Life Touching Life
Life Touching Life
Dakota Gearhart
“Life Touching Life” is an animated video podcast that takes place in a future universe where all beings are treated equally—humans, animals, and even bodies of water.
New Dream of Love; Live with Lester
Lester Mayers
Featuring Lester Mayers, Keturah Jordan, Brandon Bera, and Matt Carvin
PRIME Soraya Zaman
Soraya Zaman
The SoMad artist residency has provided Zaman the opportunity to fix their practice to a single space. Granted with both time and space, Zaman has been able not only to play and explore but also to hone in on the genre of still life photography. Still life photography often represents subjects at their “prime” and most “beautiful": a flower at peak bloom, fruit at its most luscious. However, Zaman’s innate curiosity led them to a study of finding the beauty and vulnerability within the unseen moments, the rot and decay, the distorted and refracted. Zaman introduces a tension between preservation and decay.
Mothertree David Aliperti
David Aliperti
In his art practice, David Aliperti explores how time spent and communal effort in the making of the artwork can serve to slow down the pace of the viewer’s visual experience. His current series titled Mother Tree includes sculptures molded by hand from repurposed paper paste, a foam composite that is very lightweight yet buildable. This material choice enables new, gravity defying, flora to ascend almost weightlessly. These sculptures require many hours of meditative handwork; to sculpt the numerous individual petals, leaves and stems that come together to form the whole of each sculpture. Aliperti loves traces of that handwork via fingerprints and nail marks to remain.
Lesson 6 - I Will Never Be A Secret Again
Lester Mayers & Catherine Keefe-Harris
"Love is the freedom to be open instead of pitching moralistically between the thin line of discretion and secrecy. Love doesn’t always have to be hidden at the cost of someone else’s truth. It can be open, celebrated, and protected without being sacrificed in the dark. @purrgatoire & I dig deeper to the level that secrecy plays in all of our relationships, which could simply mean we hide the complex parts of ourselves to maintain an image that's not aligned with what the rest of society expects from us. Have you ever been a secret? Have you ever made some a secret? If so, how did you break free?" - Lester Mayers
Lesson 5 - Repass
Lester Mayers
African Booty Scratcha Lovin da ashy blaq fat chall wif yella teen peasy head & a broken smile”, was written while working full time at a hospice. The lessons I learned there always leave my vocabulary insufficient. I met so many spirits that I respect and revere that left an indelible mark on my soul. Each day I went to work, I imagined the end of my life, not in a depressive way, but I imagined what the celebration of my l life would be like. This Love Lesson is not about passing on but celebrating while living. Those souls freed my language so much, so I wrote this entire book in the many Black vernacular bestowed in me.
Lesson 4 - I want a love...
Lester Mayers & Catherine Keefe-Harris
“I’m still in that place of altering myself just for love. The lack of love in the world is what propels my he(art) - I’m often creating from a place of pain and loneliness with a dash of hope. But there are moments when LOVE comes to full fruition, and without force, I operate from that blooming LOVE. This conversation is a perfect example of working from LOVE my baby Catherine, and I took all of our histories, pains, and hopes, laying it all out in the name of love in a 5 part Conversation! - Lester Mayers
Lesson 3 - It Will Be A Thursday
Lester Mayers
"I will continue to remind us all that we are deserving of good mental health & emotional wellbeing. That we deserve to LIVE whole, complete...FREE. That we deserve to be seen and not sacrificed. To be romanced and not manipulated. That we must admit when we are lonely so we can appreciate times when we are loved. I will continue to claim love no matter how painful it might've been in the past. It Will Be A Thursday is another excerpt from my genderless choreopoem Swallow From Both Ends; an experience not written from a distance, written and developed at the Playwrights' Center." - Lester Mayers
Lesson 2 - In & Out
Lester Mayers, Matt Carvin & Keturah Jordan
"The truth is we are all In & Out of lovin ourselves. It's never a won battle or a lost war. But it is a journey, and for those of us still caffeinated on pain of an ex-lover, it can make that journey even more difficult. This live musical recording is a little medicine for that pain." - Lester Mayers
Lesson 1 - I Don't F*ck With The Lights On
Lester Mayers
"A choreopoem so true for so many. It was not easy to bear this, but it feels so good to release it. ☺️ "I Don't F*ck With The Light's On" is an excerpt from my genderless choreopoem "Swallow From Both Ends; an experience not written from a distance" written and developed at the Playwrights' Center." - Lester Mayers
Claywoman: Thoughts on Earth
Claywoman
Binibining Iniibig
Keith Lafuente
Keith Lafuente premieres the film Binibining Iniibig: a beauty pageant where Filipino tradition meets American ambition. This film showcases eleven contestants and their captivating capabilities in three compelling categories: runway, talent, and Q&A. Alas, only one can claim the crown! Prepare yourself for an evening of fashion, spectacle and determination in this thrilling competition of beauty and power hosted by Apple Mei. The contestants are Ana Roxanne, Diva Soria, Alika Hall, Keekai, Cal Glorioso, Ben Florencio, Jared Chung, Garrett Traya, Miles Barretto, Eris Argate, and West Dakota.
Deconstructed Foley
Kamra Hakim
Kamra is on a mission to explore music's varietal qualities. Back in January, Kamra performed a 2 hour live set making music using instruments and objects. Enjoy a short window into “Deconstructed Foley” now streaming on all platforms.
Winter in Pluto
Mortal Self
Winter in Pluto is an experimental musical film that tells the myth of Stone, a love goddess who lives in the clouds and controls all acts of love on earth through her television set. Stone is the daughter of the goddess Venus and carries on the tradition of reuniting all beings with their “missing half.” Things change in Stone’s world when she begins questioning her inherited myth; the myth of love that has guided us all for centuries! Stone’s rebellion brings on a winter of change and a summer of self-discovery.
Icolette
Sophia Wolfe & Chris Powers
Icolette is a transcendental multimedia experimental film that mirrors natural systems and cycles. The film follows a young girl determined to collect the skin of a fish.
6
Mortal Self
The number 6 spirals into itself like a womb or a cocoon. This darkness is nourishing, a space for healing and revelation. 6 is a multimedia project conceived by Natalita and Riley, and created through a collaborative journey with the women and terrain of Louisiana.
words of water
Ellie Borzilleri
A short 16mm exploration on the ephemeral ways movement and direction interact, contrast, and fight one another within the frame. "words of water" uses water as a physical tool of representation for the structures that bind our existence and the transient motions of life.
TURTLE?
Yangqi Deng
Turtle? is a nonlinear fictional narrative piece that unfolds around questioning the turtle through imagery drawn from multiple sources. The turtle is both the subject and the medium, connecting the past and the future, carrying the earth across the universe.
Blooming Fire, Burning Flowers, Bright as Sun
Kristen Williams
Blooming Fire, Burning Flowers, Bright as Sun is a short film about the birth of the universe. It was made by creating photograms of flowers on 16mm motion picture film, producing images that are reminiscent of galaxies, nebulas, supernovas.
The Museum of Prophecy
Emilie Slater
It was filmed in Skagästron, Northern Iceland over the course of several months. The title is the same as the town's only museum where our narrator, Dagný Marín, has faithfully operated for the last decade. MOP explores the mythical lore of the small town's struggle with industrial expansion expansion at the expense of environmental degradation
WO RM
Julia Chien
A split worm searches for his bottom half.
7-Day Fungi Prescribed Therapy
Pedro Morales
7-Day Fungi Prescribed Therapy is a video art project that invites the audience to immerse themselves in a world of organic forms and natural patterns, in a visionary world of fungi and fractals.
Claywoman & David Aliperti
Claywoman
Live Performance by Paris Alexander
Paris Alexander
Performance piece presented during the Winter in Pluto
Musical Performance by Natalita
Natalita
Musical Performance from the film screening event of Winter in Pluto
Erik Homepage Video
Erik Benepe
Kyle Doesn't Need Any Fucking Music
Serichai Traipoom
Religious Experience
Scottie Norton
Monumental Resistance: Stonewall
Lorenzo Triburgo & Sarah Van Dyck
33THEYROOTED
Michiyaya Dance Company & Retrograde Studios
Perception
Amina Gingold
The Black Beginning
Arewá Basit, Anya Clarke-Verdery, Ximone Rose, The Dragon Sisters, Alexander Paris
A cabaret collaboration with LEGACY and Ars Nova vision resident Starr Busby
Show and Tea: Arewá Basit
Arewá Basit
Wild waves willfully fluid, ushering in Black Futures Month deep in the water courtesy of Arewá and a peak inside of the kikis we all want to be part of!
Black Feels: Arewá Basit
Arewá Basit
Imprinting critique on our grace.
SoMad Chats: Julia
Julia Blume
Julia Blume immerses us in her sculptural ecosystems inspired by her time spent in nature practice long looking and meditative walking. We connected on an appreciation of the natural world for Mad World.
SoMad Chats: Keith
Keith Lafuente
Keith Lafuente brings us a caring perspective on creating garments using upcycling techniques and nature as inspiration. Keith's creative abilities of airbrush painting, jewelry making and innovative fashion bring joy to those who encounter them.
SoMad Chats: Tony
Tony Saborio
Tony Saborio chats about his multifaceted career as a production designer and artist now focusing on refurbishing furniture and creating something entirely new and lovable. Tony's installation at Mad World was complete with many of his creations.
SoMad Chats: Bibinka
Bibinka Mama
Bibinka Mama is a one of a kind drag queen bakeshop spreading joy, feeding the community, and highlighting Filipino-American culture. As a Mad World performer, she took us on a journey from Polynesia to Outer Space.
SoMad Chats: Give & Take
Zab Shavrick & Natasha Trinh
SoMad Chats: Esther
Esther the Bipedal Entity
Esther creates a new light around our climate crisis as host of Mad World. As an environmental queen, Esther gives attention to the complexities of global systems and makes a sustainable ethos hot.
SoMad Chats: Lucky Riso
Amanda Chung
Amanda Chung shares her experience starting Lucky Risograph, a sustainable artist centered print studio in Brooklyn. A plethora of their artists' prints excited the walls of Mad World.
SoMad Chats: Kemi
Oluwakemi Oritsejafor
SoMad Chats with Oluwakemi Oritsejafor aka Kemi, artist, entrepreneur, and founder of SOLA Market about the importance of community and sharing resources shaping a more connected and sustainable future.
SoMad Chats: Luana
Luana Finco
Luana Finco of Urugula Creative Cuisine makes a mean vegan puff pastry. Leading up to her catering Mad World, we talk sustainable eating practices and simple delicious climate solutions.
SoMad Chats: Seri
Serichai Traipoom
Serichai Traipoom chats fashion photography, photojournalism, the importance of community, and the meaning of sustainability that centers self care.
SoMad Chats: Adi
Adrianna Fracchia
Adi Does Food does granola so good we can't keep our hands off it. She chats chef-life-balance and starting her own venture.
SoMad Chats: Julianne
Julianne Nash
Julianne Nash chats about her current projects and gets into her environmental conscience for Mad World.
SoMad Chats: Hannah
Hannah Villanueva
SoMad Chats: Sara
Sara Arno
Sara Arno chats about SoMad and her personal artistic practice leading up to Mad World.
Shimmer Shimmer
Lorenzo Triburgo & Sarah Van Dyck
An intimate conversation about process, politics and the power of love.
Body as Collectives; Intro to New Dream of Love
Kamra Hakim
Original performance by Kamra Hakim
Yesterday’s Makeup
Anne Kristoff
This film by Anne Kristoff was created in response to living through the coronavirus quarantine in New York City in early to mid 2020.
Watch
Melvin Harper
HHH (Hand, Heart, Head)
Thibaut Eiferman
Sara’s Galapagos
Sara Arno
Raconteur
Rebecca Krasnik
Untitled 97mars
Livia Di Lucia
A Very Scary Time for Young Men in ‘Murica
Carla Maldonado
Cooking Lessons with Eggplants
Sara Arno
Sparkling Drowning
Livia Di Lucia
Thank You For Shopping Here
James Gardella
Clown’s Night Out III Quarantine Clown Party
Brian Andrew Whiteley
Who's There?
Amina Gingold
Untitled for Technically Sweet
Laura Parnes
Girl Who Strikes Back
Amina Gingold
LIGHT This Bitter Earth
Carla Maldonado
Far From Home
Xin Fang
Connection VS Safety
Qinza Najm
Eventually
Rory Scott
Nature
Joseph Gaybeuys
Encounter
Kunjin Jiang
Pandemic
Flatsitter
Parabola Q
Jonathan Ellis
A Letter to Ming
Jiuxun Jin
COVID-19
Patricia Voulgaris
Pandemic Bliss
Jonathan Ellis
Love Me When I’m High
Aprilia Utami Setya Wijoyo
חסרת ישועה
Ori Highbloom
Speaks Over Men
Kat Shannon
“Speaks Over Men is one minute and fourteen second video piece in which I’ve superimposed my voice over video footage I took of men speaking in Central Park, intentionally creating a slippage between their words and thoughts, and my own. My work often examines ideas surrounding intimacy and longing, and in this piece particularly I wanted to push against the boundaries of video in order to address gender, desire, and discomfort.”
18 Months of Hair
Sara Arno
A global pandemic is declared. We wonder, how long will this last? Experts estimate that it could be 18 months until a vaccination is ready. In an effort to realize the impact of what this time apart will mean, I cut off 18 months’ worth of hair growth. By the time my hair becomes long again, we will be ready to pick up and start again.
Black Gaze: PhenomenaLewis
PhenomenaLewis
When the butterfly folds into itself after you crawl inside of its cocoon
Show and Tea: Candice
Candice Nembhard
Everyone has a voice though not everyone needs to chat, quieting the artist avatar and tuning into grief with Candice Nembhard and Kamra/Futurity Artist.
Show and Tea: Toni
Toni Smalls
Our deepest most inner neurosis, truths, and bodies as bridges to each other.
Black Feels: Liz
Liz Kennedy
It is the NO for us, honoring boundaries and the power of being feeling ass beings.
Show and Tea: Amber
Amber | Realm
Composting the trash, ingesting the ruins of us and providing what needs to emerge the love to do so.
Black Feels: Marisa
Marisa Hall
Recovery dreams, adornment spells and nothing low key for well rested, nourished Black queer bodies.
Black Gaze: KT
KT Kennedy
We saw things we imagined, explore Black Gaze as masculine location with KT and Kamra Hakim.
Black Feels: JJ
JJ McDonald
The way we body minds transition cyclically inspires surrender tears.
Show and Tea: Tough
Tough Gossamër
Y’all are racist. Stop talking about “the light” and do your shadow work. Tough Gossamër delivers Bathwater, the record you did not know you needed.
Black Feels: Vanessa
Vanessa Newman
Our technologies lead us inward.
Show & Tea: keiyaA
keiyaA
KeiyaA inspires us to illuminate an essence of play in Black music making.
Black Gaze: Starr
Starr Sanford
Stoicism and giggles in an ocular experience turning on felt sensation.
Black Feels: Qween
Qween Jean
The priority is to protect Black trans women everywhere, always.
Black Feels: Lester
Lester Mayers
Transmuting trauma, Lester Mayers takes viewers on a freedom dreaming journey through pain’s path.
Black Gaze: Annika
Annika Hansteen-Izora
Finding safety in a flirty Black Gaze between Futurity Artist and Annika Izora.
Black Feels: Dominique
Dominique Wynne
Vaguely feeling as fine as we look in our bag.
Show & Tea: Dorchel
Dorchel Haqq
Channeling as excavation, tell stories and yearning for peace.
Show & Tea: Dee
Dee Diggs
When the butterfly folds into itself after you crawl inside of its cocoon.
Welcome to Activation TV - Hosted by Futurity Artist
Kamra Hakim
Exercising our birthright to be feeling beings, bound by inevitable transformations and uploads, running radical love programming and glitching across the status quo, uniting mycelium, weaving in wandering liminaly making connections. Futurity Artist and SoMad present Activation TV - shows about channeling, about Black trans sorcery and wizardry sprinkled in and throughout the mundane, a glimpse into Pluto underworld and beyond!
The Dragon Sister's Big Brooklyn Pride Party
The Dragon Sisters
SoMad proudly presents our livestream of The Dragon Sisters Big Brooklyn Pride Party for Amida Care NY.
Spooky Couture SS20
Wiederhoeft
“Spooky Couture” is Jackson Wiederhoeft’s first full collection under his namesake label. He is a graduate of Parsons School of Design, where he won “Women’s Designer of the Year” in 2016 for his thesis collection, “The Dollies.” Pieces from this collection went on to be featured in publications like CR, V, and Vogue Hommes, worn by the likes of Rihanna, Aquaria, and Lil’ Kim.
Mango
Carla Maldonado
Performed by Carla Maldonado. Original footage filmed at SoMad Studio by the artist, mixed with found audio from Zia Ahmed, Samantha Bachman, Richard Tipping and Zelene Suchil.
Encuentro Trailer
Lesson 12 - Love in community
Lester Mayers and Catherine Keefe-Harris
“There’s a reason Love is always at the cuffs of my surrender. There’s a reason I don’t shy away from depression, loneliness, and trauma. In all the stories I tell, my end game is for everyone who’s experienced my work to summon love & joy for themselves. Love Lesson With Lester is my hymn, prayer, a good cry, orgasm, ferocious hug, rebirth, smile, and apology to myself that I hope you all find your way to and through.
Lesson 11 - A Spring Of Gay-Black-Feminine-joy
Lester Mayers
There’s a sly balancing truth happening in this poem. The backbone of Gay-Black-Feminine-Men is steeped in the resuscitation of self-love after years of abandonment, emotional gentrification, and self-loathing. "Through the misery and frustrations of not finding the hopeful message explicitly directed to Gay-Black-Feminine-Men, when I needed it the most, I wrote this within the authority of my identity. This poem is my prayer, hymn, wish, and hope that We-GBFM can arrive at such healing without compromising our right to love, live, be redeemed by our own definition. This poem is from my first book of critical analysis entitled A Spring Of Gay-Black-Feminine-joy." - Lester Mayers
Lesson 10 - Love Stigmas and Battles
Lester Mayers, Catherine Keefe-Harris.
“It’s really about finding the beauty in things.” This Love Lesson With Lester digs deep into the stigmas of health. "Catherine Keefe-Harris and I ask the questions: How do we live with life changes and not against them? How do we stay honest about our experiences and not fake them to avoid taking up too much space? Our health is about the journey, not necessarily the destination. As the holiday's approach and the remembered pain strikes us, how do we remove the shame to ask for help? How do we ask for support in coming out? How do we find the courage to tell ourselves we can make it to tomorrow and take every day one hour/minute/second at a time." - Lester Mayers
Lesson 9 - Motha how could you Eva? A poem fo Hydeia
Lester Mayers
"Lesson 9 is dedicated to those that put their lives, art, and hearts on the line to end stigma & remove shame so that the deepening of love is not just in theory but actual practice. Today’s Love Lesson is dedicated to Hydeia for her bravery, for her truth, for her life, for permitting us to smile even through the most challenging parts. Most times in life, we have no choice in the matter of keeping the faith, in being grateful, in healing. As we move into the week of thankfulness, I hold Hydeia, I poet for her, and I thank her for not giving up. This poem can be found in my second book of poetry - African Booty Scratcha Lovin da ashy blaq fat chall wif yella teen peasy head & a broken smile. " - Lester Mayers
Lesson 8 - New Dream, New Love
Lester Mayers & Catherine Keefe-Harris
"On this Love Lesson With Lester, we are disrobing emotionally, shedding the self-righteousness in complete honesty, finding the truth we wish to whisper to our younger selves. We briefly touch the surface of open relationships and so much more In this Love Lesson, I want us all to consider that when the pain of life takes us on a ride via memory highway, dropping us off to our younger selves, we mustn’t just park in that pain or the disturbed innocence of our youth. But, instead, we must come to a brief stop, open the door, let out younger selves hop in, grab their hand, squeeze it as we speak everything that was missing back into us. What would you tell your younger self? As you heal, what’s a new dream of yours? & Would you be in an open relationship? " - Lester Mayers
Lesson 7 - Da Voice of Our Ancestors
Lester Mayers
"The danger of making Black Women a superhero in vulnerable/healing spaces is the “Rust on the razor that threatens the throat; it’s an unnecessary insult.” I’ve witnessed Black women move forward with an unstoppable pain yet stagnated with nowhere to let the pain out or a chance to process. What do we say about love when we tell a Black Woman, “don’t cry, don’t mourn, everything is gonna be alright.” The next time a Black woman is vulnerable, reject the temptation to console her based on the anxiety of your wisdom wanting desperately to help but instead follow along on the terms of her tears. Give her space and let her weep. And cry along with her if you must Love is an honest weep. We all have a right to weep with our own considerable but reasonable demands. Without the ability to feel pain and weep, love, is just a culdesac of theory." - Lester Mayers
Introduction
Lester Mayers
"The honesty of loving ourselves is up to us. These lessons are crafted for every soul to break through mind-numbing pains without the need to defend and offend your experience. In these lessons, everyone gets to let their belly hang, let the war in their chest settle, and be." - Lester Mayers