Friday Art Break: Artist Talk with Armando Lopez-Bircann

FREE
This program is online only.
Register in advance now! Advance registration is required. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the talk.

Artist Armando Lopez-Bircann joins Hirshhorn assistant curator Betsy Johnson to discuss their performative art practice and the role that the internet played in shaping their awareness of the vast possibilities for identity by connecting them to the global communities that inspire their practice.

Lopez-Bircann (ARLOBI) was raised in the Dominican Republic and moved to the United States after completing high school. As a child, they acquired the English proficiency of a native speaker through family, education, and self-directed immersion in American popular culture and video games. They recount how the combination of witnessing endemic poverty and exploring their obsession with animé and Japanese culture led them to connect to peer groups around the world who encouraged them to think beyond the conventions of their local community. Lopez-Bircann employs emerging technologies to design performative, wearable sculptures that respond to movement and sound, furthering their explorations into aesthetics and dance. Influenced by ceremonial formats seen in fashion, pop culture, and the internet, their work exists in both the physical and virtual realms, reflecting the mixed reality that characterizes contemporary life.

Lopez-Bircann is a member of queer collective Boys Be Good and co-founded the performance art platform Animals and Fire. Their performance Fem Nom Nom, exploring how the consumption of femininity can be comforting and silly, was recently presented by the Washington arts institution Transformer Gallery for its exhibition Queer Threads: Curious Cabaret.

SCHEDULE
11:50 am EST | Zoom broadcast opens
12:00–1:00 pm EST | Armando Lopez-Bircann in conversation with Betsy Johnson 

CART (real-time captioning) will be provided for this program. If you have any questions about accessibility for this program, please email hirshhornexperience@si.edu.

This event is also part of #HirshhornInsideOut, the Museum’s initiative to bring art into your home.

This program will be recorded and made available following the event. You will find it on this page and on our YouTube channel.