Artists Reach Out: Mariana Valencia

Dear friends,

Welcome to Artists Reach Out: reflections in a time of isolation. I dreamed this series of interviews out of grief for my work both as a documenting arts writer and curator of live performance. In this time of social distancing, we are called to responsibly do all we can to safeguard ourselves and our neighbors. It is, literally, a matter of life and death.

But there's no distancing around what we still can share with one another--our experiences, thoughts, wisdom, humor, hearts and spirit. In some ways, there are more opportunities to do so as we pull back from everyday busyness out in the world and have time to honor the call of our inner lives.

So, let me introduce you to some artists I find interesting. I'm glad they're part of our beautiful community, and I'm eager to engage with them again (or for the first time) in years to come.

--Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody

Mariana Valencia

Mariana Valencia
(photo: Charlotte Curtis)

Mariana Valencia is a New York based choreographer and performer. Her work has been presented by Danspace Project, American Realness, AUNTS, The Chocolate Factory Theater, Performance Space, the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (OR), The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (DC), The Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), and internationally in England, Norway, Macedonia and Serbia. Valencia is a Whitney Biennial artist (2019), a Bessie Award recipient for Outstanding Breakout Choreographer (2018), a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Award to Artists grant recipient (2018), a Jerome Travel and Study Grant fellow (2014-15), and a Movement Research GPS/Global Practice Sharing artist (2016/17). She is a founding member of the No Total reading group and she has been the co-editor of Movement Research’s Critical Correspondence (2016-17). She has held residencies at Chez Bushwick, New York Live Arts, ISSUE Project Room, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Gibney, Movement Research and at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (OR). Valencia has worked with Lydia Okrent, Jules Gimbrone, Elizabeth Orr, Kate Brandt, AK Burns, Guadalupe Rosales, Em Rooney, robbinschilds, Kim Brandt, Morgan Bassichis, Jazmin Romero, Fia Backstrom and MPA. In 2019, she published two books of performance texts entitled Album (Wendy's Subway) and Mariana Valencia's Bouquet (3 Hole Press). Valencia holds a BA from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA (2006) with a concentration in dance and ethnography.

Mariana Valencia in Air (2020)
(photo: Jeenah Moon)

Do you have a current or planned project whose progress is affected by the pandemic?

Yes. I've had about nine national and international engagements postponed to 2021-23 but, in my mind, that feels like 2034-35.... No one ever knew the future; projections feel silly now. Our community of dance artists, choreographers, tech and venue staff is undergoing a huge strain.

On a personal level, I'm not sure what the horizon holds, but I'm staying resourceful. Some institutions and organizations have offered me small video projects which I'm grappling with because the medium is not live, and I don't "make" video art. It's like asking a therapist to stop talking in session, but they can still meet with their patients. A big "HOW?" looms over me.

Briefly, tell me about how you got involved in the arts and in your particular practice.

I learn through example and by doing; I'm an observer. I grew up watching my family dance at social gatherings; I learned to dance. I was taught to cut and sew garments; I make some of my costumes. I was taught to memorize poetry at a young age, so I have skills in memorizing my scripts. I learned to build things, so I craft the sets in my shows from scratch and ready-made compositions. This learning from example and doing is what has revealed to me the art that I make, and it has helped me re-frame and devise the layers of my performances.

Above and below:
Mariana Valencia in Air (2020)
(photo: Maria Baranova)

In a more specific way, what are you practicing? And what are you envisioning?

I'm practicing a daily mode of survival, one hour at a time, and it gives me a short scope of what is possible, since the possibility of what I've known is a bit impossible to envision in the future. I make the bed, cook, read, organize the spices, move the crystals and rocks from one surface to another. I take long walks. I Windex the mirrors.

Seeing these tasks through lends a sense of home, it honors where my body lives and moves and that care for me is similar to the care I give to my projects. So I'm grateful to blend the home/work space daily. I'm re-imagining the 40-hour work week, in particular how the 40-hour work week has impacted when and where I've presented my work.

Why are shows at night? Because we work during the day. Why do shows cost money? Because the arts have been established as a market that isolates entire communities from "it" within Capitalism. These shortcomings have given a price to the art I make, my time, my value.

I'm rethinking how I will continue to move through my community while questioning the scaffold that has stifled us/me. I'm feeling hopeful about this thinking; the need for each other and community has never felt so deep. I've been thinking about staying active and present so that I don't have to feel reactive and chased.

How does your practice and your visioning align with what you most care about?

I care about the people that I love, and that makes me think about love at-large and how if we all feel love for someone or something,  then the love web is wide and connected. I've been ruminating inside of the web and navigating it from this viewpoint and essentially, the goal is the path, and the path has many encounters, so let's honor each other.

How does your practice function within the world we have now?

My work has been focused onto the personal/political and the abstraction of these subjects for some time now. I now imagine my work on some sci-fi frequency (on video because of the pandemic) of just me doing things that bring me joy, that frame me as I am in my daily tasks. If I make who I am visible as "I am," then maybe I don't have to keep railing about how "in the margin" I've been made to live.

I define who I am. I also often erase that vision and, instead, envision this daily "me" on video with a really clear political statement that continues to shine a light on the ugly, the unfit and the underserved-- so, as is my custom, it will probably be a blend.

Briefly share one self-care tip that has special meaning to you now.

Do a day at a time. Don't try hoarding past or future time by dwelling and planning. Listen to right now and be with that. Reaction is different from action. Action gives me meaning, reaction shows me a deficit, a lack and a certain late sense of arrival.

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DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve, at Gibney, as Senior Director of Artist Development and Curation and Editorial Director. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

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