Performances
Performance art and the documentation thereof.
Forward by Gren Bee
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It's The Radio, It's The Gun, It's The Cigar Smoking Man
Click For Artist Statement:
In this performance, I portray a conservative radio host with no name delivering their final broadcast. In the performance, the host makes several attempts to radicalize their audience to return to animalism, he begs for money, he molds a concrete phallus while talking directly to the camera, he performs multiple monologues based on suicide notes, and the entire time he tightly grips and freely waves a handgun. The work combines pre-written and improvised spoken word, found footage, synth and electronic music, and on-screen graphics to create something that routinely breaks the rules of live performance and its documentation. The work and persona serve as explorations of my history with body dysmorphia, schizophrenic delusions, suicidal idolization, sex work, transsexuality, and the fear and paranoia of living under constant surveillance.
This work has exhibited at SAIC Galleries on November 9th, 2024, for the Barbara Degenievieve Student Response Exhibition and was curated by Alan Labb and Lisa Wainwright, SAIC Galleries
More information here.
- Documentation of performance, 33:58, performance with sound sculpture. 2023.
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Click For Artist Statement:
In this performance, I portray a representative of an American Weapons Manufacturer who is selling a collection of noises generated from electronic instruments made to represent parts of my own trans body as weapons of mass destruction. The Narcissus Sex Robots, as they are called, are made from wood, metal, guitar pickups, contact microphones, theremin, and a Rasberry Pi 4 midi module connected to a Playtron. Over the course of the performance, I play the instruments as loud as I can, I sing poetry about my mother, my journey to becoming a woman, and life under what feels like a hellish political landscape built in a culture war over my body.
This work was exhibited at the University of North Texas in 2023 for the senior thesis group exhibition, "Future Memories 2000", which was curated by Liss LaFleur, and produced under a theme based around the automatic writing, "We, The Tailbone: Living Vestiges of The Last Days Generation" by Gren Bee.
More information here. - Documentation of performance, 30:02, 2023.
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Click For Artist Statement:
Open Mic Night/Comedy Is Legal was a performance in my performance series, Thanks For Tuning In, which took place in March of 2023. The documentation covers two separate performances: one planned, and one improvised. The planned performance was "Open Mic Night" which explores the trans woman as a disappearing phenomenon as a premonition for the genocide that is likely to come for trans people in this country. The piece explores a comedian, or an artist, who is a trans woman performing her muse as she gets progressively more and more scared of returning to the spotlight in light of the recent Texas anti-trans "drag bans" legislature. The second performance was an improvised collaboration with Salvia Hunden (Salv The Dog), a trans musician and performer in Seattle, Washington. "Comedy Is Legal" explores the vacuum of an art scene without queer and trans voices, and serves as a darkly comedic take by two trans women who face uncertainty in an era of drastic polarization about our bodies and human rights.
This performance was one of several performances in the series, Thanks For Tuning In, which was a collection of live performances that took place every day for a week at The University of North Texas' New Media installation and performance space, The Alcove. Over the course of this week, Bee performed for six hours a day, in protest of the Texas Drag Bans that were occurring at this time, which aimed to prevent the live performance of trans-identifying and gender non-conforming people.
- Documentation of performance, 39:18, 2023.
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Click For Artist Statement:
During my time at university, I was employed at a used video game store. In a University with classmates that didn't have to work or were able to work at prestigious art institutions, I often felt embarrassed that I worked a normal working class position at a retail store. So, in an attempt to explore my own class divide, I decided to bring my work to my art, and perform shop keeping tasks in the project space, which included welcoming people into my space, maintaining the shop floor, answering a fake phone, and performing quality customer service and care like I'm supposed to every day at work. I treated myself, the low class retail employee, as something to be exhibited like an animal in a zoo
This performance was one of several performances in the series, Thanks For Tuning In, which was a collection of live performances that took place every day for a week at The University of North Texas' New Media installation and performance space, The Alcove. Over the course of this week, Bee performed for six hours a day, in protest of the Texas Drag Bans that were occurring at this time, which aimed to prevent the live performance of trans-identifying and gender non-conforming people.
- Performance And Video Work, 22:40, 2021.
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Click For Artist Statement:
This piece consisted of laying out 131 portraits of Richard Belzer's iconic TV character, John Munch, in a circle on the floor and performing a seance out of reverance for my obsessive manic episode dedicated to the character. The work utilizes video and audio from the 1993 television series, Homicide: Life On The Street, based on David Simon's book, Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets (1991), alongside the song Closer, by the band Nine Inch Nails. The Big E On The Eye Chart is an exploration of mania induced eratic behaviour, obsession, parasocial relationships, and the devine and raw sexuality of old men in comedy.
This performance was a part of DC Empty: Kitchen Sink Performa alongside other new media works that launched the DC EMPTY series at the museum and exhibition space, Dallas Contemporary. The work itself, The Big E On The Eye Chart was one of two pieces by Gren Bee, and was presented alongside a screening of her genre video piece, "Freak Freak!" (2021).
More information here. - Performance and Video Work, 50:56, 2022.
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Click For Artist Statement:
In this performance, I portray a conservative radio host trapped in purgatory who has refused to better themselves for so long, that they forget everything about who they are and used to be. It's The Radio - The Body, is an exploration of body dysmorphia, not only from being trans, but as a result of sexual trauma. The work consists of a series of monologues that cover themes such as sexual frustration in isolation, the inherent shame of having a body, and how trauma lingers with you even if you don't remember what happened. I promise it's still largely funny.
Video works made alongside this performance include: Out There With Mea: Mea Larkin Diana Gonzalez Gren Bee Ice Race: Salvia Hunden and music by: Neutral Oneder
- Performance and Video Work, 29:20, 2022.
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Click For Artist Statement:
In this performance, I portray a conservative radio host trapped in purgatory who has refused to better In this performance, I portray a conservative radio host trapped in purgatory who has refused to better themselves for so long, that they forget everything about who they are and used to be. It's The Radio - The, is an exploration of male toxicity, conservative rage, the fear of god's wrath, and the lack of identity one feels when their entire definition of self is entwined with a romantic relationship that they're no longer a part of.
That's All Folks!That's all my available performance documentation, but below is a second window that links to some more work that deals with some really heavy subjects. Subjects include sexual assault, domestic abuse, and self harm. These works are an important part of my portfolio, but they're not for everyone, and that's okay. For more information, click the link below, or go back to the top! Thanks.
It's The Radio - The