Hybrid Arts Lab

HYBRID ARTS LAB

A New York Community Trust Van Lier Fellowship

Mitu’s Hybrid Arts Lab supports trans, non-binary, and women artists working at the intersection of performance and technology.

With a focus on early career BIPOC artists, this program offers creation and exhibition space, technical resources, training, and mentorship to a small cohort for the exploration, development, and expansion of their practice and a new artwork. The lab culminates in a series of in-process showings that invites our community into a conversation about process and innovation.

2022 marks our third annual Hybrid Arts Lab and thanks to the generous support of New York Community Trust’s Van Lier Fellowship Program, we will convene a cohort of 3 artists for ten months this year. Each artist will receive support to develop an artwork bridging performance and technology. This support includes: a $5,000 unrestricted stipend; two dedicated weeks of space, equipment, and technology at MITU580; mentorship and guidance from Founding Artistic Director Rubén Polendo; training and classes with guest artists in creative uses of hardware and software tools in art-making; and a series of in-process showings from the cohort of fellows.

Join us on November 17th or 18th to see the work of our 2022 cohort!

Click here to RSVP for our process showings

Current Fellows

AZZAH SULTAN (she/her)

Azzah Sultan’s body of work debunks cultural myths created by society and explores stigmas related to her identity. She aims to give authority to herself in her work by being the performer, the author, and the subject. Sultan plays on the idea of the self by exploring her relationship with her parents, language, and her Malaysian nationality. Being an immigrant in a country can shape and form the way you live your life; you struggle to identify whether or not you are a part of your environment or an outsider. Traditional garments, passing down of familial lineage and practices are what she is currently interested in exploring her artistic practice.

CATHERINE CHEN (They/Them)

Catherine Chen is a multidiscplinary poet and performer of Taiwanese heritage. Their practice activates a kind of architectural writing which articulates the ways they inhabit rituals of mourning, desire, and Asian American identity making. They’re interested in mundane living, ancestral altars, and political histories of grief. Through poetry, performance, and video, their work explores the question: How does one narrativize a queer history and futurity built from everyday material sites?

ZOHRA BENZERGA (she/her)

Zohra Benzerga is a multidisciplinary artist, educator and scholar. Her work centers on colonial legacies within current discourses and policies, and the resistance of bodies/landscapes to visualization. She is particularly interested in exploring illegibility as a form of defiance. Her practice has brought her to Eswatini, South Africa, Senegal, and France. Benzerga holds a BFA from New York University and an MA from Columbia University’s Committee on Global Thought.

Program Alumni

NIA FARRELL (she/her)

Nia Farrell is a creator, performer, and Mundane Afrofuturist who focuses on developing new work that celebrates the dreams and stories of Black communities. Her favorite artistic spaces are community-conscious and community-driven as they are opportunities to explore identity and belonging. Recent credits include Dreams in Black Major (creator; Theatertreffen Stückemarkt 2021, Ars Nova ANT Fest 2019). Nia is a finalist for SPACE on Ryder Farm’s Creative Residency 2020 and is a member of the 2019-21 Soho Rep Writer / Director Lab where she and her artistic soulmate, Talia Paulette Oliveras, are developing their sophomore project, A Map To Nowhere (things are). When Nia’s not dreaming and scheming new Afro-futures, she is the Development Associate for Nine Muses Entertainment, founded by Bryce Dallas Howard, and the Interactive Social Media Manager for National Black Theatre. Learn more at niafarrell.com

HARSHINI KARUNARATNE (she/her)

Harshini J. Karunaratne is a Sri Lankan-Peruvian photographer and projection designer currently based in Abu Dhabi. She is passionate about the intersection of film and theater, having graduated in Film & New Media and Theater from New York University Abu Dhabi in 2018. For thesis, Harshini created a projection-based performance titled “Afterlife: an audiovisual performance,” which attempted to reimagine the magic lantern phantasmagoria shows of the 18^th century using contemporary VJ techniques. Her research focused on the ways in which immersive performances can be created that are as cinematic as they are theatrical, to create a performance that reimagined the story of Hades and the Underworld through Buddhist and Hindu beliefs. Harshini has had her work shown in Italy, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, as well as at FILE Festival in Brazil and at Burning Man in the United States. She is constantly experimenting with new forms and mediums, but behind every exploration is a passion for performance. Whether it is web design or illustration, performance and the involvement of the audience are at the core of her practice. Learn more at harshinijk.com

MENGXI ALTHEA RAO (she/her)

Althea Rao is a multiform conceptual artist with a social practice. Her works focus on revealing institutionalized disempowerment, facilitating radical community healing, and designing systems for intrinsic accountability. Her works exist as codes of conduct, performative interventions, multimedia installations and their documentation. She performs absurd interpretations of ethical values and negotiates idealism within a fully diverse society, while knowingly exhibits a willingness to count on human agency to see change for the better. Rao is currently an Engaging Artist Fellow at More Art and a recipient of the MAP Fund. She was an artist-in-residence at Artspace New Haven, a Fellow of Flaherty Film Seminar, and a Social Impact Fellow at Halcyon Arts Lab. Rao has lived and worked in China, Japan and the US. She holds an MFA in Film and Media Arts from Temple University and a BA in Journalism from Fudan University. Learn more at altheamrao.myportfolio.com.

WI-MOTO NYOKA(she/her)
Project: El Otro Lado Del Destino
2019

A supernatural play about a family of espiritistas navigating old magic in contemporary life.

CINTHIA CHEN (she/her)
Project: Waters of Oblivion
2019

An exploration of memory through the figure of Meng Po, the Lady of Forgetfulness in Chinese mythology. She feeds souls a special brew of 迷魂湯 (’waters of oblivion’) to make them forget their previous lives before their next reincarnation.

JUDE ĀTMAN (he/they)
Project: untitled exploration of cancel culture and healing
2019

Cancel culture is used as an inter-community weapon of exile, encouraging binary thinking. We become preoccupied with what kind of people we are; whether we are “good” or “bad” people. How can we imagine beyond the binary?

APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2022 PROGRAM ARE CLOSED

If you are interested in submitting an application for the 2023 Hybrid Arts Lab, please review these important eligibility and program criteria below and check back for application details in January 2023:

ELIGIBILITY:

Artists are required to be local in New York City and prepared for all in-person activities. COVID-19 vaccination is required for participation. Fully virtual or remote participation will not be an option unless the ongoing pandemic demands that we adjust for community health and safety.
This program is focused on supporting BIPOC trans, non-binary, and women artists working at the intersection of performance and technology. We welcome applications from anyone interested in the program or the organization, however we will be prioritizing BIPOC trans, non-binary, and women artists for acceptance.
This program is dedicated to emerging artists between 18-30 years old who are not currently enrolled in a degree granting program and have not had a major public presentation of their solo work in New York City.
As an applied practice fellowship, a commitment to work at the intersection of performance and technology, a hunger to acquire new skills, and a willingness to publicly share in-process aspects of a new artwork at the series of in-process showings are required components of successful participation in the program.

PROGRAM SCHEDULE:

The following schedule is subject to change based on participant needs and organizational capacity but reflects the overall time commitment required to participate in the Hybrid Arts Lab.

The Hybrid Arts Lab begins in March each year and ends all in-person activities in December of that same year.
During most of the fellowship, participants will generally gather four times per month. Each week will either contain a Wednesday cohort meeting with Rubén Polendo (3p-6p) or a Friday training session with guest artists (12-3p) in Brooklyn. These will begin in March and alternate every other week onward, with the exception the weeks that participants are scheduled for project development sessions at MITU580.
Each participant will receive two exploratory weeks with exclusive use of MITU580 and access to the venue’s lighting, audio, video equipment, and software. The first project exploration week for each fellow will be held in the summer. The second project exploration week will be between in the fall.
A third shared week will be devoted to technical integration and collaboration with the full cohort in the Fall. The cohort will then present a series of in-process sharing for our community in November.

APPLICATION GUIDELINES:

Applications for the Hybrid Arts Lab typically open in January and close in mid-February
Perspective applicants should be available for interviews for 14 days following the application deadline.
All applicants will be notified of their application status in late February.

After submitting your application, you will be required to email one attached copy of the following to [email protected]

Artistic C.V.
A recent work sample (can be in-process) with accompanying links or optional digital portfolio.
Contact Information for two references: relationship, email, and phone number.
A recent photograph of yourself.