In time of plagues: a conversatorium between Andrea Pagnes and Guillermo Gómez-Peña

Keywords: pandemics, performance art, virtual self, social critique, apocalyptic times

Abstract

From February 2020 to August 2021, Andrea Pagnes has been in continuous online dialogue and poetic exchange with poet and performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña. The present text is an edited extract from their virtual encounters, digitally grown poems and online performances between them, which later merged into a video work by Verena Stenke (VestAndPage). Their words have developed as a chronicle response to multiple pandemics, including COVID-19, the viruses of racism, colonization, confinement, forced displacement and mental illness. Their poetic and philosophical considerations attempt to shed a radical, poetic light onto the abysses of our times, such as white supremacy, oppression, violence, digital isolation, death and ultimately: the survival of it all through art-making.

Author Biographies

Andrea Pagnes, VestAndPageVenice International Performance Art Week

Andrea Pagnes (VestAndPage) from ArtEZ Institute of the Arts, Arnhem, Netherlands. Has been working with Verena Stenke as VestAndPage since 2006. They gained international reputation operating in performance art, filmmaking, social theatre, and art community projects. Their performance practice is contextual, conceived psycho-geographically in response to social situations, natural and historical surroundings, urban ruins. They explore themes such as pain sublimation, suffering, fragility, risk-taking, trust in change, union and endurance to merge reality poetic elements to contrast the exercise of power and discrimination. Since its inception, they have been the Venice International Performance Art Week curators. Their last film, Plantain, received the best movie award at the Berlin Independent Film Festival (2018).

Guillermo Gómez-Peña

A performance artist, writer, activist, radical pedagogue, and artistic director of the legendary La Pocha Nostra performance troupe. Born in Mexico City, he moved to the US in 1978, and since 1995, his three homes have been San Francisco, Mexico City and the “road”. His performance oeuvre, 21 books and numerous lectures have contributed to the debates on cultural, generational, gender diversity, border culture and North-South relations. For over 30 years, he has been staging seminal performance art pieces, forming and inspiring artists worldwide. His award-winning solo performances mix experimental aesthetics, activist politics, Spanglish humour and audience participation to create a “total experience” for spectators, readers and listeners.

Published
2023-12-11
How to Cite
PAGNES, A.; GÓMEZ-PEÑA, G. In time of plagues: a conversatorium between Andrea Pagnes and Guillermo Gómez-Peña. Ephemera - Journal of the Graduate Program in Performing Arts at the Federal University of Ouro Preto, v. 6, n. 11, 11 Dec. 2023.