“Apparition” and “Rhizome”

From September 19th to September 28th, the chashama Summer Performance Series will present Portuguese artist Rute Ventura’s art installation Rhizome along with several live performances of Apparition at chashama 300 west 30th street in Chelsea.

Live performances of Apparition will take place on Friday, September 19th at 6:30p.m., and at 7:30p.m.; and on Thursday, September 25th at 6:30 p.m.

 

In Apparition, Ventura will portray a ghostly female figure emerging and vanishing from the public’s view by interacting with her surroundings. Apparition is inspired by dreamlike ideologies.

 

Rhizome is a transparent fabric installation made of organza stuffed with polyester, forming a labyrinth of unfinished cubic structures that Ventura’s Apparition will move throughout. Rhizome is Ventura’s interpretation of the philosophical term “rhizome” used by French writers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in Capitalism and Schizophrenia (1972-80) to describe an alternative model for society. Deleuze and Guattari describe a non-hierarchical, horizontally mapped system that allows multiple entities to move freely—as opposed to the vertical structure of modern society.

 

Rute Ventura is a fine artist from Lisbon, Portugal. Her work is influenced by everyday events and personal memories, along with a sense of the humanity we all share. Ventura works in a variety of mediums, including sculpture, painting, performance art, video and installations.

Ventura earned a B.A. in Sculpture in 2004 and an M.F.A. in 2006 from the School of Art and Design in Caldas da Rainha, Portugal. In 2005 Ventura was awarded a grant to study at the Accademia di Belli Arti in Venice, Italy. In 2009, Ventura moved to New York City, where she works as a teaching artist for Doing Art Together, a non-profit that provides hands-on art programs to underserved audiences. In 2013, Ventura returned to Italy to learn trompe l’oeil techniques at L’Accademia del Superfluo in Rome.

 

Ventura’s work is brought to Chelsea by chashama, a non-profit that nurtures artists by transforming unused property into work and presentation space.