meet it, dare to sit in unknowing, and listen to what comes from following our own curiosity in the doing.  

Thank you Temple, thank you Winter, thank you Chicago.  

CURRENT SESSIONS - Aug NYC Performance Announced

Excited announce the return of COLLAGE COLLIDE performing as part of The Current Sessions Vol. IV, Issue II.

This August 22 + 24 at the wild project in NYC.*

Jessie Young + Stephanie Acosta will perform with video projections by Acosta as part of a stellar line up.  Collage Collide is an ongoing video and dance collaboration between Young and Acosta examining a continued making through extended time and expanded space. 

Tickets are available HERE

*Collage Collide will show as part of 2 programs: Aug 22 @ 7:30p + Aug 24 @3p

Out of Site - October CHI Performance Announced

CHICAGO - The Out Of Site Line Up for 2014 has been announced and I will be back with a new performance on the streets this October, the piece, entitled "a line connecting, a line dividing, a line defining" will discuss the changing borders of our community and the fleeting definitions they carry.

Check out all the great artists coming at you first in August + September!

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Manuel Vason + Rapid Pulse

This past June I had the pleasure of collaborating with the talented Manuel Vason and a cantacerous crew of international performance artists at Rapid Pulse 14! Here's a bit about our group performance!

Micro-doc by James Tate (2014)

WRITING GROUP at ROMAN SUSAN

an evening of performances and installations by members of Writing Group a biweekly meeting of women artists who write, presented at ROMAN SUSAN, on June 8, 2014, performances + readings begin at 8pm.

Writing Group began meeting in Chicago in February of 2014, as an intentional group of women artists focused on creating space for words and critique within our individual practices.  Our showing, 'an evening...' came at the request from Joshua Kent and served as the closing event of his project, 'On the impossibility of a singular hand'  where Joshua lived in the gallery and attempted (successfully!) to grow a seed in the palm of his hand. Roman Susan was open 24-hrs a day for the week, and each evening featured a response from fellow artists.

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COLLAGE COLLIDE at CHICAGO HOME THEATRE FESTIVAL

On May 24, 2014 a group of wild things gathered behind a home in Chicago to share some performance as part of Chicago Home Theater Festival .  Performing alongside collaborator and dancer Jessie Young in a wash of technicolor landscapes.  Projections created as part of a year long video and choreographic collaboration exploring layered site, colliding images and the trace of actions left behind. Score provided by Bob Garrett.

Here are a few images from our performance. 

ATOM-r +

When Atom-r approached me about helping to produce and support their work I was excited for many reasons. Firstly, I was already a big fan of research based performance work, it is where I began and where I repeatedly return, and with an ensemble of artists I already know, had worked with or was hoping to work with I could not refuse.  That this wonderful group would then give us the chance to become their videographers, archivists, capturers, was just the icing on the cake…and well…MADONNA giving our video a shout out didn't hurt much either.  

 If you aren't in Chicago or York for the US or UK premieres do not fret, tour info coming soon, and for now, heres our latest video. 

Video by: James Tate, Chicago (2014)

For more  ATOM-r

PROCESS/PROGRESS + the Nightingale - CHI

More info on our showing at The Nightingale 

 NO ONE IS ANYWHERE

A Studio View + Process/Progress

We decided to share the first glimpse of our most recent NO ONE IS ANYWHERE project, this week, to a small group of invited friends and colleagues.  Here is a small touch that magic night.  I am ever inspired and grateful to our constant and generous Chicago community.

In February 2014 NO ONE IS ANYWHERE invited artists, colleagues, friends, to their studio to share excerpts from their upcoming projects series Process/Progress. This is a little of what happened. Thanks for coming! NOIA

Radius + Grids - Radio + Video

Radius is an experimental radio broadcast platform based in Chicago, IL and run by the incomparable Jeff Kolar and Meredith Kooi.  

Recently they began a series called GRIDS with support from the Propeller Fund.  Fasinated by the project I have joined this band of radio junkies and will be creating a short documentary series following the site specific broadcasts and exploring the making of the ephemeral, a subject close to my own work and research.  

Looking forward to sharing more soon but for now take a listen to the first episode HERE. 

Winter + Residencies + Distant Collaborators

This winter I spent some time taking refuge in the homes of collaborators outside Chicago.  

They worked, I worked, it snowed, we researched, we laughed, we made.  

 

Vest + Page at Dfbrl8tr - CHI - Performance Announced

Stephanie Acosta will be presenting at Chicago's Dfbrl8tr Performance Gallery along side International Performance Artist Duo ( Verena Stenke & Andrea Pagnes )

Saturday, SEPTEMBER 14th.

Performances begin @ 8pm. 

For more info & facebook invite see below.

We home to see you there!

Stephanie

 Vest&Page on FB

VestAndPage have been working together to create performance art, films, visual art, and creative writing since 2006. they are the curatorial force behind the acclaimed VENICE INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE ART WEEK. their live performances have been presented across EUROPE, ASIA and the AMERICAS. Mostly process-led and conceived psycho-geographically for architecture or in response to natural and historical sites, VestAndPage are interested in the fragility of the individual and its surroundings. They research private, social and contextual spheres through precariousness, transformation, liminality and authenticity.

THOU TWIN OF SLUMBER: HISTO investigates stasis and sleep as liminal spaces. Inspired by twin figures from GREEK mythology, HYPNOS (SLEEP) and THANATOS (DEATH), the artists embrace the MOTH as an archetypical symbol of life and transformation as they rigorously navigate a fragile terrain.

The evening will also includes work by artists: 

STEPHANIE ACOSTA, CHUI FAN, JUSTUS HARRIS, AUTUMN HAYS, RYAN NOBLE, MICHAL SAMAMA, SANAZ SOHRABI, ALEX PAUL YOUNG.