E13: Discourse

Transformer is proud to present the 13th year of our Exercises for Emerging Artists program with E13: Discourse. Focusing on a different artistic discipline each year, E13 will center on supporting and promoting DC-based writers interested in critical arts discourse and criticism: Eames Armstrong, Ikram Lakhdhar, Christine Bang, Ani Bradberry & Martina Dodd. 

Through bi-weekly meetings over a four month period (May - August 2016), the Exercises program will strive to advance the careers of these young arts writers through rigorous peer critique from a broad range of guest mentors and editors from the local and national arts writing community including: Holly Bass, Freelance Writer/Poet (Washington, DC); Philip Kennicott, Chief Art Critic of The Washington Post (Washington, DC); Cara Ober, Founding Editor of BmoreArt (Baltimore, MD); Hunter Braithwaite, Founding Editor of Miami Rail (Miami/New York; Amanda Keeley, Founder of Exile Books (Miami, FL); Charlie Tatum, Editorial and Communications Director, Pelican Bomb (New Orleans, LA); Rainey Knudson, Founding Editor of GlassTire (Houston, TX); and Jessica Lynne, Co-Founder of Arts.Black (Brooklyn, NY).

In tandem with EXILE Books @ Transformer , July 7 - September August 20,  Transformer's 1404 P Street, NW project space will be dedicated to supporting E13: Discourse, acting as a lab for critical arts dialogue and discourse with public hours and events for audience engagement. 

Having explored various models of alternative artist-centered platforms and how arts communities can take/have taken the lead in nurturing critical discourse, Transformer is excited to encourage and support individual emerging writers in our community. 

This year’s Exercises for Emerging Artists program is supported by a generous donation from The Artery Group 

E13: Discourse Participants: 

Eames Armstrong works in performance, noise, painting, language, and time. Eames has written for Performa Magazine, Washington City Paper, and Pink Line Project. They are based in Washington, DC where they organize performance events and exhibitions. Eames received a BFA from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 2010, and completed an MFA in studio art with an unofficial minor in dance from George Washington University in 2016. Eames likes challenge, art that is difficult, complicated gestures, softness, and the ritual celebration of confusion and illegibility. 

Christine Bang is a native to the DMV and holds a BFA in art education and studio art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is currently pursuing her graduate degree in Museum Studies from Johns Hopkins University and teaches art in public schools. In addition to being a newly minted arts writer through her blog, BANGBANGNOTDEAD.COM, Christine maintains an active visual arts practice. Christine is interested in bringing awareness to both the local DC art scene and the contemporary art world for culturally interested Washingtonians. 

Anahita (Ani) Bradberry is an artist and art historian based in the DC area. She earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in modern and contemporary non-Western art with a focus on Japan from American University's feminist art history program. Interested in challenging predetermined roles in the global contemporary art world, Anahita walks the line between artist and critical art writer to gain a deeper understanding of the cultural power of radical creativity. Ani is currently Studio Manager at Kraft Studio in Anacostia and Assistant Director at Numark Art Advisory. She is a co-founder of the art collective Space Laboratories and is a contributor, editor and art director of Distrikt DC magazine.  

Martina Dodd, a DC based writer and curator, has exhibited in several alternative and non-traditional spaces within the district. Interested in the moments, which define us, Dodd's concept driven shows have touched on topics which delve into race, gender and power dynamics through thought-provoking works of art.  She is intrigued by the ways in which value is placed on art and seeks to examine the social impact material culture has on society. Dodd holds a MA in the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas from the University of East Anglia and a BA in Anthropology and International Studies from Johns Hopkins University.  Dodd has worked in several museums and art institutions alongside artists, activists and educators. 

Ikram Lakhdhar is a Tunisian writer, curator, communicator and avid art observer based in Washington, D.C. She holds a BA in International Relations, a self-designed major in Arts and Politics, and a Museum Studies Certificate from Connecticut College. Ikram has given presentations at the Jerusalem Fund in D.C. and at the Parking Gallery in Johannesburg discussing art, resistance, and the consciousness of exile. During the breakout of the Arab Spring, she was on the ground writing for Tunisia Live. She honed her curatorial skills working with contemporary art galleries in Tunisia, D.C. South Africa and Argentina.

E13: Discourse Public Programs 

Thursday July 21,  6-8pm (Ongoing)

Excerpts from Exile

Ani Bradberry invites visitors to document selections of text pulled from EXILE Books @ Transformer, and deposit them into a light sculpture container. Each of these intimate hand-written submissions will then be used to create a surreal book, functioning as a documentary assemblage of responses to text by DC audiences.

Wednesday July 27,  6-7:30pm

"I Want A President..."

A writing workshop led by Ikram Lakhdhar in tandem with curators Natalie Campbell & Saisha Grayson that invites participants to adapt and re-think a 1992 text by artist Zoe Leonard listing demands for a new U.S. president. Produced in collaboration with Transformer, Furthermore, and a growing list of community partners, the public art project I Want a President...(a collective reading - DC) builds upon a project initiated by four Swedish artists in 2010 and will unfold through a series of DC-area writing workshops this summer and fall, culminating in a public collective reading on Oct 16 at 5:30 pm in front of The White House.
Limited space, please RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/writing-workshop-with-e13-exile-bookstransformer-tickets-26589192992

Wednesday, August 3, 6:30

Mots Clés: Exhibiting Accents 

Ikram Lakhdhar talks to curator and creative laborer José Ruiz about the gray space of translation when working with transnational artists.

Wednesday, August 10, 6-8pm

Writing as Resistance

Martina Dodd leads an evening of selected readings by local Black authors as they discuss the struggles and triumphs of being Black in America during a time of civil and emotional unrest. 

Saturday, August 13, 2pm

You Are Not Alone

Christine Bang moderates a conversation between artists and lay people on the seemingly impenetrable art world.

Thursday, August 18, 6-8pm

Document as Witness, Writing on Performance

Eames Armstrong in conversation with interdisciplinary artist John Moletress on the unique potentials and complications of writing as documentation of live art practices.