mariposeo is a trans-species
operatic performance, structured as a ceremony in two parts. Instead of
forming a complete whole, its fragments come together incompletely. The
first segment happens in the theater; the second occurs intimately in a
corner studio. Based on literary and ethnographic chronicles, the work
engages with themes of transmutation, employing Baroque theatrical
conventions, melodrama, mystical masquerade dances, video projections,
lighting and special effects.
The term mariposeo references both camouflage and excess. Conceived as a
beyond-the-human collaboration, the research explores practices of the
closet, mimetic colonial legacies and coded visibility, engaging in a
discrete negotiation between concealment and disclosure. Additionally, a
sound and light installation extends the work to the privacy of the
toilets of DAS Graduate School.
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