FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dara Katrina Del Rosario
Communications & Partnerships Manager
415-863-1414 x103, [email protected]

Digital Witness: Performance in the Era of Online-only
Avant-drag trio Toxic Waste Face discuss the possibilities of drag and performance online

Monday, May 4, San Francisco, CA– SOMArts Cultural Center is partnering with mind melting, avant-drag performance trio Toxic Waste Face (TWF) for Digital Witness: Performance in the Era of Online-only on Wednesday, May 13, 2020, 6pm. This free, online symposium features a panel of distinguished artists who have used online platforms to extend their creative practices into the digital space while forging new economies for performers.

With nightlife and performance venues being shuttered across the globe, performing artists must think critically about how to adjust their practice to the new reality in which we live. Whether by choice or by necessity, performers have been at the forefront of pioneering new virtual frontiers as an outlet for connection, commerce, and community.

With this dramatic shift toward remote experiences, the panelists for Digital Witness consider what is lost – or gained – when art and performance is mediated by a webcam. How do we begin to reframe performance so that it can retain its vitality while observing social distancing mandates? With digitization comes increased access to new work and audiences, but does remote viewership diminish artistic impact?

Moderated by TWF’s Jader, panelists include Digital Drag Co-founders Biqtch Puddin and Meg Chase who notably launched the first stream dedicated to supporting drag performers, Julie E. Phelps, Artistic & Executive Director of CounterPulse, and Mica Sigourney/Vivvy, co-owner of the Stud, one of the City’s most celebrated queer bars that many nightlife performers call home. Artists Asher Hartman, Gabriel Christian, and TWF’s Pseuda and Scam Likely round out the discussion, providing unique perspectives on the expansion of their creative practices online.

Digital Witness: Performance in the Era of Online-only is free with registration. Held over Zoom, participants will receive additional streaming information 48 hours prior to the day of event on Wednesday, May 13, 2020, 6pm.

Symposium Panelists
Biqtch Puddin and Meg Chase, Co-Founders of Digital Drag
Julie E. Phelps, Artistic & Executive Director, CounterPulse
Mica Sigourney/Vivvy, Performance Artist & Co-Owner, The Stud
Asher Hartman, Writer, Director, Intuitive
Gabriel Christian, Performance Artist, @doom_body duets
Pseuda, Toxic Waste Face
Scam Likely, Toxic Waste Face

Moderator
Jader, Toxic Waste Face

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About Toxic Waste Face
Toxic Waste Face is a trio of radical, queer, multi-disciplinary artists exploring the contemporary human condition by way of full-fantasy theatrical activations, original music, and hyper-stylized video installations. Known for their otherworldly makeup, avant-garde costumes, and a penchant for organized chaos, Toxic Waste Face holds a mirror up to reality and then promptly smashes it to the ground. Existing simultaneously in the art world and the queer nightlife circuit, Toxic Waste Face creates work that is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking, using tools like camp and parody to communicate some very real existential observations. The collective is composed of three members: Jader, Pseuda, and Scam Likely.

About SOMArts Cultural Center
SOMArts Cultural Center, founded in 1979, cultivates access to the arts within the Bay Area by collaborating with community-focused artists and organizations. Together, we engage the power of the arts to provoke just and fair inclusion, cultural respect and civic participation.
SOMArts plays a vital role in the arts ecosystem by helping activate the arts citywide. We do this by providing space and production support for non-profit events, as well as fairs and festivals throughout the Bay Area, and offering a robust program of art exhibitions, classes, events and performances that are affordable and accessible to all. SOMArts’ exhibition programs receive critical support from the San Francisco Arts Commission and The San Francisco Foundation, and are sponsored in part by a grant from Grants for the Arts.

For public information call 415-863-1414 or visit somarts.org. Stay connected by following us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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