Theaterlab Presents:
The Postpoetic Machine
Featured Artist: Maria Fernanda (Mafe) Izaguirre
Guest Artists: Enrique Enriquez, Peter Sciscioli, & Yoko Murakami
This fall, TheaterLab welcomes back Venezuelan artist Maria Fernanda (Mafe) Izaguirre to present The Postpoetic Machine, an immersive cybernetic art installation that delves into the evolving relationship between humans, machines, and language.
Set within a hybrid landscape, audiences are invited to challenge traditional boundaries of communication, exploring interspecies and human-machine dialogue. Featuring collaborations with guest artists Enrique Enriquez, Peter Sciscioli, and Yoko Murakami, the installation offers a series of participatory cybernetic and poetic experiences designed to expand human cognitive capabilities and probe the implications of technological assimilation.
The exhibit, featuring the titular Postpoetic Machine and other interactive objects ā created from scratch by Izaguirre who came up with the concepts, researched, built, and programmed the electronic components, and wrote some of the poetry featured in the show ā provides a thought-provoking experience of exploring our evolving hybridization process with machines. This exhibition is a testament to the artistās ongoing investigation into the posthuman condition and the future of human-machine communication, offering speculative scenarios that propel us into new existential horizons.
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The show is complemented by four experimental performance sessions with Mafe Izaguirre and the guest artists. Audiences are encouraged to participate, expand their consciousness, and reflect on the implications of a posthuman future.
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Installation on View
November 4-10, 2024, 12-6 every day
Displayed in The Gallery
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Performance sessions:
Monday November 4, 7 pm: Mafe Izaguirre on Hybridization + Opening receptionĀ
Wednesday November 6, 7 pm: Yoko Murakami on Moving Interaction
Saturday, November 9, 5 pm: Peter Sciscioli on Sounding Bodies
Sunday, November 10, 5 pm: Enrique Enriquez on Bird Talk + Closing Q&A
Each performance is set for a maximum of 2 hours, with no intermissions. The Q&A is set to last 1 hour approx. The exhibition and accompanying performance sessions will be presented free of charge in the Gallery space. Space is extremely limited – to RSVP, click here.
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Mafe’s November 4th Opening Reception and Performance Video is also available on our Youtube Channel!
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This project is supported by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) through the Support for Artists Grant.
Through NYSCAās generous Targeted Opps Program, Mafe Izaguirre is in residence at Theaterlab during 2024 to develop The Postpoetic Machine 1.0, combining custom-made software, digital sound recordings, physical artifacts, and live performances to create an immersive and interactive experience, delving into the residual dimensions of poetic language.
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THE ARTWORK
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- Poem New York City Mafe Izaguirre
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- Poem Heavy Rain Mafe Izaguirre
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- Poem Machine Noise Mafe Izaguirre
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- Poem Whales Mafe Izaguirre
EVENT PICTURES
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- November 6, Yoko Nava Dunkelman
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- November 6, Yoko Nava Dunkelman
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- November 4, Mafe Kamila Slawinski
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- November 4, Mafe Kamila Slawinski
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- November 4, Mafe Kamila Slawinski
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- November 4, Mafe Kamila Slawinski
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- November 10, Enrique Kamila Slawinski
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- November 10, Enrique Kamila Slawinski
MEET THE ARTISTS
Mafe Izaguirre
Maria F. (Mafe) Izaguirre (Caracas, 1978) is a New York-based Venezuelan artist specializing in cybernetics. Her work inquires how humans and technology can cooperate and how this cooperation, as Hybrid Spiritual Systemsā¢, amplifies consciousness.
Izaguirreās thought-provoking propositions offer new perspectives on the human condition. She challenges the traditional view of humans as separate and superior from other species and machines. She believes that the humans of our time are hybrid entities, interconnected with multiple beings, agents, and systems whose identities are shaped by their interactions and exchanges. Izaguirreās work reminds us that we are an ever-evolving universal, entangled, and vibratory organism.
Click HERE to read more about Mafe.
Enrique Enriquez was born in Caracas and has lived in New York for the past 25 years, where he talks to birds and explores the magic of language and the poetics of divination.
Peter Sciscioli is is a Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary performer, creator, educator, and producer specializing in dance, music, theater, and film. He has performed and taught nationally and internationally since 1997 in countries from Mexico to Bulgaria and has worked extensively with Meredith Monk, Jane Comfort, Daria Fain, and has been in work by Jonathan Bepler/Matthew Barney, Ping Chong, Philip Glass, and Mary Zimmerman, at venues such as BAM, Carnegie Hall, and La Mama ETC. Peter began leading his workshops in Voice as Movement in 2009 and co-initiated The Sounding Body series at Movement Research in New York in 2017. In 2012 he founded the International Interdisciplinary Artists Consortium, a network of artists and producers working across disciplines in cultures. Peter continues his research at home and abroad.
Click HERE to learn more about Peter.
Yoko Murakami (she/her) is a Tokyo-born and New York City-based artist. Yoko creates movement-based work in forms of site-specific installations and experimental film. She enjoys creating works for spaces that are not traditionally designed for performance and is interested in finding new ways to activate and question the way we interact with our environments. She has presented her creations in spaces like Mabou Mines (New York, NY), Ace Hotel (New York, NY), Triskelion Arts (Brooklyn, NY), TheaterLab (New York, NY), Da Da Da Gallery (Seattle, WA), Eshk Salon / Room Salon (Brooklyn, NY), and Aileyan Accessories (Brooklyn, NY). Her new venture into experimental film has led to her works being selected and screened in festivals in Seoul, Moscow, Naples, Belfort, Cyprus, Mexico City, and Lincoln Center in NYC, just in 2022.
Click HERE to learn more about Yoko.
COVID-19 policy: In guidance with the city and state COVID-19 policies, we will no longer be requiring masks, but strongly recommend them.