Press Contact: Addie Moore
CulturalDC presents Never in Our Image a three-part Queer Gun Destruction Opera by Stephanie Mercedes
Through raw embodied rituals, this Queer opera composes music from the sound of recast weapons, reclaiming materials never made in our image. September 15, 16, 21, 22, and 23rd at CulturalDC’s Source Theatre.
To arrange interviews or for more information, contact Addie Moore at addie@culturaldc.org.
“How can we, the LGBTQ+ community take the tools of the oppressors and transform them into music and art?” was a question posed by Stephanie Mercedes, a local uncategorized Queer Latinx artist, after the horrific 2016 mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The gruesome event killed 49 people and left 53 wounded.
So how did Mercedes transform these “tools of the oppressors” into art? She purchased a Sig Sauer MCX rifle, the same type of gun used in the nightclub tragedy and melted it. She used the metal to make 49 liberty bells to represent the 49 victims.
In her most recent project entitled, Never in Our Image, a three-part experimental opera where Mercedes explores the process of gun transformation through sound. In ACT I the singers, musicians, and dancers responded to various sounds of guns being cut into pieces. In ACT II the performers reacted to the pops, hissing, and the sounds of a metal foundry being use to cast the metal into sonic form and musical instruments in a ceremonial act against gun-violence. In her work, through cutting, melting, and utilizing instruments cast from weapons, Mercedes composes musical scores. In the final performance, ACT III – A Gun Transformation Opera, Mercedes will use the sounds and objects from the previous ACTs to create an opera that envisions a world without guns. The work forces the archetype of violence into its opposite: the beauty of music and art. “It’s about trying to transform an object which has caused harm into something peaceful,” says the artist.
Never in Our Image - ACT III – Gun Transformation Opera
September 15, 16, 21, 22, and 23, 2023 – 8-9PM, doors at 7 PM.
CulturalDC’s Source Theatre
1835 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20009
The event is ticketed, $1-50 with a Pay-What-You-Can model for general admission. Space is limited.
Using the captured audio, instruments, and sonic sculptures created in the previous acts, Mercedes will compose and perform at CulturalDC’s Blackbox Theatre in Source. Singing, dance, video projections, and the composed score will imagine an ideal world in which all guns have been transformed into music and art.
D.C. based arts organization CulturalDC is presenting this three-part series which invites the public to be a part of the cathartic gun transformation. “This performance series is extremely relevant and important because gun violence affects all of us,” says Executive Director and Curator, Kristi Maiselman.”CulturalDC is proud to Make Space for Art that is timely and moving.”
For more information on Stephanie Mercedes and CulturalDC, please visit www.culturaldc.org.
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Never in Our Image by Stephanie Mercedes
A Three-Part Queer Gun Destruction Opera
Past Event - ACT I - Gun Cutting Ceremony
Friday, May 19th -1360 Okie Street NE, Washington, DC
ACT I was the first step in the transformation process. Singers, musicians, and dancers responded to the various sounds of guns being cut into pieces. Pitches and tones were pulled from the raw sound of angle grinders, blow torches, and hand saws. The process of composition reflects the process of destruction.
Video: https://vimeo.com/culturaldc/neverinourimageacti?share=copy
Video use available on request.
Mercedes performed the first step of the gun transformation process, the cutting ceremony in which she physically destroyed various guns, creating manageable chunks of metal to be melted in ACT II. Dancers and singers react in an improvisational performance with the pitches and tones of the angle grinder and compose a live musical experience.
Past Event - ACT II - Gun Melting Ceremony
Saturday, July 8th - 7-9 PM
Otis Street Arts Project
3706 Otis Street Mt Rainier, MD 20712
Raw pitches and tones are sampled from the act of melting the cut pieces collected in ACT I. As the former weapons are cast into musical instruments and sculptural art pieces, the hissing and popping of the action will be recorded for use in the final Act. Organ pipes attached to the iron furnace and the casting molds will create pitches and vibrations, creating a meditative sound experience for the audience.
Video: https://vimeo.com/849122166?share=copy
Video use available on request.
Stephanie Mercedes (she/her)
Mercedes is an uncategorized Queer Latinx artist who choreographs large scale performances and installations based in sound. Mercedes transforms weapons into musical installations and works of art. Mercedes has exhibited and performed at the Bronx Museum, the Queens Museum, the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Center and the National Gallery of Art. She has been funded by George Soros’ Open Society Foundation, Light Works, NALAC, The Foundation for Contemporary Art, WPA, The DC Commission for the Arts, the GLB Memorial Foundation, the Warhol Foundation and the Clarvit Fellowship.
CULTURALDC
CulturalDC supports innovative artists across all disciplines and makes their work accessible to diverse audiences. We provide space for relevant and challenging work essential to nurturing vibrant urban communities. CulturalDC has made a name for itself in providing a platform for bold contemporary artists to interact with audiences in thought-provoking ways. Current and most recent exhibitions include exhibition Bundlehouse: Ancient Future Memory and performance art piece, While You Sleep: An Excerpt from a Jouvay Dream II both by CulturalDC’s Capital Aritst Resident, Nyugen E. Smith. In addition to presenting, CulturalDC has brokered more than 350,000 square feet of artist space since 1998. CulturalDC owns Source Theatre and the Mobile Art Gallery, a 40-ft shipping container transformed into a gallery that has been shown in all eight wards of the city.
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Photo credit: Amir Pourmand