Naomi Rincón Gallardo
I've managed to find a few favorite spots in the new wing of SFMOMA, and high among them is the "White Box" on the fourth floor. A space set aside specifically for live performance art, its very existence demonstrates an impressive commitment by the museum to the genre. And in the short time since the building has reopened the museum hasn't been shy about using it for a wide variety of events. Already I have attended a singing workshop with Chris Kallmyer, a discussion about race and science fiction with Mark Jerng and LeiLani Nishime, and two performance previews of works-in-progress by Desirée Holman and Naomi Rincón Gallardo. SFMOMA has commissioned Holman and Gallardo as well as Jacolby Satterwhite to produce new works for a performance festival in the spring, and here in the fall the public can sit in on open rehearsals and get a truly unique glimpse of the creative process. Gallardo, for example, is working on a new piece called The Formaldehyde Trip, and during yesterday's preview a live band performed songs that had been written over the course of the weekend to accompany the Mexico City artist's fantastical, hypnotic videos imagining a journey through an underworld populated by Mesoamerican warriors and witches as well as an axolotl or two. I can't wait to see what happens in the White Box next.
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