Glendalys Medina, The Shank
November 3 – December 15, 2019

Participant Inc presents The Shank, a solo exhibition of new works by Glendalys Medina. Culminating Medina’s decade-long project that utilizes self-help techniques and Hip-Hop culture as its foundations, The Shank traces the artist’s personal development program, incorporating movement through dance, rhythm through music, and aesthetics through visual arts. Here, the four elements of Hip-Hop — breakdancing, DJ’ing, MC’ing, and graffiti writing — serve as rich interdisciplinary vehicles through which Medina engages audiences. The rigorous discipline, technical skills, and pedagogy of each element offer a basis to explore the processes of self- transformation. Medina's performances are presented as part of the Performa 19 Biennial.

THE SHANK LP:

Sunday, Dec 22, 7-9pm
Listening party

The recording of the five-song LP The Shank holds traces of Medina’s practice of emulating prominent creations in the Hip-Hop genre to create a self. As the artist has noted, “Using the idea that repetition is the mother of skill, I taught myself to become a powerful MC by learning and repeating 'One Mic' by Nas every day for about 6-7 months.” The record is a result of that, and documents the artist’s experience as the only participant in The Shank: Live for the past ten years.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

Sunday, Nov 10, 17, & 24, 8-8:30am
The Shank Live

The Shank: Live is a 3-episode web series that will air @glendalysmedina on Instagram and later be available to watch online. In it, Medina gives the audience a view into The Shank, a system that uses 'self-help' literature and Hip-Hop culture for personal development. It aims to highlight the discrepancy between authors in the field and its consumers to level the playing field while motivating the audience to participate in the 3-week system.

Sunday, Nov 10, 4-6pm
No Microphone

No Microphone is an evening of performance experiments; a platform for trying something out before exactly knowing what it is. A studio practice for the material of presence, No Microphone aims to provide more access to the luxuries of time, space, and human attention. The series brings artists together across disciplines, scenes, and institutional affiliations, opening up space for psycho-emotional expansion as a direct tactic for surviving/transcending late capitalism and strategizing together towards an uncertain future. Creating a context for experimentation and intricate connection, the event is held in a different Manhattan location every month, weaving like a parasite through the landscape of arts institutions and cliques, propagating an atmosphere of possibility and alliance among artists in the city. Co-organized by Khaela Maricich and Glendalys Medina, the line up includes Aisha Tandiwe Bell, Kyle Dacuyan, Sara Jimenez, NIC Kay, Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow, Khaela Maricich, Lydia Adler Okrent, and Sacha Yanow.

Tuesdays, Nov 12 & 19, 4-10pm
Dear Me

Dear Me explores various incarnations of love, from friendship, lust, true love to, ultimately, self-love. Performed in an intimate, pitch-black room to one visitor at a time, Medina will recite a 5-minute love lyric for 6 hours each day. Originally premiering at the American Academy in Rome, this new rendition mimics the duration of the mating call of El Coquí – a frog indigenous to Puerto Rico which sings from sunset to sunrise. Named after its call, "coquí," the male frogs only hear the "co" sound, repelling other males, while the females only hear the "qui" sound, making their attraction sensory. Each visitor will receive a token of Medina's affection with the symbol of El Coquí at the end of the performance. Dear Me is presented as part of the Performa 19 Biennial. RSVP is required: please email lia@participantinc.org.