See, he already has a flair for the dramatics…

In the New Media Room, the Bruno David Gallery presents a single-channel video work titled “Resurrection of Hun-Nal-Ye” by Escobar-Morales. The 21-minutes video originated from a performance at the closing for RICH-OO-UH’L, RICH-OO-UH’L at Jolie Laide Gallery in Philadelphia, with sound by Armando Morales.

In the Resurrection of Hun-Nal-Ye (2011), Escobar-Morales perform a funerary ritual, referencing the mythical Mayan tale of the Hero Twins reviving their dead father, the Maize God. In their contemporary interpretation of this ancient story, Escobar-Morales simultaneously represent the body and the soul; the God/ Goddess and twin offspring, in both physical and technological forms using live performance and web based video projection.

ESCOBAR-MORALES is a team comprised of Maya Escobar and Andria Morales. The two artists, based in Chicago and New York respectively, have been working together over the Internet since 2010. They produce digital media and performance art that explores the role of self-representation in visual culture and its ability to deconstruct ingrained ideological conventions. By locating their performances online where they are free from restrictions of time and place, Escobar-Morales is able to concurrently enact multiple personas while simultaneously creating a unified hybrid self.

Maya Escobar was born in Chicago, IL in 1984. Andria Morales was born in 1982 in New York, NY. Escobar received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2007) and an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis (2009); Morales received a BA from the University of Pennsylvania (2004) and an MFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University (2008).

Photo by Armando Morales

New Futuro, founded in 2008, works with community organizations and schools in urban Latino neighborhoods to provide students and their families with access to the college materials they’ll need, all of which are available in both English and Spanish translations. The company’s web platform offers America’s largest Hispanic scholarship database and hundreds of articles featuring useful advice on college planning, as well as profiles of successful minorities who’ve reached high levels in their careers. New Futuro also publishes a bilingual print magazine, which is distributed for free in high schools and through nonprofit and community partners.

read the full article in The Atlantic: New Futuro Narrows the Education Gap for Latino Students

NOVEMBER 10, 2012 NAVY PIER EXHIBITION HALL | 10 AM – 6 PM

New Futuro is hosting 3 more bilingual Road to College Workshops leading up to Chicago’s Largest Free College Prep Fair for Latinos on November 10, 2012 at Navy Pier. Thousands of dollars in scholarships, information and other resources will be given at these events.

REGISTER FOR THE FREE BILINGUAL COLLEGE WORKSHOPS
YOU CAN WIN $1,000 AT EACH WORKSHOP!

• SAT, OCT 27- Daley College
• SAT, NOV 3 – Unity Junior High School
• SUN, NOV 4- Humboldt Park Field House

REGISTER FOR THE FREE BILINGUAL COLLEGE PREP FAIR

Acting as designers, distributors and promo models, Escobar-Morales established an online marketing and brand design agency called AMerican MEdia Output.  The ad campaigns for Public Airways and Welcome to Arizona are inspired by recent news related to proposed immigration legislation in the US.  Blurring the line between performance and reality, AMerican MEdia Output asks viewers and participants to imagine the economic and social consequences of laws like SB1070 through the framework of advertising.  AMO is based online at AMericanMEdiaOutput.com and has disseminated their advertising over the internet using various social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.  Most recently, the AZ Welcome Girls hit the streets in San Antonio, TX to promote Arizona tourism by offering participants a cold drink of “Welcome Water.”

Nueva Exhibición en el Painted Bride Art Center Destaca la Importancia de la Documentación en la Sociedad Contemporánea

Filadelfia, PA.  Agosto 10, 2012— En colaboración con la organización cívica, cultural Acción Colombia, el Painted Bride Art Center será este otoño la sede de una exhibición que invita al cuestionamiento crítico con una docena de experimentos socio-visuales que incluyen dibujo, pintura, instalación, actuación, fotografía y otros medios de comunicación. Papeles: Are we what we sign? expone aspectos culturales, legales, y económicos que se encuentran detrás de las transacciones que procuran la participación y cohesión en la sociedad Americana.  La exhibición estará en muestra desde el 7 de septiembre hasta octubre 21, 2012, este proyecto es organizado paralelamente a la Conferencia de la Asociación Nacional de Artes y Cultura Latina (NALAC) que tendrá lugar en Filadelfia.

Papeles incluye un extraordinario e influyente grupo de artistas  en Filadelfia—algunos ya conocidos y otros surgiendo.  La postura de los artistas parte de sus posiciones como inmigrantes y/o descendientes de inmigrantes de naciones Latinoamericanas. Cada uno de ellos interpreta esta identidad como una cualidad abstracta que puede ser fácilmente dada, tomada, impuesta o distorsionada en una variedad de contextos.  Del comentario crítico, la añoranza, la sátira, y la resistencia los artistas exponentes han encontrado fuentes de inspiración. Los exponentes incluyen: Andrea Rincón, Andria Morales, Carlos Nuñez, Doris Nogueira-Rogers, el duo Escobar-Morales, Erika Ristovski, Jonas dos Santos, Jorge Figueroa, Lina Cedeño y Pedro Ospina, Michelle Angela Ortiz, Paula Meninato, and Susana Amundaraín.

Papeles: Are we what we sign? es una exhibición bajo la curaduría de Andreina Castillo, Consultora Independiente en Gestoría de Arte y Programas. “Este proyecto se convirtió en un lugar de encuentro para cada uno de nosotros al organizarlo, desde artistas y directores a líderes comunitarios” así lo expreso Castillo. “Cada uno de nosotros (y/o a través de nuestras familias) hemos estado expuestos a las satisfacciones y altibajos en el proceso de migrar. Nosotros invitamos al público general para que busque sus propias dicotomías cuando presencien las cualidades visuales y conceptuales de esta exhibición.”

PAPELES: Are we what we sign? busca servir como un instrumento visual de exanimación al vinculo social con los documentos como símbolos legales de identidad que modelan nuestra ideología individual, aceptación cultural, igualdad de los sexos, acceso económico, oportunidades laborales y logros académicos. Al final, esta exhibición expone nuestra cultura ciudadana dentro de la sociedad Americana. Los conceptos entretejidos en esta exhibición se enlazan con las corrientes en los Estados Unidos, y el proceso global en busca del consenso en reformas, leyes, votos, resoluciones y otras formas contractuales que afectan la formación social como individuo y nuestra vida en comunidad.

La recepción de apertura será durante “El Primer Viernes”, septiembre 7 de 5pm – 7:30pm en el Painted Bride Art Center en el 230 Vine Street, Filadelfia, PA.  En este evento, tendra la oportunidad de compartir con los artistas participantes, disfrutar de obras extraordinarias y de música Hispanoamericana en vivo. Ademas de deleitar de unos aperitivos especiales, amablemente ofrecidos por Positano Restaurant, Crudo & Wine Bar.  Para mayor información por favor comuniquese con el Painted Bride Art Center al 215.925.9914.

Acción Colombia es una organización sin ánimo de lucro establecida para desarrollar el liderazgo en la comunidad Colombiana y Latinoamericana a través de las artes, cultura y participación ciudadana en el área tri-estatal de Pensilvania, Delaware y Nueva Jersey.  Esta exhibición refuerza el compromiso con las artes y las iniciativas ciudadanas relacionadas con la inmigración, temas con los que la organización ha estado trabajando desde su inicio en el 2004.

Painted Bride Art Center es uno de los centros culturales más importantes en Filadelfia, y en el país.  Su misión es atraer artistas, audiencias y  comunidades rompiendo las barreras de como creamos y experimentamos el arte.  Esta institutición cultiva un ambiente de dialogo critico y un intercambio perseverante para transformar vidas y comunidades.

Nosotros le damos la bienvenida a la Asociación Nacional de Arte y Cultura Latina (National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC) a Filadelfia que tendrá lugar de octubre 17 al 21.  La conferencia nacional es una oportunidad para presentar la infraestructura artística de Filadelfia a una audiencia nacional de artistas, trabajadores culturales, curadores, y administradores del arte que de todos los rincones del país estarán participando en la conferencia.

Univision 65 apoya esta exhibición como el medio de comunicación oficial. Por favor visite www.accioncolombia.org/papeles o www.paintedbride.org para conocer mas sobre este proyecto.

PAPELES: Are we what we sign? aims to serve as a visual examination of our social bond with papers as legal signifiers of identity that shape individual mobility, cultural acceptance, gender and sexual-orientation equality, economic access, labor opportunities, and educational attainment.  Visual artists, community leaders, and arts administrators use this project to reflect upon the socio-cultural impact of documentation processes present in American society.

This exhibition gathers twelve influential—established and emerging—artists working in drawing, painting, installation, printmaking, photography, and mixed media. Participating artists include Andrea Rincon, Andria Morales, Carlos Nuñez, Doris Nogueira-Rogers, Erika Ristovski, the duo Escobar-Morales, Jonas Dos Santos, Jorge Figueroa, Lina Cedeño, Michelle Ortiz, Paula Meninato, and Susana Amundaraín.  They propose social-visual experiments from their positions as immigrants and/or descendants of immigrants from Latin American nations. New and existing works in this exhibition illuminate the concept of documentation into powerful narratives of critique, ambiguity, longing, and resilience.

The Painted Bride
230 Vine Street | Philadelphia, PA 19106 | 215.925.9914

September 7 – October 21, 2012
Gallery hours: 12pm – 6pm, Tues – Sat
First Friday receptions: September 7, October 5 | 5-7:30pm
Guest Curator Andreina Castillo | Co-Presented with Acción Colombia

Performance artists Escobar-Morales perform a funerary ritual, referencing the mythical Mayan tale of the Hero Twins reviving their dead father, the Maize God. In their contemporary interpretation of this ancient story, Escobar-Morales simultaneously represent the body and the soul; the God/ Goddess and twin offspring, in both physical and technological forms using live performance and web based video projection. Performed at Jolie-Laide gallery in Philadelphia.

Learn about college opportunities for undocumented students on today’s Poco a Poco radio show. We interviewed Tanya Cabrera, the Associate Director of Minority Outreach and Undocumented Student Liaison at IIT and IIT student leaders Maria Gonzalez and Taylor Hayes.

Maria Gonzalez, a brilliant sociology major and undocumented student leader, shares her experiences transferring from a Harold Washington, a Chicago City College, to the Illinois Institute of Technology, where she received an almost a full ride to college.  Maria discovered that while private institutions may not blatantly say “this funding is for undocumented students” they are not dependent on state funding, so their requirements are often such that you do not need to fill out a FAFSA to be considered. She encourages students to seek out these resources.

This interview covers every thing from: talking to your family, talking to your counselor, finding funding sources for college, supporting your child, the Dream Act, and being and ally to the movement. Tune into today 7/15 to Poco a Poco at 1:30 CST on http://wluw.org or for those folks in Chicago, you can listen on the radio on WLUW 88.7 FM.

For us, being a baller means you’re achieving in whatever field you’re a part of, and worked your butt off to make it happen. People who followed their passion and delivered, and who can help connect the dots as you think about your own path are vital.  New Futuro believes strongly that it’s important to highlight the specific steps necessary to get where you want to go. You can be a “baller” in absolutely any field, because in reality, the whole idea is about a path to success, no matter what you’re passionate about.

This week I had the honor of officially kicking off the series with our first baller: actor, musician, and Latino hero Max Arciniega.

And tune in this weekend to Poco a Poco Radio, to hear our FULL interview with Max.

My Shtreimel, YouTube Video, 2006.

“I think it is very important for each of us to have an enjoyable Shabbos experience. And to be able to in some ways personally define what that Shabbos experience entails. There’s a lot of different minhags that I think a lot different people have that not every one has. And there are certain things that we develop not necessarily because they are passed down from our father, or our mother, or your mother’s father, just because it is something that makes your Shabbos experience a little bit more enjoyable a lot these personal minhags that we all have…”

Casually citing the Chofetz Hayim and the Talmud Yerushalmi, he acknowledges both his relationship to, and awareness of traditional Jewish texts; thereby, indirectly aligning himself with a more observant Jewish community. Using humor, he offsets the implied exclusivity of those ties, by adding that he is actually wearing a woman’s hat that was purchased at a thrift store.

eruv stl is “posted as a response” to My Shtreimel. eruv stl is intended to link Berlin’s Eruv to St. Louis. In this low quality thus “authentic video blog” Loren and I drive around the Washington University in St. Louis area, with a map in hand, trying to locate St. Louis’s eruv. In the background you can hear Guns and Roses famous song Welcome to the Jungle. Loren assumes a role similar to the one of Matisyahu, a halakically informed Jew, who does not the traditional model for the other and is thereby able to communicate with the secular world.

eruv stl, YouTube Video, 2009.

I ask Loren why he thinks the eruv extends as far as it does and if he thinks that there area lot of Orthodox Jewish families living in the area. Loren tell me that the eruv has extended this far because of the Hillel on campus, and that while there are not many Orthodox families living on the streets that we are driving, that the presence of the Hillel on campus is enough to create an eruv-worthy Jewish community.

Not only does it become clear that Loren familiar with Orthodox Jewish practices and the neighboring streets, but also he is still not sure exactly where the eruv is located. Meaning that even though the eruv is present, Loren is either a) so religious that he doesn’t abide by it, OR b) he doesn’t lead a Jewish life that would involve abiding by an eruv. As the conversation continues Loren continues to distance himself from vocabulary that you would expect to come from a more observant Jew, as he casually engages in humorous banter with me surrounding the eruv.

I ask him how it felt to finally “find” the eruv, he responds that he “feels pretty good” but he didn’t feel like “it was an actual wall” – which it isn’t, so this statement is made in jest. He continues, “its like finding Waldo, Waldo had curly hair and glasses, he might have been a frum Jew [...] maybe it is a statement about jews begin such a small percentage of the population…

The Rebbe, Acrylic on Canvas, 2004.

more thesis excerpts coming soon…