Angel Nevarez and Valerie Tevere are a pair of artists that have been collaborating on video, sound, performance and installation projects since 2001. Several of their projects have been produced under the collective name neuroTransmitter. Their art works often incorporate popular music and examine how visual forms traverse and are complicated once they are at play in public spaces.
Contents
- Memory of a Time Twice Lived
- Parley
- Another Protest Song Karaoke with a Message
- Honors and awards
- References
Angel and Valerie have developed and exhibited works in sites as geographically diverse as the Staten Island Ferry, Plaza de la Liberación in Guadalajara, Austin City Hall’s Plaza Stage, and the Museum of Modern Art’s Sculpture Garden in New York. Their work often considers the relationship among politics, sound and language. For instance, in their 2010 performance The War Song, the artists rearranged Culture Club's song of the same name. By slowing the tempo and switching the score to a minor key, Angel and Valerie's version of the song revealed a certain pathos within the seemingly naive lyrics.
The first United States survey of their work occurred at ICA Philadelphia in 2016.
Memory of a Time Twice Lived
Memory of a Time Twice Lived is a video work that merges several filmic genres—music video, documentary, the French avant-garde and science fiction. The project builds a field of relations tying together 20th century mythic heroes, the collection of the Wagner Free Institute of Science, the Mexican luchador El Santo, and the accordion as a nomadic instrument. Shot on location in Philadelphia and Mexico City, this project includes references to the late Chris Marker’s science fiction masterpiece La Jetée (1962) and features an accordionist performing in sites throughout Philadelphia.
Parley
Valerie Tevere and Angel Nevarez produced a site-specific work at the Old Bronx Borough Courthouse for the art organization No Longer Empty in 2015. Using the framework of call and response, the sound installation explored the history of hip hop and break dancing in the Bronx. Spoken word narration was provided by B-Girl Rokafella and MC Lady L, and included reference to South Bronx luminaries like Afrika Bambaataa. The piece was also shown in the artists' retrospective at the ICA Philadelphia in 2016.
Another Protest Song: Karaoke with a Message
In light of the 2008 presidential elections, the two artists began studying the role that soapboxes provide a mediated space to allow citizens to express political interests, fears and hopes. Over a two-day period in September 8, Valerie Tevere and Angel Nevarez joined the Creative Time group event entitled, Democracy in America: The National Campaign. Their project Another Protest Song, was organized into a karaoke suite of "protest" songs. Throughout New York City, the artists set up performance stages, and invited the general public to perform songs of protest.