TOUGH SKIN/CUERO DURO

(work in process 2022 to be premiered in 2023) is a multi-media performance/installation project that explores my inter- and intra-species, eco-feminist research through video, sound and live interactions. An experimental 30-minute film, featuring elephants and some human collaborators in Africa, will constitute both a stand-alone piece and the visual component of live site-specific improvisatory movement performances. The film will be the product of residencies with elephants in Driftwood Studios, South Africa (2022) and Olepangi Farm, Kenya (2023), which will be edited in Puerto Rico in collaboration with local visual and sound artists. The sound component, previously recorded and live, will change every time it’s performed. The intended venues will include public spaces, such as parks, community centers, and gardens. The live performances, first shown in Puerto Rico, will also tour widely in order to explore our shared environmental crises, and find ways to become more attuned and interoceptive to myriad critical realities. When prompted, audience members will be invited to interact during performances, and their responses will be recorded in order to keep building an archive of sound. By listening and responding, we will echo the otherworldly infrasounds of a deeply intelligent, highly communal animal from which our species has much to learn about living wisely on the planet. 

Supplying a platform for a Puerto Rican artist continuously subjected to lack of infrastructure, funding, opportunities, visibility, pier reviews, etc due to colonization and corruption gives hope and possibility to future generations. Visibility to experimental work and research that is rare in Puerto Rico. Create possibility for artists that have similar interests and agencies to connect and take their work further with greater action/activism towards serious issues we are all having to face.

ARTIST karen langevin 

EMAIL kalangevin@yahoo.com

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