Communicator Series no.5
Photo Credit: Maria Ramirez-Adams
Performed at
Poetic Research Bureau
Los Angeles, California
13 May 2024
Curated by
Emji Saint Spero
Sound by
jeremy kennedy
Choreographies of collectivity. Rituals of belonging. Elastic Entanglement. Communicator Series no. 5 engages ecstatic refusal as raw matter for haptic vocabularies, restaging the unfolding present as a site for manifesting future mythologies. Presenting new work by Ajani Brannum, Pau S. Pescador, and Bay Area artist Leila Weefur. Monday May 13th, 7pm at Poetic Research Bureau.
Free / RSVP
About the Artists
Ajani Brannum (they/them) investigates the choreographies of life in the shadow of empire. (Where are we?) Through a fluid, shapeshifting performative practice, they observe the forces that persist—for better, for worse, for otherwise—in and through our living. (How are we?) Ajani draws heavily on the knowledges they inherit as a Black queer maker with southern roots, honoring and extending the ancestral wisdoms that animate their craft. (How do we?) By turns contemplative and irreverent, their work invites audiences to rehearse vital forms of sensing and relation. (Why?)
Ajani has created spaces of encounter with REDCAT, ODC, Human Resources Los Angeles, Materials & Applications, Highways Performance Space, Los Angeles Performance Practice, in classrooms, on tabletops and screens, and when no one is looking. Born in Anchorage, Alaska, they hold an AB in English and a Certificate in Dance from Princeton University, and a PhD in Culture and Performance from UCLA. They are also an alum of the Cecilia Weston Spiritual Academy, helmed by Jade T. Perry.
Pau S. Pescador (she/they) is a contemporary trans fem nonbinary artist who works in film, photography, and performance that lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Select performances include: Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena; ForYourArt, Los Angeles; Guggenheim Gallery at Chapman University, Orange; Los Angeles Contemporary Archives; JOAN, Los Angeles; Machine Projects, Los Angeles; PAM, Los Angeles; Performa 2015; Colony, New York; Highways, Santa Monica; LAXART, Los Angeles; Situations, New York; UC Berkeley: Durham Studio Theater; REDCAT, Los Angeles and Salon Silicon, Mexico City.
tylerparkpresents.com/pau-s-pescador
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Leila Weefur (He/They/She) is an artist, writer, and curator based in Oakland, CA. Through film and architecture, they examine the performative elements connected to systems of belonging, present in Black, queer, gender-variant embodiment. The work traces black ecological symbols through the blackberry fruit, rice cultivation, and the life cycle of the fly. Their research, across disciplines, explores Black colloquial language, Transnational Blackness, and practices of collectivity.
Weefur’s writing has been published in SEEN by BlackStar Productions, Sming Sming Books, Baest Journal, and more. Weefur has worked with local and national institutions including BlackStar Productions, Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts, CCA’s Wattis Institute, McEvoy Foundation, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Museum of the African Diaspora, and The Kitchen.
Weefur is a lecturer at Stanford University and a member of The Black Aesthetic.