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November 17, 2023
Canal Projects, New York City

Grounding

Featuring An Duplan, Naoco Wowsugi, and others
Hosted by Prem Krishnamurthy

How can art be transformative for individuals, groups, and society? What are strategies that can contribute to collective learning? And what, if anything, does karaoke have to do with this?!

Department of Transformation’s Prem Krishnamurthy and a cohort of collaborators explore these and other questions in an experimental talk show to launch the Groundwork residency at Canal Projects. The kick-off event includes a hybrid conversation with poet, artist, and meditation teacher Anaïs Duplan, a collective sound healing session by community-engaged artist and gong practitioner Naoco Wowsugi, as well as other contributions. Operating across different modes—including journaling, mindfulness, small group interactions (+ karaoke!)—the program intends to open up a dialogue around polyvocal ways of working in and on the world.

Anaïs Duplan is a trans* poet, curator, and artist. He is the author of the book I NEED MUSIC; Blackspace: On the Poetics of an Afrofuture; Take This Stallion; and the chapbook, Mount Carmel and the Blood of Parnassus. He was a 2017–2019 joint Public Programs fellow at the MoMA and the Studio Museum in Harlem, and in 2021 received a Marian Goodman fellowship from Independent Curators International for his research on Black experimental documentary. In 2016, he founded the Center for Afrofuturist Studies, an artist residency program for artists of color, based at Iowa City’s artist-run organization Public Space One. He is the recipient of the 2021 QUEER|ART|PRIZE for Recent Work, and a 2022 Whiting Award in Nonfiction. Duplan is a professor of postcolonial literature at Bennington College, and has taught poetry at The New School, Columbia University, Sarah Lawrence College, and others.

Naoco Wowsugi is a community-engaged artist who lives and works in Washington, DC. Wowsugi’s cross-disciplinary projects range from portrait photography, participatory performance, and sound healing, to horticulture, exploring the nature of belonging and inclusive community building while they highlight and fortify everyday communal and interpersonal identities. Wowsugi’s art practice blurs the lines between being an artist and an engaged citizen. (@wowsugi)

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Karaoke!

We believe in karaoke—a powerful tool inviting vulnerability, connection, and joy! Whether you like to sing out loud, cheer others on, or just observe quietly, you are welcome to join Dept of Transformation. Just take a deep breath and answer the question: "What is a song you would like to hear sung in karaoke?"

Tracks

Title Artist
Gasolina Daddy Yankee
Hips Don't Lie Shakira feat. Wyclef Jean
Pocketful of Sunshine Natasha Bedingfield
Let's Go Crazy Prince & The Revolution
Miss America David Byrne

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We invite you to share your favorite songs, whether they're beloved classics or hidden gems, and let your musical choices become part of our collective soundtrack. By submitting your tracks, you'll help create an inclusive, dynamic playlist that brings us closer together through the power of music.

To submit a song, please send a Link to a Youtube Video in the form below.


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