The Middle Passage ↬ 21 January - 19 February 2017

The People Movers × The Vanderbilt Republic proudly present The Middle Passage — a four-week performance art narrative in site-specific camera obscura at Open Source Gallery.

20—22 JANUARY
Free public preview (camera obscura installation only) 

28 JANUARY
Elsa Waithe 

4—5 FEBRUARY
Dante Brown | Warehouse Dance × Jayson P. Smith 

11—12 FEBRUARY
Same As Sister (S.A.S.) × Intrinsic Grey 

18—19 FEBRUARY
Dances for Solidarity × A Theatre Genesis feat. Chee Malabar

The Middle Passage is a performance art series curated by George Del Barrio & Kate Ladenheim at Open Source, remade as a focused camera obscura with multiple projections of the world outside the gallery as surface-mapped stages — upside-down and backwards.

The Brooklyn landscape outside of Open Source has been offered to artists of color as a laboratory for this profound reinterpretation of the proscenium. Within the blacked-out gallery, these contemporary artists will fill the space with light, bringing site-specific performances to a darkened space in subtle activism.

During our day to day lives, we operate within a given set of assumptions about property, race, gender and time: inside of the obscura, these rules are literally turned on their head. 

“The Middle Passage aims to transform shared space into an unforgettable spectacle that can allow the physics of the universe to bend in support of our artists”, said George Del Barrio. “We’re working to give our collaborators more than the opportunity to just present new versions of their work — we want to use this mechanic to reach deeply into hearts and minds.”

“Every day, the theatre will fade as the light dies, offering a metaphor for resilience,” said Kate Ladenheim. “We’re very deliberately presenting artists of color within an illuminated blackout that requires patience and observation to fully discover. One act outside can be two inside; this is hopefulness — bringing light to dark spaces.”

Performances in obscura will be staged by daylight every weekend
through February 19 2017, with tickets in strictly limited supply.

[ 3-4 performances per day every weekend from 28 January to 19 February 2017 at Open Source — tickets ]