Jaamil Olawale Kosoko
Chameleon (The Living Installments)
April 22, 2020
Presented as part of
New York Live Arts Live Feed Residency program
Dear Viewers,
I hope this finds you in good health and spirits during these tumultuous times. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to share this reimagined proposal for my new project Chameleon (The Living Installments). I consider this an invitation into a new virtual space, a studio where I will continue to work and dream and play and hold future gatherings. This is simply the beginning. You are welcome to stop by anytime.
There are multiple access points to the project to accommodate your level of interaction.
I look forward to spending time with you in The Living Installments.
—Jaamil Olawale Kosoko
A co-production by The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer and New York Live Arts.
Jaamil Olawale Kosoko and a team of collaborators including Everett-Asis Saunders, Nile Harris, and mayfield brooks present a series of remote events on Earth Day, April 22, 2020.
Chameleon is a multimedia live artwork that explores the ever-evolving ways in which digitality intersects the fugitive realities and shapeshifting demands that Black queer people employ to survive and heal within the contemporary moment. Kosoko and collaborators seek to locate space for healing both online and off. They will host a series of events that aim to hold grief while also centering themes of liveness, beauty, humor, care, and joy.
This one day of public engagement will be a series of live streamed remote events on YouTube Live. Audience members interested in an interactive experience can join Kosoko and collaborators in Discord , which will offer a shared online space for performers and audience to collectively be together.
Chameleon (The Living Installments)
Program can be found here
- All Times are EDT
- Click HERE for Chameleon: A Syllabus for Survival
- Setup/Discord/Livestream Start – Choose your viewing method: Watch the livestream right here — or — join us on Discord & Discord instructions and FAQ
Tuesday, April 21 2020
1 pm Instagram Live
Instagram Live Chat with @chameleon_coalition and @empacrpi in conversation with @wamcradio.
3 pm Instagram Live/Discord Onboarding
Instagram Live Chat with @chameleon_coalition and Discord onboarding call.
Wednesday, April 22, 2020 – EARTH DAY
10:50 AM Setup/Discord/Livestream Start
Choose your viewing method: Watch the livestream right here — or — join us on
Discord
Discord instructions and FAQ
The following schedule will all take place and be viewable within the livestream.
11 am Welcome/Music Performance/Syllabus Release
WELCOME from Jaamil Olawale Kosoko In conversation with Ebony Noelle Golden PIDGIN CHORUS PERFORMANCE with mayfield brooks, Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, Nile Harris, and Everett-Asis Saunders
CHAMELEON: A SYLLABUS FOR SURVIVAL
11:30 am Live Stream/Video
Testify: A Conversation Between Bill T. Jones & Jaamil Olawale Kosoko
12 pm Live Stream/Video/World Premiere
STANK from Chameleon: A Visual Album
12:30 pm Healing Session
SOMATIC HEALING with Michelle Boulé
1 pm Q&A/Discussion
CHAMELEONIC ADAPTATION
DISCUSSION with Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, Ashon Crawley, Autumn Knight, Ni’Ja Whitson, and Chameleon collaborators
2:30 pm Closing Music Performance
THE HOLD, Music by Everett-Asis Saunders
Closed-caption versions of STANK and TESTIFY are provided the day of the event for those who prefer or need to view in this way.
Chameleon: The Living Installments is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by EMPAC / Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY; the New York Live Arts Live Feed Residency program; and the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, in partnership with Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA), Tanz im August/HAU Hebbel am Ufer, and NPN. New York Live Arts’ Live Feed Residency program is made possible with additional support from the Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation for the Arts, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council with special thanks to Council Member Corey Johnson, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, the Jerome Robbins Foundation, the Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, the Scherman Foundation, and the Shubert Foundation. Chameleon is also made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional development support for Chameleon was made possible, in part, with commissioning support from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, through the Movement Research Artist-in-Residence Program, as well as the Bates Dance Festival, Gibney DiP, pOndersoa, D.O.C.H., Within Practice (Stockholm), the Centre for the Less Good Idea (Johannesburg, South Africa), PassaPorta International House of Literature (Brussels), Studio 303 (Montreal), the National Center for Choreography (Akron, OH), and Red Bull Arts Detroit.
Former iterations of Chameleon: A Biomythography held various titles including Chameleon (The Troy Installments) and the hold. The full commission will be premiered at an alternate time and date.
EMPAC Spring 2020 presentations, residencies, and commissions are made possible by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts; and Vlaamse Gemeenschap, department of Culture, Youth, and Media.
