Movement-Scapes: A Performance by Kiera Bono & Michelle Mantione
In collaboration with Sensory-Scapes, a Multisensory Textile Exhibit by Sugandha Gupta. Followed by an accessible tour of the exhibition.
Thursday, September 18th, 5:00-7:00pm
ASL Interpretation, Movement Descriptions, Open Captioning (Automatic) will be available during the performance.
In Movement-Scapes, Michelle Mantione and Kiera Bono will be dancing while wearing textiles made by artist Sugandha Gupta. The performance will be accompanied by an audio description, and followed by a Q&A with the performers.
Michelle Mantione is a first generation U.S. born and raised New Yorker. They earned a B.S. in Physically Integrated Dance from the CUNY Baccalaureate Program. Their artistry explores how the aesthetics of disability access can become integral to an artwork, instead of an afterthought.
Kiera Bono is an interdisciplinary choreographer and artist who recently completed a Ph.D. in Theatre and Performance at The Graduate Center, CUNY. Their research explores disabled temporalities, materialities, and relationalities in performance, and they currently teach at The City College of New York.
The show is on view by appointment through October 10. Please contact ian@positiveexposure.org to schedule a viewing.
Sensory-Scapes is a multisensory textile exhibit that engages audiences through their senses and is accessible by design. The exhibit features Sugandha Gupta’s sensory textile art pieces, wearables and objects that invite audiences to participate through touch, sound, smell and sight. It highlights inclusion through multimodal engagement.
Sugandha Gupta is the Assistant Professor of Fashion Design and Materiality at Parsons School of Design. Born with albinism, and visually impaired, Gupta creates Sensory-Textiles which are a collection of textiles and wearables that encourage audiences to engage through their sense of touch sound, smell, and sight. Gupta’s research interests are at intersections of multi-sensory modes of art, design and embodied justice.
Image Descriptions: 1. Overlaid on a close up image of a woolen textile art, made of layered natural fibers in shades of ivory, beige, brown, taupe, and gray, is the following text: “MOVEMENT-SCAPES. A Performance by Kiera Bono & Michelle Mantione. In collaboration with SENSORY-SCAPES, a Multisensory Textile Exhibit by Sugandha Gupta. Thursday, September 18, 5:00-7:00 pm. POSITIVE EXPOSURE, 4th Floor, 83MaidenLn, New York, NY 10038.”
2. Kiera and Michelle dance outside together in the autumn sunlight on a patch of pavement surrounded by green shrubs and golden and red trees. They are both extending their right arms upward with a slight curve, tuning into each other’s movement. Kiera is standing with one leg bent and the other extended behind their body while facing Michelle, and Michelle is sitting in a power chair with one leg slightly extended and one more bent while facing other dancers out of frame, Doc Martens glistening in the sun.
Accessibility:
Nearest trains: 2,3. Exit at Wall Street. If exiting from R or W trains get out at Cortland Street and exit via oculus on Liberty Street. Walk straight on Liberty Street as a landmark you will see Mercer labs on the left and a black building on the right. Keep walking straight past a yellow building that is the residence in on the right and keep walking straight. Towards the left is a construction site and on the right is the federal reserve building. Once you pass the construction site and cross the street you will come across a few restaurants on the left including Tratitas pizza. Right next door to it is the AHRC building i.e.83 Maiden Lane which houses the positive exposure gallery on the fourth floor. There’s a push button at the entrance of the building on the right for opening the two doors and a guard usually opens them. Once you let him know you are going up to the fourth floor he will let you pass the security stations.The 4, 5 trains are also close to the location and Fulton Street is the exit station for these trains. A,C,E TRAINS CAN ALSO BE TAKEN TO WORLD TRADE CENTER AND EXIT THE OCULUS from the liberty street side to be closer to the gallery location.