Kinetic Intimacies

With Shani Ha, Chris Habana and Vincent Tiley, and Jade Yumang

Thu, May 25 / 6:30–8:30 pm

Chris Habana

Organized in response to MAD’s exhibition fashion after Fashion, this two-hour durational performance program features new works by interdisciplinary artists, designers, and dancers whose projects navigate the intersections of fashion, sculpture, installation, and performance.

New works by Shani Ha, the duo of Chris Habana and Vincent Tiley, and Jade Yumang will be installed and activated by the artists and dancers on MAD’s seventh floor and within the Museum’s lobby. Inspired by the curatorial premise that the field of fashion today goes beyond the traditional constellation of runway shows and commodities  to encompass an expanded set of conceptual projects and display strategies, these works investigate a deeper connection between the body, identity, and garments that can only be conveyed through the pairing of material and movement.

Presenting the intimate actions of getting dressed, personal transformation, and self-styling within the public space of the Museum, each performance will explore the role fashion plays in crafting identity and establishing interpersonal connections.

Shani Ha’s work will be performed by Mathilde Chapellière, Caroline Darty, Amélie Gaulier-Brody, Alycia Perrin-Rodriguez. The production of Shani Ha’s new sculptures is made possible thanks to a generous donation from Fairfield World.

Jade Yumang’s work will be performed by Alvaro Gonzalez Dupuy and Sara Jimenez.

Chris Habana and Vincent Tiley’s work will be performed by Jerome AB, Forrest Wu, and Ash Yergens.

Kinetic Intimacies is co-curated by Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy, Curatorial Assistant and Project Manager, and Danny Orendorff, Manager of Public and Community Engagement Programs for the MAD Education Department.

Shani Ha’s practice questions identity, otherness, and togetherness through multiple mediums and at different scales. Her sculptural forms question social practices and representations through their relationship to intimacy, conviviality, and otherness. Her sculptures can be activated through experimentation, appropriation, and performance, either spontaneously or following a scenario. Metamorphosis, transformation, and collaboration are key to her practice. Ha, who is French Algerian, was born in Paris. She obtained her MFA in France in 2012, then moved to Brooklyn, New York, where she currently lives and works. Her work has been shown at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen; La FAI-AR, Marseille, for Marseille-Provence 2013; Journées du Patrimoine, Marseille; Parc de l’Hôtel de Ville de Fontenay-Sous-Bois; ESBA Le Mans; International Week of Architecture, Le Mans; Académie des Beaux-Arts, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Kunsthalle Detroit; ArtHelix; and Eyebeam on Governors Island.

Chris Habana is a jewelry designer with an eponymous brand that threads the line of Goth, punk, and tribal iconography and tows them straight to the future, creating minimal yet dangerous pieces. He has spent his life in the Philippines and the United States. After a childhood rooted in religion, fantasy, and sci-fi graphic novels, he reveled in the 1990s club and counter culture, and his worlds became one. This duality is now ingrained in his identity and continues to inform his collections and collaborations. He was named one of Vogue Talent’s up-and-coming designers in 2013 and received a NewNowNext Fashion Honors award for accessory design. Habana has collaborated with numerous design houses, including Hood by Air, Prabal Gurung, Adam Selman, Chromat, Opening Ceremony, Les Hommes, Zana Bayne, and Gypsy Sport. His jewelry has been featured in Vogue, W, V, i-D magazine, and Dazed and Confused.

Vincent Tiley creates bodysuits, which are worn by multiple participants in his sculptural performances. In these performances, the artist fabricates a new skin, which envelopes the performers in an embellished painterly surface that connects them to each other in languid and often erotic positions. What is produced is a new collaged body, made up of many bodies speaking a language of display, concealment, and touch. Born in 1987 in Charleston, West Virginia, Tiley currently lives and works in Brooklyn. He received his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2010 and his Master’s degree summa cum laude from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2013. He has been exhibited widely across the country and internationally, at AXENÉO7 Gatineau; Christopher Stout Gallery; City Bird Gallery; Elee.Mosynary Gallery; Sullivan Galleries; CFHILL; the NYC Porn Film Festival; Eyebeam; Grace Exhibition Space; the Rapid Pulse International Performance Art Festival; New Capital Gallery; and Glasshouse Art Life Lab.

Jade Yumang’s work primarily focuses on the concept of queer form through sculptural abstraction, installation, and performance. He received his MFA with departmental honors from Parsons School of Design in 2012 and his BFA Honours from the University of British Columbia as the top graduate in 2008. Born in Quezon City, Philippines, he grew up in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and immigrated to Vancouver, BC, Canada. Currently a sessional instructor in the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory at the University of British Columbia, Yumang is a contributing writer for ArtFile Magazine and part of the New York–based collaborative duo Tatlo, with Sara Jimenez. His work has been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum; Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art; ONE Archives, Los Angeles; International Print Center New York; Invisible-Exports; the Center for Book Arts; Künstlerhaus Bethanien; Equity Gallery; Box 13 Artspace; Eastern Edge Gallery; the Kitchen; and Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales.

Funding Credits

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Please review our health and safety protocols before you arrive. MAD strongly recommends all visitors six months and older are vaccinated against Covid-19 and visitors ages two and up wear face coverings, even if vaccinated. Thank you for your cooperation.

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