In honor of the opening weekend of Movements at SITE SANTA FE, exhibiting artist Cassils engages in a wide-ranging conversation with cultural critic Gayatri Gopinath on how their exhibition represents a departure from their earlier work, what it means to create trans* representation at this particularly fraught political moment, and the specificity of the New Mexico landscape in relation to the questions of time, space, historical memory, and embodiment that are central to their practice. This conversation was introduced by SITE SANTA FE curator Brandee Caoba and coordinated by Matthew Contos.

About the Presenters:

Cassils is a transgender artist who makes their own body the material and protagonist of their performances. Cassils's art contemplates the history(s) of LGBTQI+ violence, representation, struggle, survival, empowerment and systems of care. For Cassils, performance is a form of social sculpture: drawing from the idea that bodies are formed in relation to forces of power and social expectations, Cassils's work excavates historical contexts to examine the present moment. Cassils exhibits internationally and is an Associate Professor of Sculpture and Integrated Practices in the Fine Arts Department at PRATT INSTITUTE.

Gayatri Gopinath is Professor in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, and the Director of the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality at New York University. She works at the intersection of transnational feminist and queer studies, postcolonial studies, and diaspora studies, and is the author of two monographs: Impossible Desires: Queer Diasporas and South Asian Public Cultures (Duke University Press, 2005), and Unruly Visions: The Aesthetic Practices of Queer Diaspora (Duke University Press, 2018). She has published widely on queer visual art and culture in anthologies and journals such as Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, GLQ, and Social Text, as well as in art publications such as PIX: A Journal of Contemporary Indian Photography, Tribe: Photography and New Media from the Arab World, and ArtReview Asia.

Movements exhibition at SITE SANTA FE:

Movements transposes the live choreography of Cassils’s debut contemporary dance piece, Human Measure (2022), reconceiving that performance as three new immersive installations that are distinct yet interconnected. Drawing upon the structure of a musical score, the exhibition weaves layered auditory experiences into a sweeping soundscape that spans the galleries’ architecture.

Movements is now on view at SITE SANTA FE through February 3, 2025

This program was recorded live on Saturday, November 16, 2024 at SITE SANTA FE in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Many thanks to the incredible teams at both SITE SANTA FE and Albuquerque Museum for your support and collaboration between spaces.

Episode image graphic features the cyanotype artwork Human Measure by Cassils, 2021-ongoing, installed at SITE SANTA FE