bryan ortiz
bryan ortiz is and artist currently based in Fayetteville, Arkansas with roots in Southern California and Central/Southern Mexico. Ortiz works across several mediums to engage with memories, archival materials, and objects connected to personal, political, and cultural histories.
He has exhibited work at the Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA; Field Projects, New York, NY; Secretaria de Arte y Cultura, San Andres Cholula, Puebla, Mexico; Luckman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Visible Records, Charlottesville, VA, Thompson Library Gallery, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH; Rhizome DC, Washington D.C., and Cocina de Humo Gallery, Puebla, Mexico, among others.
He is a member of the transborder artist collective, Colectivo Rasquache, a co-founder of the Columbus, OH based performance activist group, Taco Reparations Brigade, and most recently co-founded, VL4E with Mariana Parisca and Luis Vasquez La Roche. VL4E is artist collective producing curatorial projects, exhibitions, events, performances, and zines that highlight art, writing and sounds rooted in the experiences of people from Caribbean, and Latin American diasporas.
Ortiz has held teaching positions at Colorado College and the Ohio State University and has facilitated workshops at Wilmington College, University of Virginia, University of Arkansas, Studio Two Three and The Momentary.
Sonidero Corporal #1.
One example in a series of the wearable sound systems that have been produced by participants of Sonidero Corporal workshops. These were built using recycled cardboard, wood, zip-ties, velcro, a cellphone power pack, speaker wire, speakers, a small amplifier, a dongle and camping backpack as a base.
Photo by Jeff Hazelden.
Susto(Video Still).
Still image of a performance made by VL4E Collective in Westminster, VT. VL4E is a collective effort of Mariana Parisca, Luis Vasquez La Roche, and bryan ortiz.
Photo courtesy of VL4E.
Temazcali Sonidero.
A sound bath space that takes after the traditional steam baths of Mesoamerica, temazcales. This auditory temazcal was connected to an MPC1000 sampler and a synthesizer to playback ambient soundscapes and sampled poetry from chicano movement writers, poets, and activists.
Photo courtesy of the artist.
Super Local Radio Transmitter (rear performance view).
An installation featuring ten pairs of repurposed house speakers connected to a set of tape decks. The tapedecks were used during several performances where cassettes were played back through the speakers creating a soundscape of voices that moved across the stacked speakers. The cassettes featured recorded responses to the question,"what does it feel to be free?”
Photo by Calista Lyon.
Wassy Fete (performance still).
Wassy Fete is a participatory sound performance and dance party where participants show off their costumes, dance, play instruments and celebrate as a group of revelers while listening to Caribbean and Latin American music. Wassy Fete is made possible by the collective efforts of VL4E: Mariana Parisca, Luis Vasquez La Roche, and bryan ortiz.
Photo by Calista Lyon.
The Residency Program is sponsored, in part, by:
GET MORE ART IN YOUR INBOX
Contemporary Arts
724 S. 12th Street
Omaha, NE 68102
402.341.7130
info@bemiscenter.org