TT OPEN WINDOWS TALK
INTERDEPENDING
On Decentering Art as an Individual Endeavor A Presentation By Nicolás Dumit Estévez SATURDAY, 27 MAY 2023
Nicolas D. E. R. E. Ovalles first thought of his public performance series, "The Interior Beauty Salon" during the Covid pandemic. He described coming to it in a meditation as he sat on a rusty pink chair in his backyard, as he heard sirens passing by, and as rats ran across his feet. Following that he took creative cues from what he received or participated in online.
In 2023, The Salon continues...it combines ideas of artmaking and collaborations by opening up networks of artistic joy to visionaries. The magic that happens in NDE's collaborative public performances comes about through his use of unprescribed approaches to creativity in spaces that are typically object driven rather than performative. I think NDEREO is an artist-priest. He is brilliant and poetic.
Workshop
"Our Time Together Performing" with Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles In the experiential workshop, our TT MFA/PhD group was invited to come together to move, breath, collaborate and perform. We did breathing exercises, and used self-selected objects to be present with us for at least two of the exercises. Though I had four or more, I was captivated by so repeatedly relied on my wavellite crystal stone.
For the first small breakout group exercise, I stated that I found and loved a crystal the minute I saw it while Xmas shopping at ABC Home & Carpet 4 or 5 years ago. I bought it as my Xmas gift to myself, and though it has been sitting on my desk since the pandemic, and while I often pick it up and hold it because it feels so great, it wasn't until today that I googled what the crystal is. I read aloud about it:
Science & Origin
Wavellite is a rare phosphate mineral that crystallizes in the form of clusters, stalactites, skinny needle-like crystals, or as a spherical structure. The color most associated with this mineral is green to light green, but can also be found as white, yellow, blue, brown, black, and even colorless. Wavellite was first discovered in Devon, England by W. Babington in 1805. Wavellite was named after the English physicist, William Wavell. Along with forming in phosphate rock, Wavellite can also be found in most aluminous metamorphic rock throughout the world. The most famous locality for Wavellite is in the Ouachita mountain range in Mount Ida, Arkansas. Also known as the quartz capital of the world, these mountains have produced some of the nicest specimens of Wavellite. Other notable localities include the UK, Bolivia, Germany, Japan, and Australia.
Meaning & Energy
Wavellite is a stone of love, peace, truth, compassion, and intuition. Your emotional body will immediately become rejuvenated with powerful life force energy when working with this stone. It brings out the softer side that you may not typically show. Wavellite pushes you to feel compassion for those around you, even strangers. This stone brings out the “good” in humanity and is here to bring everyone together through love. As you become more connected to yourself and those closest to you, everyone in your life will begin to share a single life line. Your intuition naturally rises when working with Wavellite and can help you better understand what is bothering you or your loved ones. Naturally, you may be hesitant to voice your problems and show your truest emotions. Wavellite helps bring these emotions to the surface so that they may be dealt with. By facing these feelings and accepting that they’re there, you can then move forward and begin to grow.
Wavellite also helps remove any blockages from your chakra channel. If your chakras are not fully aligned it can cause you to feel unbalanced, emotionally unstable, short tempered, or stifled. Meditating with this stone over your heart can help identify where exactly the blockages are. While maintaining a clear, calm mind, you will be able to focus all your energy on the exact part of the body that needs healing. This energy will help bring to the surface any negative vibration or entity that is affecting your life daily. We recommend doing this as many times as you need to. It may take a few sessions to feel completely rebalanced. Crystal Council
In a second breakout group, before the last 1-minute performance at of the end of the day, I collaborated with Heidi Strauss. She did visuals using two of her objects, a plant with deep purple-red triangular leaves, and a long white upside down pyramidal light sconce along the left side of the screen, and did hand gestures in the center-right screen while I prayed in Sanskrit the opening and closing Ashtanga yoga prayers.
Om Shanti
NOTE: This was one of my very favorite TT intensive workshops. Others that have stayed with me or been most helpful and/or engaging include:
Session 10: Elena Marchevska's "Autoethnography"
Session 13: Zeerak Ahmed's "Critical Immaterial Art"
Session 15; Mia Van Leeuwen's "How to Raise a Ghost: Memento Mori as Contemporary Praxis A Working Group"
Session 19: Michael Bowdidge’s "Future Perfect" @ TT-LJMU Liverpool Residency
Session 19: Michael Bowdidge & Susie Quillinan "Practice V. Theory" @ TT-LJMU Liverpool Residency
Session 19: Daz Disley’s "Serious Play" sound-drawing workshop @ TT-LJMU Liverpool Residency
Session 22: Nicolas Dumit Estevez Raful Espejo Ovalles' "Engaging Indecencia"
Session 25: I was invited to share for the Creative Research Symposium
