Excerpts from my thesis: My Shtreimel
April 24th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
My Shtreimel is a video blog that features my fiancée Loren, who is a reoccurring character in my work. Sitting in a dimly lit room, Loren shares a personal Sabbath ritual. Behind him is the large painting of the Rebbe that appears in Obsessed with Frida Kahlo video. Although Loren is alone, he addresses the camera as if he were speaking directly with his eventual audience.
My Shtreimel, YouTube Video, 2006.
“I think it is very important for each of us to have an enjoyable Shabbos experience. And to be able to in some ways personally define what that Shabbos experience entails. There’s a lot of different minhags that I think a lot different people have that not every one has. And there are certain things that we develop not necessarily because they are passed down from our father, or our mother, or your mother’s father, just because it is something that makes your Shabbos experience a little bit more enjoyable a lot these personal minhags that we all have…”
Casually citing the Chofetz Hayim and the Talmud Yerushalmi, he acknowledges both his relationship to, and awareness of traditional Jewish texts; thereby, indirectly aligning himself with a more observant Jewish community. Using humor, he offsets the implied exclusivity of those ties, by adding that he is actually wearing a woman’s hat that was purchased at a thrift store.
eruv stl is “posted as a response” to My Shtreimel. eruv stl is intended to link Berlin’s Eruv to St. Louis. In this low quality thus “authentic video blog” Loren and I drive around the Washington University in St. Louis area, with a map in hand, trying to locate St. Louis’s eruv. In the background you can hear Guns and Roses famous song Welcome to the Jungle. Loren assumes a role similar to the one of Matisyahu, a halakically informed Jew, who does not the traditional model for the other and is thereby able to communicate with the secular world.
eruv stl, YouTube Video, 2009.
I ask Loren why he thinks the eruv extends as far as it does and if he thinks that there area lot of Orthodox Jewish families living in the area. Loren tell me that the eruv has extended this far because of the Hillel on campus, and that while there are not many Orthodox families living on the streets that we are driving, that the presence of the Hillel on campus is enough to create an eruv-worthy Jewish community.
Not only does it become clear that Loren familiar with Orthodox Jewish practices and the neighboring streets, but also he is still not sure exactly where the eruv is located. Meaning that even though the eruv is present, Loren is either a) so religious that he doesn’t abide by it, OR b) he doesn’t lead a Jewish life that would involve abiding by an eruv. As the conversation continues Loren continues to distance himself from vocabulary that you would expect to come from a more observant Jew, as he casually engages in humorous banter with me surrounding the eruv.
I ask him how it felt to finally “find” the eruv, he responds that he “feels pretty good” but he didn’t feel like “it was an actual wall” – which it isn’t, so this statement is made in jest. He continues, “its like finding Waldo, Waldo had curly hair and glasses, he might have been a frum Jew [...] maybe it is a statement about jews begin such a small percentage of the population…
The Rebbe, Acrylic on Canvas, 2004.
more thesis excerpts coming soon…
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Minorities Are Becoming The Majority In The U.S.
April 22nd, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Did you know that 9 out of 10 Latino teens believe that a college degree is important for success, but only 5 out of 10 think it’s possible.
Considering population shifts and graduation rates remaining constant, by 2042 the country’s overall graduation rate will decline by 22%.
A less educated future will mean: more low-paying jobs, a lower national GDP, and more national debt.
We can not allow this to happen.
I am proud to say that New Futuro was formed to solve these issues.
Offering bilingual, financial aid, scholarship, career, and networking resources to parents and students; helping Latino families achieve their dreams; New Futuro plans to change the face of Hispanic education.
But New Futuro can’t do it alone. We need you.
Find out more at NewFuturo.com.
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Pochos and Pixels: The Art of Rio Yañez
April 18th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Rio Yañez never ceases to amaze me… This time it’s through his (FIRST!!!) solo exhibition, Pochos and Pixels: The Art of Rio Yañez. Just look at this dual punk rock meets hip hop (ghetto) Frida… Clearly, Rio is an artistic mastermind.
WHAT: Pochos and Pixels: The Art of Rio Yañez.
WHEN: Wednesday, April 11 – Friday, June 15 2012
Monday-Friday: 8:00AM – 10:00PM,
WHERE: UCSB Multicultural Center
University Center room 1504
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-6050
Acciones Plásticas プリクラ collaboration with Rio Yañez (2009)
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Fractured Jewishness
April 18th, 2012 § 1 Comment
Is being half-Jewish, like being half-pregnant? Yes.
Intrigued? Want to hear more?
I have the honor of being the keynote speaker at the Half Jewish?” The Heirs of Intermarriage conference at Northwestern University, which runs from 4/20-4/22. My Friday night talk will center around the construction and the perpetuation of fractured cultural identities. On Saturday my dear friend Yoni Sarason, aka The St. Lou Jew, aka Midwest Director of Birthright Next, will be speaking on a panel with Dan Libenson, moderated by Denise Handlarski. Come check out the conference. Meet some lefty Jews. Learn and mingle.
Fundamentally altering the landscape of Latino Education
April 14th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Our baby has been birthed. New Futuro 1.5 has arrived! My Creative Content team has been kicking butt working alongside the Digital Development team to make it happen. I ask you now to check out NewFuturo.com Become a member. Give us feedback. Just as my participatory internet-based art is all about constant communal engagement, deconstruction, and reconstruction, so is New Futuro.
And there is much more to come. In New Futuro 2, students will have a fully curatorial experience, where they are able to to personalize their academic journeys. Students will be able to collect and bring in all of the things they think are awesome. And New Futuro will be able to dynamically combine student’s interests with their skill sets, financial need, grade level, location, associations, and more, to provide them with ongoing college and post-college guidance.
For me, this is radical education at its finest. 
Poco a Poco Radio interview featuring New Futuro.
Digital. Creative. Conceptual. Think Tank Team.
March 27th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Ladies and Gents, life is good. I am the Creative Director for New Futuro.
New Futuro provides Latino families with fully bilingual resources and tools to get students into college and beyond! We are committed to making you an education rockstar! We will teach you how to get into the college of your dreams with money to pay for it. It’s all about making the right classes at the right time, knowing the right people, and getting involved with the right groups. College is your future, so why should it be a challenge to get there? New Futuro will help you achieve your dreams through education!
Read more about my #awesome creative team here.
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Schachter’s Pocket Tzedek
March 15th, 2012 § 3 Comments
ATTN: transient digital native Jews, the ever so talented Ben Schachter has come up with another brilliant Jewish pop culture piece, Pocket Tzedek.
Ben Schachter has entered a competition that asks, “Where do you give?” Sponsored by the American Jewish World Service whose mission is “to realize human rights and end poverty in the developing world.” Support his design by voting for him here: www.wheredoyougive.org
Charity and Philanthopy are major parts of many religions. Judaism gives it a unique character. As the contest describes, “The word tzedakah (Hebrew: צדקה) comes from the Hebrew word tzedek, meaning righteousness or justice. It refers to the Jewish practice of giving money in order to help those less fortunate—using our financial resources to create a more just and righteous world.”
Schachter’s design, “Pocket Tzedek,” combines wireless technology – a debit card reader – and a traditional “pushke,” or piggy bank. Instead of dropping in coins, the donor dips his card.
Find Schachter’s design under the web interactive category on the third page at www.wheredoyougive.org/voting and vote for him every day until April 1.
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Love is never too late.
March 13th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
I know it’s almost April, but I would be remiss if I didn’t share Rio Yañez’s 2012 crop of valentines amazingness.
Happy Valentine’s Day to all of my friends and lovers! El Rio’s Valentine’s Day Cards are back in the ring to take another swing! This is the 6th year of my cards and it’s turned into my longest running project. Enjoy!
As always, please post these cards on the pages of your online friends, real life enemies, booty calls, baby daddies, friends with benefits, people you’re stalking on facebook, and people you would be stalking on Google + but don’t want to go through the hassle of signing up with a new social network.
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Women: Sit at the table. Not on side.
February 10th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Excellent TED talk with Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook.
Sandberg’s advice to women:
Sit at the table.
Make your partner a real partner.
Don’t leave before you leave.
Chicanas of 18th Street on Poco a Poco Radio
September 28th, 2011 § 1 Comment
Tune into Poco a Poco Radio this Sunday at 1:30PM CST to hear the excellent BILINGUAL interview my father and I did with Leonard Ramírez and Magda Ramírez-Castañeda, about the much anticipated release of: Chicanas of 18th Street: Narratives of a Movement from Latino Chicago.
(photos by Claudio Gaete-Tapia)
Calavera Elotera at SOMArts Gallery
September 26th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
ESCOBAR-MORALES PRESENTS:
Your favorite fame whore Elotita aka The Fat Free Elotera is back… and this time she has taken it to a new level… she has faked her own death… and has returned as CALAVERA ELOTERA.
Calavera Elotera in Illuminations: Día de los Muertos 2011
Curated by Rene and Rio Yañez
SOMArts Bay Gallery, 934 Brannan St. (between 8th & 9th)
San Francisco, CA 94103
Tues–Fri, 12–7PM, Sat 11–5PM, Sun 11–3PM.
Opening Reception
Friday, October 7, 2011, 6–9PM
Opening will feature music, interactive performance and the unveiling of over 30 altars and installations. The evening includes a special performance by Herbert Siguenza, of Culture Clash fame. Siguenza will perform and live paint as renowned artist, Pablo Picasso.
The exhibition continues to examine the ways technology shapes the celebration of Day of the Dead. Once again, a Flickr group enables the exhibition’s curators to accept digital photos as offerings to those who people want to honor. The public can upload their digital contributions here. Selected images will be printed and displayed as part of the exhibit.
Poco a Poco Radio!
July 17th, 2011 § 1 Comment
My papi and I have a brand new BILINGUAL radio show on WLUW 88.7 FM, Poco a Poco Radio. The show airs every Sunday from 1:30-2:00PM CST and can be listened to live on the radio or online at http://wluw.org.
If you missed last week’s show (the first episode) you can listen here:
And today tune in, to hear our LIVE interview with the incredibly talented, hilarious, and inspiring Elma Placeres Dieppa (@mzelma), Director of Latism Chicago. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Latism… you should be… #LATISM stands for Latinos in Social Media.
For more updates follow Poco a Poco Radio on Facebook & Twitter
el es frida kahlo in the Jewish Women’s Archive Blog
July 5th, 2011 § 1 Comment
el es frida kahlo featured on Jewesses with Attitude in honor of Frida Kahlo’s 104th birthday.
A Latina “Jewess with attitude,” Maya Escobar plays with the web as a platform for engaging in community dialogue around identity and multiple identities–how they are socially and culturally constructed. She often assumes multiple identities in her performances, drawing from various existing representations.
About “el es frida kahlo,” she writes:
Frida Kahlo played with the identity that she wanted to project and the identity that was placed on her by others. Kahlo used her clothing, political affiliations, sexual escapades, and personal traumas, to create a character that informed her body of work. She inscribed her identity, painting her image over and over, constructing a mythology around her persona.
In el es frida kahlo I confront the ambivalence I experience as a result of my simultaneous obsession with Frida Kahlo and weariness towards her commodification.
What is your reaction to this confrontational piece? Do you identify with Escobar’s ambivalence towards Kahlo, her work, and her commodification in our culture?
AMerican MEdia Output in New Jersey
May 17th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
You saw Escobar-Morales as promo models in TX, “promoting” Arizona Tourism…
And here we are as marketing executives in NJ.
Andria was live at Gallery Aferro and I skyped in from Chicago.
Stay tuned for more details on the performance and the results from AMerican MEdia Output‘s #targetaudiencesurvey.
Negotiating Latina Identity through Performance Art on the Web
April 14th, 2011 § 1 Comment
Andria and I will be presenting Are You My Other? next week at the 2011 National Popular Culture Association Conference in San Antonio, TX.
Negotiating Latina Identity through Performance Art on the Web
with Maya Escobar and Andria Morales
Challenging mainstream and academic representations of Latina identity, performance artists Maya Escobar and Andria Morales publicly negate, deconstruct, and reconstruct their individual histories, identities, and conceptions of self. In their current project Are You My Other? a self-portrait dialog exchange blog, Escobar and Morales draw from popular culture, Latino/a cultural iconography, and their lived experiences to create and virtually perform conflicting representations of Latina selves. From devoted homemaker to hockey player, reggaetonera to construction worker, conceptual artist to human corn on the cob, the artists model the multiplicity of identity.
Due to their shared physical similarities, followers of their online exchange often mistake Escobar and Morales for one another. The merging of their identities is further perpetuated through their activities on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. By locating these performances within the space of the web, where they are free from restrictions of time and place, the artists are able to concurrently enact multiple personas while simultaneously forming a unified (Latina) hybrid self.
Going Public.
April 14th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
The latest from AMerican MEdia Output‘s Public Airways Campaign.
AMerican MEdia Output is an online marketing and brand design agency with a focus on AMerican travel and tourism. AMerican MEdia Output specializes in creative consulting, web design and development, promotional image and video campaigns, and social media integration and instruction.
BEHIND EVERY IMAGE IS A MESSAGE.
The Way Is Made By Walking: Cesar Chavez
March 31st, 2011 § Leave a Comment
¡Feliz Cumpleaños Cesar Chavez!
Cesar Chavez Coloring Page, from The Way Is Made By Walking
The Way Is Made by Walking is a free popular education coloring book available at TheWayIsMadeByWalking.com
Eventually I would like TheWayIsMadeByWalking.com to become an active webportal for artists/activists/educators/students/parents/HUMANS. A place that will facilitate critical conversations and the exchange of resources: ideas, images, videos, lesson plans, projects, student work, etc. A sort of ongoing People’s History, meant to be continually analyzed, expanded upon, revisited and challenged. (read more)
it’s official: Escobar-Morales has arrived
March 27th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
visit us now at http://escobar-morales.com
Puerto Rican Taxidermy Funeral pt 2
March 24th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Will you be attending?
Andria Bibiloni, 28, of New York, ceased to exist on Mar. 23, 2011 in Philadelphia, where she lived since 2000. A visual artist and educator, she strove through her work to facilitate a dialogue about sociopolitical and interpersonal issues. Known for riding her Blasterbike, 2007, in the streets of Philadelphia, her departing wish was to be displayed riding a bigger, louder, and heavier soundblasting vehicle. Beth Beverly of Diamond Tooth Taxidermy will be handling the preparations for the viewing, which takes place at the Rotunda in University City on Sunday March 27 from 3-5 pm. Guests are invited to stay for refreshments.
Kickstart the Wonder Women
March 18th, 2011 § 1 Comment
So what’s the deal with the recent AMerican MEdia Output – “Welcome to Arizona” and “Go Public” campaigns?
It all started with Escobar-Morales’s participation in the Wonder Woman Residency New News is Old News, which I blogged about a few months ago.
As a follow up to Are You My Other? our current Internet based self-portrait dialogue exchange project, Escobar-Morales is establishing an online marketing agency. Acting as designers, distributors, and promo models, we plan to produce a series of advertisements addressing contentious topics in the news, such as Arizona’s SB-1070 and the Dream Act.
There are currently three scheduled New News is Old News exhibitions:
The first NNION exhibition opens on May 7th, 2011 at Gallery Aferro in Newark, New Jersey. The second exhibition will be in Cyprus! The third exhibition will be in Brooklyn at the WAH Center and opens in mid-July, 2011.
Please visit the Women Woman Residency KICKSTARTER Project
We ask you…
- who mediates the news?
- how is social media changing your foundation of news?
- can technology keep up with history?
- when was the last time you read the paper?
- is journalism dead?
The Project:
The Wonder Women residency has selected ten NYC area artists to create work addressing these questions for New News is Old News (NNION). In this eight week residency, curators and artists construct and deconstruct: their understanding and experience of media; the different perspectives of journalism online vs. print; the future of news. Given the changing landscape of news and media, artists have new opportunity to engage and to create work addressing these intersections. The residency culminates with an exhibition of the artists projects (details below).
If you think that is exciting….It gets even better. In June, the curators and three selected NYC artists will travel to Nicosia, Cyprus to continue the dialogue with eight Cypriot artists. In an intensive two-week workshop, the artists will focus on international relations, local policies and news. The projects created will be exhibited in Cyrus and then in NYC.
Help _gaia fund the artists, the projects, and the exhibitions!
The History:
_gaia is a collective of women artists and activists creating art, events and opportunities in the visual and media arts, performance and design. Its members actively promote and support the work of local women artists while developing programs that encourage collaboration and create community to help emerging artists in need of studio space, facilities and resources. In pursuit of raising awareness _gaia concentrates on activism, from issues in the local community and the art world to global issues affecting the lives of women.
Wonder Women (WW) is a residency program in its sixth year presented by_gaia, an artist collective. The WW mission is to engage practicing, yet underrepresented artists who are eager to participate in a collective dialogue about the art world and feminism today. See the project blog for information about previous Wonder Women residencies.
The NNION Wonder Women:
Christine DaCruz: the obituaries. Christine has been threading portraits of deceased women.
Mairikke Dau: painting the news. Rikke has created a large still life painting in response to the Arizona shooting, and the various controversies which have risen from the event.
Sharon de la Cruz: Crooked Images. Sharon has created a feature news segment about Aunt Jemima discovering her sexuality.
Melissa MacAlpin: vows and love. Melissa has created a series of comics in response to the Sunday vows section of the NY Times.
Escobar-Morales: American Media Output. Andria Morales and Maya Escobar created an ad agency that is currently focusing on two campaigns around immigration, and Arizona.
Lindsey Muscato: spills from the NY Times. Focusing on the experience of reading the newspaper, Lindsey is drawing segments of the broadsheet, selected from organic spills.
Larysa Myers: extinct technology. Laryssa is creating a casket sized sculpture from discarded video tape.
Cristine Posner: the big oil spill (forgotten). Cristine has collected news articles addressing the June oil spill, and is creating a series of weekly cyanotypes based on the press.
Sharone Vendriger: wikileaks. Sharone is creating a large mobius sculpture referencing transparency in public information.
Nicole Wilson: agency and the news. Nicole has created a video, that looks to the three graces as examples and agents of 21st century news.
The Cypriot artists will be selected in April in collaboration with our partners in Cyprus: Cyprus Community Media Centre, Rooftop Theatre Group and European-Mediterranean Art Association
Curated and Organized by Maya Joseph-Goteiner, Doris Caçoilo, and Alana Kakoyiannis.
Somos Ana
March 15th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
“Please die Ana, for as long as you’re here we’re not.”
-AM on Are You My Other?
LAST RIDE: Andria Morales formerly Andria Bibiloni
March 11th, 2011 § 2 Comments
UPDATE: visit AreYouMyOther.com to see Bibiloni’s mass card.
Have you ever Googled Puerto Rican funeral? If you haven’t then I suggest you do. And if you live in Philadelphia or in the surrounding area, you should attend Andria Morales and Beth Beverly’s collaborative performance Last Ride.
LAST RIDE: collaborative performance-based artwork by Andria Morales & Beth Beverly. Inspired by Puerto Rican funeral celebrations & taxidermy traditions – 03/27/2011 @ The Rotunda @ 3:00pm-5:00pm
LAST RIDE
Performance and reception
Sunday March 27, 2011
3-5pm
The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St., Philadelphia
LAST RIDE is a collaborative performance-based artwork by Andria Morales and Beth Beverly. Inspired by Puerto Rican funeral celebrations and taxidermy traditions respectively, the artists have found a common interest in death. Using the Rotunda’s church-like interior as a backdrop, the artist’s work will invite viewers to experience mourning as a celebration.
Andria Morales (formerly Andria Bibiloni) explores the divide between art representative of culture, and art produced from within a cultural community. By immersing herself in situations where cultural identity is consequential, she aims to provoke viewers into a confrontation and analysis of their own preconceptions. The resulting work is multidisciplinary, consisting of mixed media sculptures, self-portraits, performance based videos, and site-specific installations. Andria Morales’s work has been exhibited at Labor K1 in Berlin, Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Projects Gallery in Philadelphia, the Ice Box in Philadelphia, and the CUE Art Foundation in New York. In 2008 she was awarded a Joan Mitchell MFA Grant for her work in mixed media sculpture and installation. Andria is currently a resident in the 40th St. Artist in Residence Program, and teaches at Tyler School of Art.
Beth Beverly is a State- and Federally-licensed taxidermist who has a BFA from Tyler School of Art and graduated from the Pocono Institute of Taxidermy with high marks. Ms. Beverly is passionate about using every part of an animal and being thankful for the ultimate sacrifice each creature makes to land both in her studio and on her plate. She has won numerous awards for her taxidermy creations, including Best in Show at the fifth annual Carnivorous Nights taxidermy contest in New York. Beth’s work has been exhibited at Bahdee Bahdu Gallery, James Oliver Gallery, Wilbur Vintage Boutique and has been featured in a plethora of fashion & art blogs.
Admission is FREE
Entrevista en Sí Se Puede
March 7th, 2011 § 2 Comments
an example of my Internet Art
Last week I had the on honor of being interviewed by my papi on Sí Se Puede. We talked about Internet art, the implications of growing up online, linguistic performances on twitter, public vs private, and more.
If you missed it you can listen here:
“Wondering if our girls are legal?”
February 28th, 2011 § 1 Comment
Wondering if our girls are legal? Imagine an Arizona where cold spring water is in abundance, and everyone is free, especially the women. Enjoy the breathtaking natural terrain and spiritual landmarks revered by American ancestors. Come for the women in hot summer fashions. Stay because you’re welcome.
when physical appearance equals reasonable suspicion
February 28th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Public Airways is an artwork that aims to help viewers imagine the consequences of proposed immigration laws that inevitably lead to increased racial profiling. Arizona’s SB 1070 would make it legal for law officers to use someone’s physical appearance as a form of “reasonable suspicion” to demand proof of citizenship. Similar laws have been proposed in South Carolina, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Mississippi. Perhaps rightful citizens and casual world travelers subject to profiling will soon seek to avoid such destinations altogether: a 21st century “Non-White Flight.”
follow @PublicAirways
WE GUARANTEE YOU’LL KEEP YOUR CARD IN YOUR WALLET FOR GOOD
February 28th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
women and water… what else are you looking for?
February 26th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
In the heat of the desert…
women and water… what else are you looking for?
visit http://americanmediaoutput.com/arizonawelcome.html
The 1st Arizona Welcome Pics Are Here
February 25th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
please feel free to share and re-post…
