Episode 21: Aria Dean, Harmony Holiday, Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork

Adapting performance work for Covid-19 safety — How performance operates without an audience present — How writing, sampling, and sound play in performance work — How the pandemic has shifted the way we we think about institutional support and artist communities

In this episode, I talk to three artists in The Hammer exhibition, Made in L.A. 2020: A Version, which is on view but still not open to the public due to Covid-19 restrictions. Harmony Holiday, Aria Dean, and Jaqueline Kiyomi Gork all had planned performance works for the biennial exhibition and had to shift their artworks to accommodate for Covid-safety. We discuss the process of adapting their initially envisioned work, how performance becomes altered without audience participation, and how other disciplines like writing, sculpture, and sound play out in each artist’s work. Together, the artists muse on issues that the pandemic has brought to light. How might alternative platforms privilege community and care for artists and performers?