7 episodes, 7:00 minutes per episodes (49:00 minutes total)
The Wooden People is a 360º virtual reality film series comprising seven episodes. It is written and directed by artist Nao Bustamante and its cast includes notable Los Angeles-based artists Gabriela Ruiz, rafa esparza, San Cha, Markus Kuiland-Nazario, Ron Athey, and Dorian Wood. The work also features a musical and sound score by Nick Hallett and costumes by OLIMA. Addressing representations of queer existence, love, and cosmic connections, The Wooden People merges Mayan myths with the drama of a telenova. The film elaborates on the Mayan origin story of “the Wooden People”, a caste of pre-humans that were ultimately eradicated. The Wooden People are another fallen folk and exemplify an alternative attempt at what it looks like, and means, to be human. In Bustamante’s work the Wooden People are presented as a subcultural group, living in contemporary Los Angeles. Their story includes familiar social structures, such as caste systems, which have existed throughout history and persist today. By contextualizing this group of ancient people in the present day, they appear similarly to how a contemporary subculture (for example, goths) might operate semi-separately from mainstream culture. They follow their own set of rules, customs, and etiquette, yet they are still subject to the broader social systems at play. The overarching story of the series follows Bustamante as she meets a deity figure (played by Gabriela Ruiz), and then returns to narrate the series and explain how society has arrived at our current global circumstances. The project also serves as a mirror of primarily Latinx artists currently working in Los Angeles; each performer is an exciting figure in their own right and featured in their own episode inspired by their artwork.
California-born and internationally recognized, Nao Bustamante cut her teeth as an artist between 1984 and 2001 in San Francisco where she studied in the New Genres department at the San Francisco Art Institute. Bustamante’s occasionally precarious and radically vulnerable work encompasses performance art, video installation, visual art, filmmaking, and writing. As Kevin McGarry from The New York Times succinctly put it, “[Bustamante] has a knack for using her body.”
The five works included in the Kadist Collection are representative of Pettibon’s complex drawings which are much more narrative than comics or cartoon...
Coda Culture: A Space for Freedom | Arts Equator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Akanksha Raja October 11, 2018 As told to Akanksha Raja In the latest instalment in our series covering independent art spaces in Southeast Asia, ArtsEquator.com spoke with artist Seelan Palay to learn about his practice, his inspirations, and his journey setting up the independent alternative art space Coda Culture , at 803 King George’s Avenue in Singapore...
“Relation between Black and blood” explores the connection between performance, installation and representation...
The working processes of artists: Nam Hwa Opera | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles August 23, 2019 In this video, LASALLE students Cherie Tan Yan Zhen and Lee Jia Jing speak to opera performer Chen Yu Zhi from Nam Hwa Opera, a Singapore-based Teochew opera troupe founded in 1963...
In Studies of Chinese New Villages II Gan Chin Lee’s realism appears in the format of a fieldwork notebook; capturing present-day surroundings while unpacking their historical memory...
Philip Guston Beer Launch X DEYA | Tate Modern Join us to celebrate the launch of “Painting, Drinking, Eating”, a Philip Guston-inspired collaboration brew with DEYA and Tate Be the first to try this fantastic beer, and meet the artist behind the DEYA brand, Thom Trojanowski , as he hosts a live drawing session on our drawing wall...