Pioneers Go East Collective, "Electric Blue"
Creative director, concept and installation Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte
Music composition ALEXA Grae
Choreography by Hollis Bartlett
Design by visual artist Mark Tambella and production designer Philip Treviño
Producer: Jo Wiegandt
Featuring: ALEXA Grae, Daniel Diaz, Joey Kipp
ABOUT
Electric Blue is a durational performance installation inspired by queer thought-provoking literary icon
Allen Ginsberg. A meditation on creative agency and censorship, Electric Blue celebrates past and present LGBTQ resilience in pursuit of artistic freedom. The work deploys personal reflections to underscore how the
experiences of the individual and the artist and their communities are inevitably bound together, hinting
at the potential for collective action. Taking Ginsberg’s writing (defined as pornographic literature when
first published), Pioneers examines the author’s controversial poetry reflecting on same-sex love and
male bonding. A cross-disciplinary project, Electric Blue is devised in collaboration with three solo
performing artists: Daniel Diaz, ALEXA Grae, and Joey Kipp.
Mission:
Since 2012, Pioneers Go East Collective is a radical queer laboratory collective of performing and visual artists dedicated to dance-theater and video art to empower the LGBTQ experience. Based in New York City, the collective is led by LGBTQ-identifying, BIPOC, and immigrant artists and cultural organizers Daniel Diaz, Joey Kipp, Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, and Philip Treviño. The collective portrays same-gender-loving experiences, memory, and marginalization that resonate with contemporary lives. Pioneers Go East Collective combines stories of vulnerability and courage with popular culture to facilitate communal meaning and advocate for cultural integrity. Pioneers Go East Collective’s work has been developed and presented in New York City at BRIC Arts Media, BAM /Brooklyn Academy of Music, Judson Church, The LGBT Center, Center for Performance Research, Abrons Arts Center, La MaMa, JACK, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, Chashama Gallery (Harlem), Goethe Institute gallery, Exponential Festival, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Process Space at Governors Island/LMCC, Lumberyard (Catskill, NY), as well as Buddies in Bad Times in Toronto. Current collaborators: Symara Johnson, ALEXA Grae, Darrin Wright, Mark Tambella, Paul Simon, Jo Wiegandt, Azmi Mert Erdem, joy (Zanni productions), Adele Overbey, Lynn Ligammari, syd islans, Vanessa Rappa, Jesse Timm, and Bryan Baira. www.pioneersgoeast.org
Reviews: In the past 3 years, we received The New York Times’ highlight and a Notebook review in Dance (2023); a Brooklyn Rail interview featuring our collective (2023); TimeOut NY Critics’ Pick (2021); The New Yorker’s Highlight ‘Things to see’ (2021); Dance Enthusiast’s Pick, NY Magazine's Pick; hailed by CULTUREBOT as "a strong gesture about collective queer yearning on a deep microcosmic, personal level."
BIOS:
Daniel Diaz (performance artist & writer) is a Black/Puerto Rican Gay performance artist and writer. Daniel is a NYSCA Individual Artist recipient (2022). Daniel creates works from a queer black male perspective to inform audiences and bring clarity on social-political injustices through storytelling, burlesque, choreography, and video projects. Daniel joined the radical Queer group Pioneers Go East Collective as a co-creator in 2014. With a focus on modern and interpretive dance, Daniel has performed at various New York City venues including La MaMa, BRIC ARTS MEDIA, Center for Performance Research, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, PS1 MoMa, Brooklyn Museum, The Coney Island Sideshow, Joe’s Pub, Dixon Place, Performance Mix/ New Dance Alliance, as well as various nightlife spots up and down the east coast. In 2023, Daniel Diaz will perform at Lumberyard (Catskill, NY); and Collar Works gallery (Troy, NY).
Joey Kipp (dance-maker/ film performance artist, writer) is a Queer Afro-Latinx-Brazilian Brooklyn-based artist. Joey collaborates with Cynthia Madansky, Biba Bell, Ani Taj, Rachel Klein, Pioneers Go East Collective, and Heather Kravas. In 2019 he was in residency at the Rauschenberg Foundation with Heather Kravas, Vic Haven, and Zeena Parkins. Joey was featured in The New York Times and their online project Speaking in Dance for Biba Bell, Stacy Grossfield, and Jody Oberfelder. Theater credits Opera WOW: AN OPERA (BRIC), THE BUBBLY BLACK GIRL SHEDS HER CHAMELEON SKIN (Progressive Theater), SOCIAL! (Park Avenue Armory), & LUCKY STAR 0.3 (Pioneers Go East Collective). Joey is a writer who has shared work with TELL: A Queer Storytelling, Occupy City Hall, & JUNETEENTH at Grand Army Plaza.
Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte (creative director & filmmaker) is a Gay immigrant of Italian/Middle Eastern descent and a NYC-based writer, director, filmmaker, and cultural organizer dedicated to performance and media that reflect queer perspectives and vulnerability. Gian Marco Riccardo is a NYSCA Artist recipient (2019), Foundation for Contemporary Arts recipient (2019-23); he was a finalist for the Jerome Foundation's Fellowship (2019-20); LMCC’s Creative Engagement recipient (2014-19). Residency awards: Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) artist-in-residence (2023); BRIC ARTS MEDIA residency (2021-22); Center for Performance Research Artist-in-residence (2022); and LMCC’s Process Space Residency fellow (2013/14). Artist in residence with Pioneers Go East Collective at La MaMa and Judson Church, Gian Marco Riccardo’s film and performance work presented in NYC at La MaMa, BRIC ARTS MEDIA, Center for Performance Research, Ars Nova, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, The LGBT Center, Exponential Festival, JACK, Incubator Arts Project/ Ontological Hysterical, Chez Bushwick, Governors Island/ LMCC, Art on Air - Clock Tower Gallery. Upcoming projects at Lumberyard (Catskill, NY); Collar Works gallery (Troy, NY).
Philip Treviño (creative designer & production designer), artist-in-residence since 2016. Philip is a Latinx LGBTQ artist, NYSCA individual artist (2021), a 2010 BESSIE recipient for design, and a 2014 Outstanding Production BESSIE for Camille A. Brown’s Mr. Tol E. Rance. Credits: Catherine Cabeen, Brian Brooks Moving Company, and Pam Tanowitz. His work has toured nationally, internationally, and at venues including BAM, The Joyce/Joyce Soho, DTW, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, The Kitchen, New York City Center, and Jacob's Pillow. Upcoming projects at Lumberyard (Catskill, NY); Collar Works gallery (Troy, NY).
Creative director, concept and installation Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte
Music composition ALEXA Grae
Choreography by Hollis Bartlett
Design by visual artist Mark Tambella and production designer Philip Treviño
Producer: Jo Wiegandt
Featuring: ALEXA Grae, Daniel Diaz, Joey Kipp
ABOUT
Electric Blue is a durational performance installation inspired by queer thought-provoking literary icon
Allen Ginsberg. A meditation on creative agency and censorship, Electric Blue celebrates past and present LGBTQ resilience in pursuit of artistic freedom. The work deploys personal reflections to underscore how the
experiences of the individual and the artist and their communities are inevitably bound together, hinting
at the potential for collective action. Taking Ginsberg’s writing (defined as pornographic literature when
first published), Pioneers examines the author’s controversial poetry reflecting on same-sex love and
male bonding. A cross-disciplinary project, Electric Blue is devised in collaboration with three solo
performing artists: Daniel Diaz, ALEXA Grae, and Joey Kipp.
Mission:
Since 2012, Pioneers Go East Collective is a radical queer laboratory collective of performing and visual artists dedicated to dance-theater and video art to empower the LGBTQ experience. Based in New York City, the collective is led by LGBTQ-identifying, BIPOC, and immigrant artists and cultural organizers Daniel Diaz, Joey Kipp, Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, and Philip Treviño. The collective portrays same-gender-loving experiences, memory, and marginalization that resonate with contemporary lives. Pioneers Go East Collective combines stories of vulnerability and courage with popular culture to facilitate communal meaning and advocate for cultural integrity. Pioneers Go East Collective’s work has been developed and presented in New York City at BRIC Arts Media, BAM /Brooklyn Academy of Music, Judson Church, The LGBT Center, Center for Performance Research, Abrons Arts Center, La MaMa, JACK, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, Chashama Gallery (Harlem), Goethe Institute gallery, Exponential Festival, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Process Space at Governors Island/LMCC, Lumberyard (Catskill, NY), as well as Buddies in Bad Times in Toronto. Current collaborators: Symara Johnson, ALEXA Grae, Darrin Wright, Mark Tambella, Paul Simon, Jo Wiegandt, Azmi Mert Erdem, joy (Zanni productions), Adele Overbey, Lynn Ligammari, syd islans, Vanessa Rappa, Jesse Timm, and Bryan Baira. www.pioneersgoeast.org
Reviews: In the past 3 years, we received The New York Times’ highlight and a Notebook review in Dance (2023); a Brooklyn Rail interview featuring our collective (2023); TimeOut NY Critics’ Pick (2021); The New Yorker’s Highlight ‘Things to see’ (2021); Dance Enthusiast’s Pick, NY Magazine's Pick; hailed by CULTUREBOT as "a strong gesture about collective queer yearning on a deep microcosmic, personal level."
BIOS:
Daniel Diaz (performance artist & writer) is a Black/Puerto Rican Gay performance artist and writer. Daniel is a NYSCA Individual Artist recipient (2022). Daniel creates works from a queer black male perspective to inform audiences and bring clarity on social-political injustices through storytelling, burlesque, choreography, and video projects. Daniel joined the radical Queer group Pioneers Go East Collective as a co-creator in 2014. With a focus on modern and interpretive dance, Daniel has performed at various New York City venues including La MaMa, BRIC ARTS MEDIA, Center for Performance Research, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, PS1 MoMa, Brooklyn Museum, The Coney Island Sideshow, Joe’s Pub, Dixon Place, Performance Mix/ New Dance Alliance, as well as various nightlife spots up and down the east coast. In 2023, Daniel Diaz will perform at Lumberyard (Catskill, NY); and Collar Works gallery (Troy, NY).
Joey Kipp (dance-maker/ film performance artist, writer) is a Queer Afro-Latinx-Brazilian Brooklyn-based artist. Joey collaborates with Cynthia Madansky, Biba Bell, Ani Taj, Rachel Klein, Pioneers Go East Collective, and Heather Kravas. In 2019 he was in residency at the Rauschenberg Foundation with Heather Kravas, Vic Haven, and Zeena Parkins. Joey was featured in The New York Times and their online project Speaking in Dance for Biba Bell, Stacy Grossfield, and Jody Oberfelder. Theater credits Opera WOW: AN OPERA (BRIC), THE BUBBLY BLACK GIRL SHEDS HER CHAMELEON SKIN (Progressive Theater), SOCIAL! (Park Avenue Armory), & LUCKY STAR 0.3 (Pioneers Go East Collective). Joey is a writer who has shared work with TELL: A Queer Storytelling, Occupy City Hall, & JUNETEENTH at Grand Army Plaza.
Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte (creative director & filmmaker) is a Gay immigrant of Italian/Middle Eastern descent and a NYC-based writer, director, filmmaker, and cultural organizer dedicated to performance and media that reflect queer perspectives and vulnerability. Gian Marco Riccardo is a NYSCA Artist recipient (2019), Foundation for Contemporary Arts recipient (2019-23); he was a finalist for the Jerome Foundation's Fellowship (2019-20); LMCC’s Creative Engagement recipient (2014-19). Residency awards: Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) artist-in-residence (2023); BRIC ARTS MEDIA residency (2021-22); Center for Performance Research Artist-in-residence (2022); and LMCC’s Process Space Residency fellow (2013/14). Artist in residence with Pioneers Go East Collective at La MaMa and Judson Church, Gian Marco Riccardo’s film and performance work presented in NYC at La MaMa, BRIC ARTS MEDIA, Center for Performance Research, Ars Nova, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, The LGBT Center, Exponential Festival, JACK, Incubator Arts Project/ Ontological Hysterical, Chez Bushwick, Governors Island/ LMCC, Art on Air - Clock Tower Gallery. Upcoming projects at Lumberyard (Catskill, NY); Collar Works gallery (Troy, NY).
Philip Treviño (creative designer & production designer), artist-in-residence since 2016. Philip is a Latinx LGBTQ artist, NYSCA individual artist (2021), a 2010 BESSIE recipient for design, and a 2014 Outstanding Production BESSIE for Camille A. Brown’s Mr. Tol E. Rance. Credits: Catherine Cabeen, Brian Brooks Moving Company, and Pam Tanowitz. His work has toured nationally, internationally, and at venues including BAM, The Joyce/Joyce Soho, DTW, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, The Kitchen, New York City Center, and Jacob's Pillow. Upcoming projects at Lumberyard (Catskill, NY); Collar Works gallery (Troy, NY).
Creative director, concept and installation Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte
Music composition ALEXA Grae
Choreography by Hollis Bartlett
Design by visual artist Mark Tambella and production designer Philip Treviño
Producer: Jo Wiegandt
Featuring: ALEXA Grae, Daniel Diaz, Joey Kipp
ABOUT
Electric Blue is a durational performance installation inspired by queer thought-provoking literary icon
Allen Ginsberg. A meditation on creative agency and censorship, Electric Blue celebrates past and present LGBTQ resilience in pursuit of artistic freedom. The work deploys personal reflections to underscore how the
experiences of the individual and the artist and their communities are inevitably bound together, hinting
at the potential for collective action. Taking Ginsberg’s writing (defined as pornographic literature when
first published), Pioneers examines the author’s controversial poetry reflecting on same-sex love and
male bonding. A cross-disciplinary project, Electric Blue is devised in collaboration with three solo
performing artists: Daniel Diaz, ALEXA Grae, and Joey Kipp.
Mission:
Since 2012, Pioneers Go East Collective is a radical queer laboratory collective of performing and visual artists dedicated to dance-theater and video art to empower the LGBTQ experience. Based in New York City, the collective is led by LGBTQ-identifying, BIPOC, and immigrant artists and cultural organizers Daniel Diaz, Joey Kipp, Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, and Philip Treviño. The collective portrays same-gender-loving experiences, memory, and marginalization that resonate with contemporary lives. Pioneers Go East Collective combines stories of vulnerability and courage with popular culture to facilitate communal meaning and advocate for cultural integrity. Pioneers Go East Collective’s work has been developed and presented in New York City at BRIC Arts Media, BAM /Brooklyn Academy of Music, Judson Church, The LGBT Center, Center for Performance Research, Abrons Arts Center, La MaMa, JACK, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, Chashama Gallery (Harlem), Goethe Institute gallery, Exponential Festival, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Process Space at Governors Island/LMCC, Lumberyard (Catskill, NY), as well as Buddies in Bad Times in Toronto. Current collaborators: Symara Johnson, ALEXA Grae, Darrin Wright, Mark Tambella, Paul Simon, Jo Wiegandt, Azmi Mert Erdem, joy (Zanni productions), Adele Overbey, Lynn Ligammari, syd islans, Vanessa Rappa, Jesse Timm, and Bryan Baira. www.pioneersgoeast.org
Reviews: In the past 3 years, we received The New York Times’ highlight and a Notebook review in Dance (2023); a Brooklyn Rail interview featuring our collective (2023); TimeOut NY Critics’ Pick (2021); The New Yorker’s Highlight ‘Things to see’ (2021); Dance Enthusiast’s Pick, NY Magazine's Pick; hailed by CULTUREBOT as "a strong gesture about collective queer yearning on a deep microcosmic, personal level."
BIOS:
Daniel Diaz (performance artist & writer) is a Black/Puerto Rican Gay performance artist and writer. Daniel is a NYSCA Individual Artist recipient (2022). Daniel creates works from a queer black male perspective to inform audiences and bring clarity on social-political injustices through storytelling, burlesque, choreography, and video projects. Daniel joined the radical Queer group Pioneers Go East Collective as a co-creator in 2014. With a focus on modern and interpretive dance, Daniel has performed at various New York City venues including La MaMa, BRIC ARTS MEDIA, Center for Performance Research, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, PS1 MoMa, Brooklyn Museum, The Coney Island Sideshow, Joe’s Pub, Dixon Place, Performance Mix/ New Dance Alliance, as well as various nightlife spots up and down the east coast. In 2023, Daniel Diaz will perform at Lumberyard (Catskill, NY); and Collar Works gallery (Troy, NY).
Joey Kipp (dance-maker/ film performance artist, writer) is a Queer Afro-Latinx-Brazilian Brooklyn-based artist. Joey collaborates with Cynthia Madansky, Biba Bell, Ani Taj, Rachel Klein, Pioneers Go East Collective, and Heather Kravas. In 2019 he was in residency at the Rauschenberg Foundation with Heather Kravas, Vic Haven, and Zeena Parkins. Joey was featured in The New York Times and their online project Speaking in Dance for Biba Bell, Stacy Grossfield, and Jody Oberfelder. Theater credits Opera WOW: AN OPERA (BRIC), THE BUBBLY BLACK GIRL SHEDS HER CHAMELEON SKIN (Progressive Theater), SOCIAL! (Park Avenue Armory), & LUCKY STAR 0.3 (Pioneers Go East Collective). Joey is a writer who has shared work with TELL: A Queer Storytelling, Occupy City Hall, & JUNETEENTH at Grand Army Plaza.
Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte (creative director & filmmaker) is a Gay immigrant of Italian/Middle Eastern descent and a NYC-based writer, director, filmmaker, and cultural organizer dedicated to performance and media that reflect queer perspectives and vulnerability. Gian Marco Riccardo is a NYSCA Artist recipient (2019), Foundation for Contemporary Arts recipient (2019-23); he was a finalist for the Jerome Foundation's Fellowship (2019-20); LMCC’s Creative Engagement recipient (2014-19). Residency awards: Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) artist-in-residence (2023); BRIC ARTS MEDIA residency (2021-22); Center for Performance Research Artist-in-residence (2022); and LMCC’s Process Space Residency fellow (2013/14). Artist in residence with Pioneers Go East Collective at La MaMa and Judson Church, Gian Marco Riccardo’s film and performance work presented in NYC at La MaMa, BRIC ARTS MEDIA, Center for Performance Research, Ars Nova, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, The LGBT Center, Exponential Festival, JACK, Incubator Arts Project/ Ontological Hysterical, Chez Bushwick, Governors Island/ LMCC, Art on Air - Clock Tower Gallery. Upcoming projects at Lumberyard (Catskill, NY); Collar Works gallery (Troy, NY).
Philip Treviño (creative designer & production designer), artist-in-residence since 2016. Philip is a Latinx LGBTQ artist, NYSCA individual artist (2021), a 2010 BESSIE recipient for design, and a 2014 Outstanding Production BESSIE for Camille A. Brown’s Mr. Tol E. Rance. Credits: Catherine Cabeen, Brian Brooks Moving Company, and Pam Tanowitz. His work has toured nationally, internationally, and at venues including BAM, The Joyce/Joyce Soho, DTW, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, The Kitchen, New York City Center, and Jacob's Pillow. Upcoming projects at Lumberyard (Catskill, NY); Collar Works gallery (Troy, NY).