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Forum Lounge: Luz Y Sombra (An Electro-Bilingual-Opera) by Y&S

Posted by cafpress on: April 25 2010

I am pleased that Forum Lounge will premiere the dynamic collaborative efforts of Y&S, Yahaira Ivonne Cardoza & Oscar Miguel Santos. Their work came to my attention after I reconnected with Oscar, a performer with last year's Forum Lounge event featuring Sarah Paul Ocampo, who I knew from my time with LACMALab in 2002-03. Oscar was a curious BFA student at UCLA and I a grad student in Museum Studies at USC working at LACMALab as a graduate intern and official analyst of the group exhibition MAKING, which included Oscar's collaborative sculptural work. I was thrilled to run into Oscar again and to find out that he had evolved his sculptural practice into a performative model that was ideal for Forum Lounge.

For their presentation in May, Y&S will present their unique brand of original music, video and performance to tell the story of a secret love between two queer/transgendered people. Using components of a more traditional framework in the form of an opera, the work has four acts that use diverse musical styles and instruments (Spanish cumbia, synth-beats, and guitar) to portray the pathos of their contemporary narrative. In addition to representing new techniques in computerized musical composition and integrating innovative video as the scenic backdrop, Y&S also broaches pertinent issues around sexual identity within specific cultural contexts. By re-appropriating a centuries old art form--opera--and transforming its inherent qualities of mythicism and tragedy into a contemporary vernacular, Y&S become arbiters of reinvention. What better mirror to reflect our contemporary society than the one that warps tradition in favor of a new perspective?

--Heather Jeno Silva

Forum Lounge: Luz Y Sombra (An Electro-Bilingual-Opera) by Y&S

Yahaira Ivonne Cardoza & Oscar Miguel Santos

Performance: THUR. MAY. 6, 7 PM, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum FREE

Get ready for the unexpected with Y & S’s first collaboration, Luz y Sombra (An Electro-Bilingual-Opera), a mix of languages (English & Spanish), clips, tunes, and live performance with a probing look at sexual identity.

Artists Y&S present Luz Y Sombra (Light and Shadow) an Electro-Bilingual-Opera, which explores love, loss, and gender identity with video projections, original music, and costumed live performance in English and Spanish. Y&S is a collaborative multimedia project consisting of Yahaira Ivonne Cardoza and Oscar Miguel Santos. These Los Angeles-based artists share roots in Central America.

Los Angeles native, Cardoza received a B.F.A. in Fashion/Textile Design in 2005 from California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA. A fashion designer, singer, songwriter, and dancer who makes functional and conceptual works, Yahaira has performed at The Derby, Los Angeles; Highways Performance Space, Santa Monica; and various underground West Coast venues.

Born in San Salvador, El Salvador, Santos received B.A.s in Art and in History from the University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA. Santos mixes sculpture, video, performance, and music in his work. He composes under the name Sister Mantos and has performed/exhibited at numerous venues including Apex Art, New York and The Company Art, Los Angeles.

About the Forum Lounge Series: The Forum Lounge is a series of free, unique, performance-based events that reflect CAF’s mission to sustain and encourage the artistic process by presenting art in the form of exceptional music, dance, video, and other multi-media to our community. The performances range from the theatrical to the avant-garde offerings normally found only in large metropolitan venues.

Support for Forum Lounge is generously provided by: E ndevermusic Productions, the Franciscan Inn, NEA, KCSB, and the Santa Barbara Independent. Forum Lounge is presented in association with the Santa Barbara Downtown Organization’s 1st Thursday.

Curator's Notes:

Categories: Forum Lounge

Tags: Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Forum Lounge, Y&S, Yahaira Ivonne Cardoza, Oscar Miguel Santos, opera, performance art, LACMA, music, synthesizer.