Looking In / Looking Out - Spring 2021 Storefront Exhibition Series

Featuring solo installations by artists:

Absurdly Well / Unrestricted Heritage
> March 20 – April 10, 2021 

Armando Lopez-Bircann / Arma the Oracle: Extended Reality (XR)
> April 24 – May 22, 2021

Yacine Tilala Fall / Trying to be Whole (Living in Parts: Blood, Body, and Faith)
> June 5 – July 10, 2021 

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

This spring 2021, Transformer presents Looking In/Looking Out - a series of three solo storefront exhibitions by DC-based artists Absurdly Well, Armando Lopez-Bircann, and Yacine Tilala Fall.

Each artist will be creating site-specific installations in Transformer’s storefront window space, with public programs taking place in person and within online formats. Seeking to encourage audiences to look within themselves and outward at the world, Well, Lopez-Bircann, and Fall explore and present personal and overarching social themes toward increased understanding and empathy of our shared humanity. The artists will be communicating and engaging audiences through a range of visual mediums and multiple public platforms.

Looking In/Looking Out is generously supported by the Robert Lehman Foundation.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Yacine Tilala Fall is an interdisciplinary conceptual artist. She received a BFA from the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design. Using performance, sculpture, painting and natural materials, her work investigates identity, politics, and history through the lens of the body. Her work and practice speak to the human body and its entangled relationship with the natural environment. A Senegalese heritage and an American upbringing inform her repetitive and labor-intensive art practice.

Image Credit: Mahnoor Soofi, Trying To Be Whole (Living in Parts): Head Study, 2021

PROGRAMS

INSTAGRAM LIVE ARTIST TALK WITH YACINE TILALA FALL
Tuesday, June 15, 2021 at 2pm EST on @transformerdc

Hear more about the artist's work and practice live from within her exhibition, Trying to be Whole (Living in Parts: Blood, Body, and Faith) on view at Transformer (June 5– July 10, 2021).

Tune in live on @transformerdc.

PERFORMANCE FILM SCREENING & DISCUSSION
Tuesday, June 22, 2021 at 6pm EST on Zoom

Please join us for an online screening and discussion of Living in Parts, a film trilogy documenting Yacine Fall's performances created for her solo exhibition at Transformer, titled Trying to be Whole (Living in Parts: Blood, Body, and Faith).

The first two films will be screened, as well as a preview feature of the third film, followed by a conversation and Q&A with artist Yacine Fall, artist Ashley Shey, and photographer Mahnoor Soofi, and will be moderated by Katie Lee, Transformer's Exhibition and Programs Coordinator.  

Armando Lopez-Bircann shares their vision of an ethical queer future with Arma the Oracle: Extended Reality (XR). In their Tarot-inspired performances, Lopez-Bircann’s alter ego, Arma Dura, will summon the cyber faeries, wield the Glitchblade, and channel other guides in this oracle card reading.

Through Lopez-Bircann’s wearable sculptures and augmented-reality attire, which explore non-binary and binary gender aesthetics, they push the limits of what types of reality - both virtually and physically – are possible, and present alternative futures to strive towards. 

ABOUT THE ARTIST  

Armando Lopez-Bircann is a Latinx artist who engineers wearable sculptures, digital media and performances. Their practice is framed by immigrant narratives, genderfluid expression and digital native sensibilities. They are currently based in Washington, DC. 

Image Credit: Armando Lopez-Bircann, The Oracle, 2021
 

PROGRAMS

Tuesday, April 27 @ 1pm EST
IG Live Artist Talk on @transformerdc
Tune in and listen to Armando discuss how queer ecofeminist ideas have shaped their artwork and relationship to glamor-based empowerment.

Saturday, May 8 @ 7–7:30pm EST
Arma Dura's extended reality reading
at Transformer - 1404 P Street NW, Washington, DC
Watch live through Transformer's storefront window as the artist's alter ego, Arma Dura, summons the cyber faeries, wields the Glitchblade, and channels other guides in this Tarot-inspired performance. 

Audiences are invited to gather outside on the sidewalk in front of Transformer to view the performance. Face masks and social distancing precautions should be observed. 

Tuesday, May 11 @ 6–8pm EST
FRAMEWORK PANEL #30: Speculative Futures
Presented via Zoom
Moderator: Laura McGough
Panelists: Jeff Kasper, Armando Lopez-Bircann, Jaimes Mayhew, J. Soto

Transformer's ongoing FRAMEWORK Panel Series returns with a discussion among artists, educators, and activists that explores speculative futures, and the cultural, ethical, environmental, political, and economic systems that will all contribute to a more sustainable and equitable future.

Learn more about Panel #30 here.

With Unrestricted Heritage, artist Absurdly Well will represent a diversity of black icons in fresh ways. 

Seeking to build awareness of Black History beyond ‘Black History Month’, and reflecting on the turbulent and historical milestones experienced in Washington, DC since the Covid-19 pandemic began, Unrestricted Heritage will feature a depth of field installation inside Transformer’s storefront with corresponding art actions throughout the Logan Circle area. 

Working with Naima Costello, an expert stencil craftswoman, Absurdly Well will incorporate mixed media elements and color theory in the presentation of this new work.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Absurdly Well is a multi-disciplinary abstract painter, street artist and clothing designer. Since 2017 the artist has anonymously served political print stencils in public space bearing the Instagram handle signature @AbsurdlyWell in Coca-Cola font stencil. 

The artist’s iconic works are intended to uplift the public and create community awareness, featuring portraits of AOC, Elijah Cummings, and Oprah, and phrases like "Wash your Hands", "Go-Go vs Everybody". Works have been profiled in The Washington Post, The Washington Informer, WAMU.com and on social medial. Absurdly Well is a Washington DC favorite and is well known throughout the DMV area.

Image Credit: Absurdly Well, Untitled (Malcolm X), 2021

PROGRAMS

March 31 @ 12pm ET / IGTV Artist Conversation
Artist Absurdly Well in conversation with Wilfried Zeisler, Chief Curator and Co-Chair of Exhibitions at Hillwood Estates, Museum & Gardens, and moderated by Victoria Reis, Co-Founder & Director of Transformer, presented on Transformer's Instagram.

April 4 – 9 / Logan Circle Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt
Launching at 12pm on Monday, April 4, local audiences are invited to participate in an artist-designed scavenger hunt along P Street NW in the Logan Circle neighborhood and ending at Transformer. Winner will be randomly selected on Saturday, April 10, and have the opportunity to pick up the artist-designed prize from Absurdly Well at Transformer.

April 7 @ 6pm ET / IG Live | The Joys of Abstraction
Join Absurdly Well on Instagram Live as he develops a painting from his Joys of Abstraction series. Follow @transformerdc for further details.