ROUND 23 | 3 Scenes from Queer Utopia
By Andie Flores and Sam Mayer
11/16/2024 – 3/2024
Opening Reception – Saturday, November 16th, 4-6 pm
Performance – Sunday, November 17th, 4-5 pm
Round 23: 3 Scenes from Queer Utopia presents an envisioning of a better world that embraces cynicism and hope. Join us on Saturday, November 16th, 4-6pm for the opening reception to celebrate performance artist Andie Flores and playwright Sam Mayer’s installation for their performance on Sunday, November 17th, 4-5pm.
For us, the cage is a place to perform. We turned the cage into a theater. Two curtains are suspended inside. One protected and one exposed. In our own way, we are both interested in the gap between performing and being, fiction and autobiography. This is our first time working together like this, and we had no idea what it was going to be like. 3 scenes from Queer Utopia was born from our desire to envision a better world, while embracing the tensions between our fundamental worldviews. Sam is a cynic, Andie chooses hope. But we both believe a better world is possible. So we hired artists Venese Alcantar and Grant Gilker to play us in a performance about the artists’role in making the world a better place. The performance took place inside the cage. We sat outside the cage and directed them on how to be us. What art do you choose to make when you know art won’t save the world?
– Andie Flores and Sam Mayer
Photographer Bill McCullough took some photographs. Scan the QR code to see some of them.
Andie Flores is a performance artist in Austin, Texas, who uses embarrassment as a medium for investigating hyper, almost obsessive, visibility in a racialized body across barriers of border, history, and capital. Her work has been shown at Bushwig, Presa House Gallery, The Museum of Human Achievement, Ivester Contemporary, MASS Gallery, Future Front, Contrast Film Festival, Fusebox Festival, and The Dallas Latino Cultural Center. In the summer of 2024, Andie was an international artist-in-residence at Warehouse9 in Copenhagen, Denmark. https://www.andieflores.com/
Sam Mayer is a playwright from Houston. Full length: POOLBOY00 (Museum of Human Achievement; Beaubourg; Co-Lab Projects; UT Austin), THE CUCK (Intramural Theater), and CHET’S SUMMER VACATION (Kennedy Center; Intramural Theater; Rec Room Arts). His work has been developed with The Orchard Project, The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, The WorkshopTheater, The Mastheads, and SPACE on Ryder Farm. He is the recipient of the Chesley/Bumbalo Foundation Prize. MFA: Michener Center for Writers. https://sammayer.info/