SELFDOM

Minimalist sculptor Roland Gebhardt collaborates with dancer-performer Mercedes Searer presenting, during the second week of PERFORMA19 @ WhiteBox Harlem, Selfdom, a “Masked project in-process” related to identity responding to WhiteBox’s 1903 FireHouse minimal architectural qualities, injecting over it a “touch of Bauhaus” referencing in particular Oskar Schlemmer’s great work in mask making, a forte in the work of Mr. Gebhardt’s oeuvre.

ROLAND GEBHARDT 

Suriname born, New York based, Roland Gebhardt is an internationally known sculptor whose work has been shown around the world, and is in many prominent collections. He studied at the Art Academy of Hamburg and the Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich. He is perhaps best known for his monolithic sculptures which explore the concept of the linear void. Some of these explorations were executed as large scale environmental sculptures (such as those shown at Wave Hill and Storm King Art Center in New York). Other explorations utilized “host volumes” as diverse as natural boulders, and fruit and vegetables. The latter were the subject of a series of 8 one-day exhibits at the Kunstmuseum, Duesseldorf in 1982.

In 2005, Roland began the development of series of masks in an exploration of individual and group identity. Collaborating with artists from a variety of disciplines, this exploration culminated in the production of a multi-media performance piece which made its world premiere at the 3LD Art & Technology Center in New York City in December, 2008. “The Only Tribe” received widespread press coverage, and elicited positive responses from audiences during its seven-week residence at 3LD.

“Sculpture Dance” also spoked to issues group and individual identity, using sculptural masks presented by dancers in open-air settings. In 2013, these experiments at Storm King Art Center, and on the grounds of the Chautauqua Institution, demonstrated spatial relationships embedded in the intersection of identity, abstract sculpture, and landscape.

“Trophies” was a unique collaboration between sculpture, dance, and music that explores issues of identity and transformation from living being to hunter’s trophy. The piece premiered in February 2014 at the Erie Art Museum in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Roland continues to develop conceptual sculpture in various formats, addressing issues of identity

Mercedes Searer

The Dancer / Choreographer Mercedes Searer is a Brooklyn based dancer and choreographer. Mercedes makes things. Pots, and plates, dances, collages, and quote books. As a maker she is interested in the kinetic energy of the object; its rhythm, its illusion to meaning, and the metaphors it presents for life itself. In all of her work, asymmetry, the verge of collapse, humor, irony, and pain show up repeatedly. Since arriving in New York in 2009 Mercedes has worked for such greats as Elizabeth Streb, Sara Rudner, Twyla Tharp, Steve Paxton, and Kathy Westwater, among others. She is currently working on three projects, “Standing on Their Glittering Mirrors” with Sonia Lopes Soares, “Stand by Your Plan” with Macklin Kowal and “?Re?k?n?teks(t)SH(?w)??li?z/,” a collaboration with visual artist Bibiana Medkova. Mercedes trains with her mentor, renowned ballet teacher Janet Panetta. Mercedes’ artistic practice centers on assumptions around identity. She seeks to invest in the notion that bodies are perpetually engaged in processes of biological, social, and cultural performance.