• March 30, 2017

    Mirrors of privilege: a reflection of The White Stuff

    By Published On: March 30th, 2017

    Where does art fit in the landscape of social justice? Through peering into social constructs, can art instigate direct action? Where is the line drawn between performance and audience, and is the most transformative art those without a clear division? These questions I pondered prior to Annie Danger's production, The White Stuff, immersing me into the experience weeks before

  • March 28, 2017

    WEATHER // BODY :: 02

    By Published On: March 28th, 2017

    Throughout the development process of weather // body, Arletta and I have been been conducting research in the form of interviews and witness. We've polled friends, family, and strangers with questions about physical and emotional change over time. The Institute on Aging was kind enough to let us visit with seniors in their day program. Last week, we were guests

  • March 15, 2017

    Project Space artist Alice Combs: power and idleness

    By Published On: March 15th, 2017

    Photo by Robbie Sweeny Project Space artist Alice Combs: power and idleness By Erica Dixon   I had a great conversation with Alice Combs, our March Project Space resident artist, during her residency earlier this month. We sat down in the windowless, concrete room amidst her then in-process installation, charger cables hanging from

  • March 14, 2017

    Scarlett Cushion rehearsal 3.12.17

    By Published On: March 14th, 2017

  • March 9, 2017

    The Tenderloin: Working in the Shadow of San Francisco

    By Published On: March 9th, 2017

    Photo by Kegan Marling I've been thinking a lot about how we homogenize and scorn houseless people. Without knowing their stories, the people on the streets are casted aside as an eyesore unworthy of hospitality and attention. Before moving to San Francisco, I’ve heard all the horror stories. I’m sure you have too.

  • February 24, 2017

    THIS SPOTLIGHT ON FAITH IS A FORM OF ACTIVISM

    By Published On: February 24th, 2017

    THE NOTION OF FAITH- AND QUESTIONING WHAT WE PLACE FAITH IN- IS MATERIAL FOR ACTIVISM. IT IS A WAY OF LOOSENING THE BELIEFS WE UNCONSCIOUSLY HOLD ONTO SO TIGHTLY. I attended the performance FAITH MATERIAL: ACTIVISM created by Jesse Hewit / Strong Behavior showing at the performance art space, CounterPulse. The show title is both direct

  • February 17, 2017

    What is the Water of Resilience?

    By Published On: February 17th, 2017

    In our CP residency as The Scarlett Cushion, we’ve been peeling back the layers and meanings associated with the term ‘resilience’. In our process, we’ve invited a number of partners to assist us with our investigation and research by participating in interviews and story sharing. These conversations help inform our work. Recognizing that resilience is

  • February 14, 2017

    weather // body :: 01

    By Published On: February 14th, 2017

    Adam and I are thinking about change over time - how one experiences change as one ages, how one’s relationship to time changes. We’re thinking about how the environment around us changes - how the tectonic plates shift and the earth quakes, how the tides rise and fall, how some nights the stars appear in

  • January 31, 2017

    CounterPulse Spring 2017 Season Announcement

    By Published On: January 31st, 2017

    CounterPulse Spring 2017 brings forth a milieu of performance makers for a season of works that will be respite from and resistance to the powers that be. We make space this spring season for risk, pleasure, solidarity, conflict, and futurity. CounterPulse is your home for radical ridiculousness, dissident discomposure, and all adjacent anarchic alliterations ;

  • November 17, 2016

    Art & activism with dana e. fitchet & Sammay

    By Published On: November 17th, 2016

    By Erica Dixon   I met with our 2016 Performing Diaspora artists to chat about their process two weeks ago, the week before our recent election. After last week's reaffirmation of our country's divisiveness and bigotry, the exploration of the artist's role in activist work feels more important now than ever. A question that I have

  • October 28, 2016

    Eulogy for Lola Cion

    By Published On: October 28th, 2016

    I will never forget the moment I met you. Really met you. It was just 2 ½ years ago. I was 22 years old and although I had visited you when I was three and again when I was sixteen… I really never met you until I was 22. I had just returned from Mindanao…

  • October 27, 2016

    San Francisco, CounterPulse, and Proposition S

    By Published On: October 27th, 2016

    Me and my family at CounterPulse's Magenta Party earlier this year A note from Executive Director Tomás Riley on Prop S   Dear CounterPulse Family,   We are in the thick of the struggle for simultaneously preserving San Francisco as the creative capital and safe haven for families it represents for thousands of