Artists Space

Las Nietas de Nonó: Posibles Escenarios, Vol. 1 LNN

Performance
October 30, 2022, 7pm

Inside a pink-hued room are three tanker desks and three rolling office chairs in a single-file line. Security monitors with color videos sit on each desk alongside small pieces of clay. In the distance, tree trunks wrapped in fabric rest on the floor and construction nets hang from the ceiling. A wooden structure and an aquarium with purple-colored lights are positioned behind the tree trunks.
Las Nietas de Nonó: Posibles Escenarios, Vol. 1 LNN. Installation view, Artists Space, New York, 2022. [Inside a pink-hued room are three tanker desks and three rolling office chairs in a single-file line. Security monitors with color videos sit on each desk alongside small pieces of clay. In the distance, tree trunks wrapped in fabric rest on the floor and construction nets hang from the ceiling. A wooden structure and an aquarium with purple-colored lights are positioned behind the tree trunks.]

Artists Space is pleased to present a special commissioned performance by Las Nietas de Nonó. As part of their solo exhibition Posibles Escenarios Vol. I LNN, the artist collective will stage a series of interwoven theatrical activations. Performing within their biomorphic, mixed-media installations Sala Portal Omi, especie archivo natural, and The page you are looking for is not found, Las Nietas will guide the audience through a visceral and multi-sensory experience. Blurring the lines between performer and viewer, their performances foreground communal practices while creating restorative spaces for healing. Themes of ancestral memory, microhistory, expropriation, and environmental and racial justice deeply inform this body of work.

Color photograph of visitors standing around a gallery space, conversing and studying the works on the wall.
Las Nietas de Nonó: Posibles Escenarios, Vol. 1 LNN. Performance documentation, October 29, 2022, Artists Space. Photo: Destiny Mata [Color photograph of visitors standing around a gallery space, conversing and studying the works on the wall.]
Color photograph of a figure in a red suit preforming in front of a seated audience. The figure sits at a tanker desk with a TV monitor placed on top of it. They wave a red object in the air.
Las Nietas de Nonó: Posibles Escenarios, Vol. 1 LNN. Performance documentation, October 29, 2022, Artists Space. Photo: Destiny Mata [Color photograph of a figure in a red suit preforming in front of a seated audience. The figure sits at a tanker desk with a TV monitor placed on top of it. They wave a red object in the air.]
Color photograph of a figure in a red suit preforming in front of a seated audience. The figure sits at a tanker desk with a TV monitor placed on top of it. They have papers taped and placed over their face.
Las Nietas de Nonó: Posibles Escenarios, Vol. 1 LNN. Performance documentation, October 29, 2022, Artists Space. Photo: Destiny Mata [Color photograph of a figure in a red suit preforming in front of a seated audience. The figure sits at a tanker desk with a TV monitor placed on top of it. They have papers taped and placed over their face.]
Color photograph of a gallery space with an installation consisting of a large mirrored pond, made from a wooden base with a reflective lining on top, that is surrounded by tree trunks, plants, fish tanks, and a phone booth. A large lamp hangs from the ceiling, and an orange construction net is placed over the pond.
Las Nietas de Nonó: Posibles Escenarios, Vol. 1 LNN. Performance documentation, October 29, 2022, Artists Space. Photo: Destiny Mata [Color photograph of a gallery space with an installation consisting of a large mirrored pond, made from a wooden base with a reflective lining on top, that is surrounded by tree trunks, plants, fish tanks, and a phone booth. A large lamp hangs from the ceiling, and an orange construction net is placed over the pond.]
Color photograph of a figure wearing black, holding a long wooden stick over a reflective surface with an orange construction net over it.
Las Nietas de Nonó: Posibles Escenarios, Vol. 1 LNN. Performance documentation, October 29, 2022, Artists Space. Photo: Destiny Mata [Color photograph of a figure wearing black, holding a long wooden stick over a reflective surface with an orange construction net over it.]
Color photograph of a large group of people standing around a gallery space. Chairs, and tanker desks with TV monitors on them are placed in the space. The audience watches a figure in a red suit that stands next to a column, holding their hand to their mouth.
Las Nietas de Nonó: Posibles Escenarios, Vol. 1 LNN. Performance documentation, October 30, 2022, Artists Space. Photo: Destiny Mata [Color photograph of a large group of people standing around a gallery space. Chairs, and tanker desks with TV monitors on them are placed in the space. The audience watches a figure in a red suit that stands next to a column, holding their hand to their mouth.]
Color photograph of two figures performing in a dark gallery space, lit only by an installation of LED lights covered in dried SCOBY material. One figure wearing black leans down in front of one of the LED lights. Partly hidden behind a column, another figure stands wearing a red suit.
Las Nietas de Nonó: Posibles Escenarios, Vol. 1 LNN. Performance documentation, October 30, 2022, Artists Space. Photo: Destiny Mata [Color photograph of two figures performing in a dark gallery space, lit only by an installation of LED lights covered in dried SCOBY material. One figure wearing black leans down in front of one of the LED lights. Partly hidden behind a column, another figure stands wearing a red suit.]
Color photograph of a figure in a red suit performing in a darkly lit room with LED light sculptures in the background. The figure holds their left hand out in a gesture, and with their right hand holds a mask in front of their face.
Las Nietas de Nonó: Posibles Escenarios, Vol. 1 LNN. Performance documentation, October 30, 2022, Artists Space. Photo: Destiny Mata [Color photograph of a figure in a red suit performing in a darkly lit room with LED light sculptures in the background. The figure holds their left hand out in a gesture, and with their right hand holds a mask in front of their face.]
Color photograph of a figure dressed in black performing in front of an audience in the background. The room is dark, with LED light sculptures made from dried SCOBY in the background. The figure sits on the floor, looking off to the right and holding a mask in front of their face.
Las Nietas de Nonó: Posibles Escenarios, Vol. 1 LNN. Performance documentation, October 30, 2022, Artists Space. Photo: Destiny Mata [Color photograph of a figure dressed in black performing in front of an audience in the background. The room is dark, with LED light sculptures made from dried SCOBY in the background. The figure sits on the floor, looking off to the right and holding a mask in front of their face.]
A color photograph of an arepa placed on a purple tablecloth.
Las Nietas de Nonó: Posibles Escenarios, Vol. 1 LNN. Performance documentation, October 30, 2022, Artists Space. Photo: Destiny Mata [A color photograph of an arepa placed on a purple tablecloth.]

The afro-diasporic siblings mulowayi and mapenzi are Las Nietas de Nonó. In their creative process, they evoke ancestral memory through personal archives. Their practice incorporates performance, found objects, organic materials, ecology, fiction, video, and installation. In 2016, they created Ilustraciones de la Mecánica, a multimedia installation that was co-commissioned by the 10th Berlin Biennial (2018) and the 79th Whitney Biennial (2019). They have received the Latinx Artist Fellowship from the US Latinx Art Forum (2022), the Rome Prize in Visual Art from the American Academy in Rome (2022), the United States Artist Award (2018), The Art of Change from the Ford Foundation (2017), and the Global Arts Fund from the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice (2017 & 2020). Their art has been shown in Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, England, Germany, Italy, Norway, Scotland, and the United States. In 2019, they co-founded Parceleras Afrocaribeñas, an organization run by Black womxn, where spaces for environmental and racial justice are created in the face of industrial developments that threaten their barrio of San Antón, in Carolina, Puerto Rico.

Exhibition support for Posibles Escenarios, Vol. 1 LNN is provided by Marieluise Hessel.

Support is provided by Lambent Foundation Fund of Tides Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation, The Cowles Charitable Trust, The Cy Twombly Foundation, The Teiger Foundation, The Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, Imperfect Family Foundation, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, The Stavros Niarchos Foundation, The Willem de Kooning Foundation, The Fox Aarons Foundation, Herman Goldman Foundation, The Destina Foundation, The Luce Foundation, May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, The Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Arison Arts Foundation, The David Rockefeller Fund, The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, The Jill and Peter Kraus Foundation, The Richard Pousette-Dart Foundation.

    A color image of a dark room featuring illuminated yellow and orange shapes floating on the wall and reflected on the floor.
    Las Nietas de Nonó: Posibles Escenarios, Vol. 1 LNN. Installation view, Artists Space, New York, 2022. [A color image of a dark room featuring illuminated yellow and orange shapes floating on the wall and reflected on the floor.]