A feverish choral arrangement of amplified voices emanates from a sculpture not of marble, but of flowing red water. In A.R.M.’s anti-monument, non-memorial performance Blood Fountain, vocalists interconnected by fetish gear, sports equipment, and medical supplies harmonize queer club hits to unearth queer history, to make us remember the ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis.

With ritual, pageantry, improvisation, and free association, Blood Fountain depicts the endless consequences of HIV/AIDS within individual queer bodies and on queer communities.

Performed by Robbie Acklen, C. Bain, Malik Gaines, John Gutierrez, Jordan Ho, Richard Kennedy, Stuart Meyers, Alexandro Segade, Justin Wong

Directed by Alexandro Segade, Robbie Acklen and Malik Gaines

Fountain and Costumes by Robbie Acklen

Art Direction by Alexandro Segade

Lighting Design: Scott Davis

Score by Malik Gaines

With improvisations by the cast

Text by Alexandro Segade and Robbie Acklen

Beat by Nick Weiss

Now in its fourth year, Out of Line presents a new set of arresting, intriguing, and playful performances by some of New York City’s most exciting contemporary artists.

ABOUT A.R.M.:

A.R.M. is a collaboration of artists Alexandro Segade, Robbie Acklen, and Malik Gaines.

Their shapeshifting projects use a promiscuous mix of performance, video, photography, sound, installation, and sculpture to explore queer subjects. Recent works include Poses (2017) a durational performance at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York; Arcángel Miguel (2017) a multimedia performance at the Kuir Festival in Bogotá, Colombia; A Cruel Angel’s Thesis, a mail artwork produced and sent to an audience of the group’s own making; Fire Signs (2017) began with a 2014 residency at BOFFO, Fire Island, New York and was the subject of a solo show at DD55 Gallery in Cologne, Germany; and The Legend (2015) a video piece that premiered at Rogaland Art Center in Stavanger, Norway and also was presented at Play: Video and Performance Festival in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Robbie Acklen is an artist working in photography, sculpture and performance based in Los Angeles, CA. Exhibitions include Entre Nous, Bad Reputation, Los Angeles, CA; Aperture, BLAM Projects, curated by Peter Hickok, Los Angeles, CA; Walk Artisanal, 3716 Eagle Rock Blvd., curated by Peter Harkawik & Miles Huston, Los Angeles, CA; BOFFO Block Party, BOFFO, Fire Island Pines, NY; New Directions 2010: Down + Out, Wallspace Gallery, Seattle, WA (2010). He graduated with a BA from Pitzer College in 2012.

Alexandro Segade is an interdisciplinary artist whose performances have been presented at the Broad and LAXART in Los Angeles; the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; the TBA Festival in Portland, Oregon; Movement Research at the Judson Church and Park Avenue Armory in New York City; and the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts in Annandale-On-Hudson, New York. In 2018, Segade co-wrote and directed Popular Revolt with Amy Ruhl, premiering at the NYU Skirball Center in a festival celebrating the 200th birthday of Karl Marx and included in the 2019 NOW festival at REDCAT, LA. Segade’s recent writing on queer comics, science fiction, and Chicanx zines have been published in Artforum.

Malik Gaines is an artist and writer based in New York. His book, Black Performance on the Outskirts of the Left (2017), traces a circulation of political ideas in performances of the 1960s and beyond. His essays have appeared in Art Journal, Women & Performance, e-flux, and in many exhibition catalogues and arts publications. He is an associate professor of Performance Studies at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He performs in various collaborations and solo.

Since 2000, Segade and Gaines have worked together in the collective My Barbarian, whose work has been included in the Whitney Biennial, two Performa Biennials, the Montreal Biennial, and the Baltic Triennial, among others. They have performed in many art, theater, and music venues, and have had exhibitions and projects at the New Museum, Participant Inc., the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Hammer Museum, Museo Experimental El Eco, Human Resources, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles, and others. My Barbarian has received fellowships and awards from United States Artists, Creative Capital, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Art Matters, and the City of LA. The group is currently preparing a 20-year survey exhibition for fall 2020.

Cast:

C. Bain is a gender-liminal multi- and inter-disciplinary artist. His book of poetry, Debridement, was a finalist for the Publishing Triangle Awards. He is a Lambda Literary fellow. More at tiresiasprojekt.com.

John Gutierrez is a multidisciplinary artist, creator, and performer originally from Washington Heights. Since finishing his BFA in theater/drama at NYU Tisch’s Experimental Theater Wing, John has ventured into various worlds of performance, working with directors and choreographers from around the world. His recent credits include NERVOUS // SYSTEM at BAM, dir. Andrew Schneider; and The Floor Is Lava at La Mama, dir. Glory Kadigan. He has performed internationally with Miguel Gutierrez inThis Bridge Called My A$$ and Sadonna; and with Motus in Panorama and Pilobolus. John is a recent graduate of the Terry Knickerbocker studio. He is faculty at Peridance Contemporary Dance Center where he co-teaches improvisation with Beth Graczyk, from which has stemmed a new collaboration project known as G^2! John is a proud member of the Great Jones Rep Company of La Mama and BAIRA / MVMNT PHLOSHPY. John has never been a fountain before, this is a role he’s always dreamed of playing. @jmg160

Jordan Ho’s (she/her) credits include: STONE (Corkscrew Theatre Featival), Defiant, Majestic, and Beautiful (Dixon Place), Salt Kid Watches Brooklyn Burn (Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater), MELT (The Highline), i wrote on ur wall and now i regret it (The Wild Project), ReconFIGURED (Universtiy Settlement), The Birds and the Bees: Unabridged (Atlas Performing Arts Center), and Engineers Not Found (The Tank). As a cabaret performer, she has regularly graced the stage at The Duplex with Trans Voices Cabaret and is also an in-house ingénue with #mondaysintheclubwithlance at Club Cumming. mxjordanho.com instagram/twitter: @mxbelt #mxho

Richard Kennedy is an experiential composer, librettist, and curator living in Brooklyn, New York.  They recently presented work at MoMA, The Shed, The Kitchen, The Studio Museum Harlem, BOFFO Performance Festival, and Disney Concert Hall.  Richard is a 2019 MacDowell Colony Fellow and recently completed residencies at Open Forum Berlin and Mana Contemporary. @MrRichardKennedy

Stuart B Meyers (@stuartbmeyers) is a performing artist and creator. He has worked alongside Robert Wilson, Ann Liv Young, Tino Sehgal, Christopher Williams, Nick Cave, Thomas Bo Nilsson, Colette Sadler, and Julian Webber. Stuart’s currently touring his Dreamy & DIY Shabbat Dinner Delight & Extravaganza *The Shabbos Queen* and developing two new works called BE YOUR OWN YENTA: your guide to becoming a Matchmaker and MOSES. Stuart’s a 2018 danceWEB Scholar, a certified hypnotist (IHF), and studies dreams, imagery and Jewish mystical texts through a Kabbalistc lineage.

Justin Wong is a Long Island born, New York City-based dancer, singer, composer, and arts administrator. Recent work with Holly Herndon, Colin Self, Miguel Gutierrez, National Sawdust and The Shed. @_justinwong