Moving Beyond Productive Time: An Embodied Performance Workshop

As part of the larger research initiative, How do you throw a brick through the window…, co-organized by Tufts University Art Galleries and John Michael Kohler Arts Center comprised of exhibitions, programming, and a catalog, artists Jeff Kasper and Libby Paloma will lead a workshop engaging Korean American writer, artist, and musician, Johanna Hedva’s pivotal text “Sick Woman Theory.” Querying the function, distribution, and authority of public space through disabled perspectives, Kasper and Paloma will lead participations in a performance-based workshop considering how “crip time” reimagines time as flexible, non-linear, and generative, describing how disabled, chronically ill, and neurodivergent individuals often experience time. Kasper and Paloma will lead participants through interactive exercises, including meditation, creative writing, drawing activities, role play, improv exercises, and playful movement guided by key disability studies texts by Alison Kafer and Ellen Samuels.  . Please note that this workshop is open to Tufts and SMFA at Tufts students only. No prior experience is required and materials will be provided.

 How do you throw a brick through the window…in Public Space: A Workshop with Jeff Kasper and Libby Paloma is part of How do you throw a brick through the window… including a 2024 symposium, 2024–2025 pre-exhibition programming, co-organized exhibitions, and a publication.   

Jeff Kasper (he/him/his) is an artist, writer, and educator. Through public art, publications, participatory learning, and design, he works to make tangible the creative potentials of accessibility, social support, and trauma-aware culture. His artworks center dialogical, reflective, and instructional texts that prompt contemplation, relationship building, and serious play. Recent projects have been presented with New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, ArtBridge, and Meta Open Arts, moCa Cleveland, DisArt at ArtPrize, and Queens Museum. He has received fellowships and awards from National Arts Strategies (NAS), MASS MoCA Assets for Artists and the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, and New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA). Kasper has served as a peer-mentor and facilitated workshops throughout the United States and internationally. He often collaborates with institutions and organizations to develop meaningful engagements with disability culture and community. Kasper is currently Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the Department of Art. 

Libby Paloma (she/they) has been an artist in residence at Space, Portland, ME; The Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT; and The Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY. Recently, Paloma was published in Visual Studies Journal and will be a panelist in this year’s 41st International Visual Sociology Conference in 2024 to discuss their project, Lo Que No Sabrías (What You Wouldn’t Know) in Xalapa, Veracruz. Paloma’s work has been exhibited at El Museo Del Barrio in New York, NY; Burlington City Arts (BCA), Burlington, VT; SOMArts in San Francisco, CA; SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME; Geary Contemporary, Millerton, NY, Unprofessional Variety Show, New York, NY, The University of Southern Maine in Gorham, ME, and the Dorsky Museum in New Paltz, NY. Paloma holds a Bachelor’s Degree (BA) in Liberal Studies, a Master’s Degree (MS) in Communicative Disorders from San Francisco State University, and a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from Parsons School of Design, The New School, where she received the President and University full Scholarship.

Image: Jeff Kasper, Love Devours Time at Greensboro Project Space, billboard marquee (2021). Photo by Adam Carlin.