REFUGIA-BAZ (Becoming Autonomous Zones)
subRosa
MoreSteffi Domike
Artist BioLaleh Mehran
Artist BioLucia Sommer
Artist BioFaith Wilding
Artist BioHyla Willis
Artist BioREFUGIA-BAZ (Becoming Autonomous Zones) is a series of modular projects that re-generate and reclaim political, cultural, and ecological aspects of refuge. Refugia projects combine live performances, interactive web works/installations, workshops and residencies as well as radio, video, digital, and print productions. Projects include radical pedagogy residencies on assisted reproductive technologies and pro-active healthcare for women; a multi-media participatory installation examining the commodification of women’s bodies by biotechnology corporations; a project addressing the concept of biopower, studying technology and labor on a college campus and farming community; Domain Errors: Cyberfeminist Practices (published in 2003), a book on the intersections of postcolonial discourse, cyberfeminism and biotechnology; a Radio Refugia project of public service announcements; and the Refugia/BAZ Web Project, a curatorial space devoted to collaborative projects on the subject of refuge.
subRosa
subRosa,is a mutable (cyber)feminist art collective combining art, social activism and politics to explore and critique the intersections of information and bio technologies on women’s bodies, lives and work. Since its founding in 1998, subRosa has developed situated, trans-disciplinary, performative, and discursive practices that create open-ended environments where participants engage with objects, texts, digital technologies, and critical learning experiences interacting with each other and the artists. Many of subRosa’s publications can be downloaded freely,here.
Steffi Domike
Pittsburgh, PA
She is a Pittsburgh-based artist and activist and former Professor of Art at Chatham College, where she developed the digital arts program. In her art practice, she produces television and electronic media works that question traditional narratives of history and gender roles. Her individual work has been broadcast and performed in the U.S., Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Steffi Domike is no longer a member of subRosa.
Laleh Mehran
Denver, CO
Laleh Mehran is no longer a member of subRosa. She is an Associate Professor in Electronic Media Arts & Design at the University of Denver. Her work is metaphorical and veiled, focusing on issues of politics, technology and science. Mehran’s work has been shown individually and as part of the collective subRosa in the U.S. and Europe.
Lucia Sommer
Buffalo, NY
As an artist, activist and educator concerned with the intersection of art and politics, she has worked with Critical Art Ensemble since 2005, and an Associate Editor at Afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts & Cultural Criticism. Lucia Sommer is no longer a member of subRosa.
Faith Wilding
Providence, RI
Faith Wilding has been working as an installation, media and visual artist since 1972. She is also the co-founder of subRosa. Her installations and exhibitions includeKnowing Bodies, Duration Performance, Flux Performance and Natural Parables. Her work has been supported by a Massachusetts Artist Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in Media and a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant for works on paper. Wilding is currently a visiting scholar at Brown University’s PembrokeCenter for Teaching and Research on Women, and a Graduate Faculty member of the MFA in Visual Arts Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Hyla Willis
Pittsburgh, PA
Hyla Willis lives in Pittsburgh and is an original member/co-founder of subRosa. Her art practice combines design, performance, electronic media and installation. She is Associate Professor of Media Arts at Robert Morris University and has performed in the U.S., Europe and Canada with subRosa, as well as with experimental music groups from Seattle and Pittsburgh.