the THEATER OF IRREGULAR DESIRE presents...
RE/GENERATOR

RE/GENERATOR is a collaborative interdisciplinary project in which LGBTQQ artists explore critical questions facing today’s queer communities. In this innovative “call and response” process, each artist creates works in direct response to works by other participating artists, and artists meet regularly for critique and discussion. Highlights of the artwork created will be featured in an artists’ book, and the project will culminate in a gallery exhibition with an interactive opening reception/performance during which gallery visitors are invited to engage with the themes addressed in the show by creating their own response artworks and audio recordings.

FULL PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Re/Generator is a collaborative art project featuring an interdisciplinary group of artists who create work that explores critical questions facing the queer community today. Re/Generator is both a process (which creates an innovative framework for queer artists to engage with each others’ works) and a project (culminating in an exhibition and performance of work created through the process). In this dynamic “call and response” process, each artist creates works in direct response to works by other participating artists. For example, a poet might write a piece exploring the intersectionality of oppressions, and a visual artist might respond to the poem with a painting that expands on-or problematizes-the ideas presented in the poem. Artists also meet regularly for critique and discussion of the concepts explored in each others’ work. Re/Generator will culminate in a gallery exhibition with an interactive opening reception/performance. This model provides unusual opportunities for linkages- for artists to connect across disciplines, and for gallery visitors to engage with the ideas presented in the show by creating their own response artworks and audio recordings. The exhibition/performance represents the end of the first cycle of Re/Generator, which is designed to be an ongoing and sustainable art process/project. Re/Generator will be coordinated by the Theater of Irregular Desire, a multimedia queer art ensemble with a core team of artists and a rotating cast of guest collaborators.

The LGBTQQI community has a rich legacy of artists who act as visionaries, daring to imagine new possibilities and ways of being. In a world where gay culture is increasingly commercialized, we need artists to envision queer futures that focus on people not profit, and sustainable paths for reaching these futures. Re/Generator presents an innovative model that asks emerging queer artists to (a) create works that grapple with crucial sociopolitical issues facing the queer community today and (b) to challenge each other to expand the limits of their artistic and political vision. Our diverse group of artists is dedicated to social justice and believes in the power of art as a force for change. We share common language as queer artists but we also come from a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives that inform and enrich our work.

We want to break down barriers between artist and spectator, and to expand the conversation about issues facing the queer community today. We will invite spectators to be interviewed by one of the Re/Generator artists in an audio booth in the gallery, and encourage them to create artwork in response to the pieces in the show. Spectators’ artwork and interviews will be posted on our website. We will also provide two printed guides: one for artists’ groups interested in replicating the project, and one for youth programs to replicate the project with young people (or intergenerationally-- with youth and adult artists responding to each other.) To further expand the conversation and document the process and its outcome, we will invite writers interested in queer art to write about the project. We will post video of critiques online, and host an “open critique” where community members are invited to participate.

Re/Generator’s first cycle will culminate with a gallery exhibition including a performance at the opening reception. The exhibition and performance will feature highlights of work created during the project, as selected by the Lead Artists in consultation with the entire group. We will also produce handbound artists’ books featuring highlights of the work created during Re/Generator, with a minidisc of audio and video files.