Gulf Coast Art Corridor Fundraiser

Gulf Coast Art Corridor is an experiment on art and social
transformation. It facilitates communication and artistic interactions
between folk, conceptual artists and community organizers. Funded
by New Voices, TransArt Foundation, DiverseWorks, Gulf Coast Fund
and individual donors.
Elia Arce is a pioneer performance artist working in a wide
variety of media, including video installation, performance
art, experimental theater, writing, photo, video and sculptural
performance. Her work has been performed extensively at national
and international venues. She has been published and has received
considerable critical attention in Ms. Magazine, Latina Magazine,
High Performance, Heresis, Conjunto, Artlies, ArtWeek, Out of
Character, The Other Los Angelesses and ArtForum amongst others.
Arce has received awards from The Rockefeller Foundation, The
J. Paul Getty Foundation and the NEA. She founded and facilitated
the Performance Art Lab at the University of Houston, which has
now become an independent performance collective. A dual citizen
of Costa Rica & the US, Arce is currently a 2008 New Voices fellow
based in Houston, Texas. and the founder and artistic director of this
new social sculpture project.

Hosted by:
Surpik Angelini
Chairpersons:
Aisen Chacin and Maria Cristina Manrique-Henning
Host Committee:
Irene Aguilera-Barrantes
Maureen & Jeff Jennings
Alex Bigsley
Carlos E. Arce Lara
Loris Bradley
Nicole Laurent
Aisen Caro Chacin
Samantha Martinez & Jose Saul
Marcela Descalzi
Sixto Wagan
Loli Kolber Fernandez
Sixto Wagan
Elena Wortham
Tamara Hardikar

The Green House Collective Workshops

Elia Arce’s research-based practice is frequently concerned with communities’ subcultures. She proceeds by acquainting herself with particular groups, their histories and values, and then producing films/videos, installations, performances and event based works related to her findings.

Her artistic practice is marked by ethnographical inquiry, and an interest in

events or informal movements that bind people together.

The works come out of a participative-collaborative approach. People who she meets or take part in the process, help guide the course the project takes, and contribute to the final format of the project. In this way the people she comes in contact with feel that they share ownership of the work whatever the final project ends up being.

Green House Collective Workshops

Light Green/ Dark Green

by Elia Arce

Continuity, Challenge, Care, Commitment, Respect, Growth

Many artists before me have worked the garden art idea at PRH. I want to contribute to their efforts by leaving behind a visual/written/green house proposal. The Residents’ Council, gardening experts and this experiment will inform this document.

Through the process of researching and designing this living installation, I learned about different alternative gardening methods. During the next four months this row house will be used as a gardening laboratory, growing and producing wheat grass and other greens every few weeks. Aisen C. Chacin and Malcom Smith will assist me as we research, experiment and document this process. The goal is that by the end of February 2010, we will have a clearer idea of what is needed to develop support for a future permanent sustainable garden at PRH.

Special thanks to Darin Floyd from the Progressive Garden

Hat Workshop