Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz’s “Bargain Basement Sovereign”
At a firm and slow pace, Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz quietly and commandingly walks through the semi-circle formed audience that sits on the floor of gallery. Raimundi-Ortiz and her assistants, Kaitlyn Helene Sass & Diandra Miller, are dressed in wigs and exaggerated makeup as they enter the main space of the Defibrillator. One of the assistants carries her […]
Dolores Wilber + Sarah Wilber’s Walking Tour
On the corner of Ashland and Division, inside that one CVS couched within a historic bank building, a few strides in and many feet above the Division street entrance, hovers a lone Spongebob Squarepants balloon, looking diminutive and out-of-place against the building’s Classical Revival-style ceiling. It’s the kind of detail only someone intimately familiar with […]
Andrew Barco “Pale Blue Eyes”
For Andrew Barco’s Pale Blue Eyes participant were lined up outside of Defibrillator and were seated or asked to stand in certain places to observe the performance. On one side of the space there was a small radio and on the other side Andrew Barco stood at a light table using a razor and a […]
Kambui Olujimi “A Life in Pictures”
I know, I know! This was my introduction to Kambui Olujimi and the first conversation we had on Monday as I walked into his durational relational aesthetics performance piece titled “A life in picture” which was being conducted in the HUB. The story goes… As a child, Kambui was a know it all and never […]
“The Lynching of An Artist” Şükran Moral
Right now in Turkey things are happening. Right now, enough is enough. Protests in Istanbul have quickly morphed into full-blown civil unrest throughout the country. Sadly, the tyranny of an unjust and uncaring government is not unique to its citizens. In the last week, a relatively small protest by 300 or so female environmentalists has […]
Wafaa Bilal #Technoviking
Wafaa Bilal’s #Technoviking is a giant inflatable head with a spiral goatee that is based on a popular meme first published to the internet video site YouTube in 2006. The original video featured a shirtless man reprimanding an over zealous dancer during a German street festival in 2000. The video quickly spawned a number of […]
Mothergirl “Don’t Sleep, There’s A War Going On”
There are a lot of duos at Rapid Pulse. In the first three days of the activity, we’ve already experienced the work of three sets of duos. In total, there are 6 pairs of duos performing at the festival this year. It’s almost a theme. But who doesn’t love a duo? There is something about […]
Jefferson Pinder: Who is entitled to do the right stuff?
Black Power/White Light 2010 Fist on wall Baltimore to DC City expanding “Identity” Polarity black and white Extreme division Chicago considered “most segregated city in the US” Target-‐mix drift I am looking at the environment Falling into what I steer clear from Get my hands dirty On the line between discussion and having questions Sometimes […]
“Ecce Homo” Carlos Salazar Lermont
Day 6 stinks. Literally. At the artist talk given by Zierle and Carter, the audience is assaulted with the smell of burning toast. Outside, volunteers are systematically burning dozens of loaves of bread in preparation for the headgear the artists will wear during their two-day durational action, but the smell invades the HUB. It’s hard […]