The Shed Announces New Digital Work From Mariana Valencia, Ayesha Jordan, and The Brothers Sick

The Shed's digital commissioning program Up Close continues with new works by Mariana Valencia premiering on November 16, Ayesha Jordan with collaborator Justin Hicks premiering on November 30, and The Brothers Sick with collaborators Danilo Machado and Yo-Yo Lin premiering on December 14. Each commission will be accessible for free on The Shed's website (theshed.org/upclose), with Valencia's and Jordan's also appearing on Instagram (@TheShedNY) and The Shed's YouTube channel remaining available for viewing on demand. The Brothers Sick commission will be accessible December 14 through January 13, 2021.

The Shed launched Up Close in April 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, upholding its commitment to expanding the scope of how a cultural institution can serve its communities during this time of uncertainty and upheaval. In doing so, The Shed has embraced its role as a supporter and amplifier of creative ideas, underrepresented voices, and the broader cultural ecosystem of our city. To creatively and critically engage artists and audiences in this moment, Up Close presents intimate performances, spoken word, dance parties, multimedia experimentations, conversations, and other forms of original content that explore what it means to make art right now.

Mariana Valencia: Solo B

Premieres Monday, November 16 at 6 pm EST
In Mariana Valencia's video Solo B-a Spanglish phrase coined by the artist meaning "just be"-the poses of Classical and pre-Columbian sculptures guide the artist's movements, words, and reflections. The performance roams through millennia, from ancient Greece to contemporary art, capturing the world from Valencia's perspective, framed by her research in the Mediterranean region, ephemera collected from her mother's youth, and other references in her proximate view. Crossing time and place, Solo B offers a deep examination of notions of beauty, rupture, and healing.

Ayesha Jordan with Justin Hicks: Shasta Geaux Pop Blended Therapy

Premieres Monday, November 30 at 6 pm EST
Over the past year, the world has been turned upside down along with many of our plans, schemes, and dreams. "Glamazon hip-hop icon" Shasta Geaux Pop (the alter ego of artist Ayesha Jordan) had a dream, and now she needs therapy. In the video Blended Therapy, Shasta and her partner J.U.S.E. (Justin Hicks) look for ways to connect through a sonic and visual exploration of the unseen parts of Shasta's psyche. Audiences will be able to unwind as Shasta and J.U.S.E. create an atmosphere of electric sounds and charged energies.

The Brothers Sick: Phases and the In-Betweens

Monday, December 14 through January 13, 2021, at 6 pm EST
Phases and the In-Betweens proposes an intervention into the usual flow of The Shed's web pages with the incorporation of simple generative elements including looped animations and a diptych video. These generative elements will change throughout the monthlong work according to the phases of the lunar cycle, starting with the new moon, in order to reflect on the experience of the pandemic from a disability-artistry perspective. Using images taken during procedures, tests, and treatments in hospitals, combined with writing, poetic description, and video footage, the artists aim to showcase the heightened anxiety of experiencing the "outside" world in a predominantly medicalized way during the pandemic, in contrast to the public world's radical shifts between shutdowns and Black Lives Matter protests. Critically engaging with the state's New York Forward plan to reopen NYC according to four "phases," alongside the frameworks of disabled/crip time, sick time, and pandemic time, the piece takes a look at the disablement further imposed on communities who identify as sick/ill/disabled during a pandemic.