rea(l)m: Led By Breath - meter matter moment
Throughout the of rea(l)m, there will be live guitar improvisations and performances that resonate through the Metro54 walls, creating new connections in real time. Special guest poets, performers, thinkers, and musicians will contribute their voices and artistry toward PACES THE CAGE, s*an d. henry-smith’s upcoming poetry album.
On April 11th, join us for Led By Breath: meter matter moment! A conversation hosted by S*an D. Henry-Smith, bringing together fellow practioners such as Pamela Z and Latasha N. Nevada Diggs to explore the intersections of their artistic practices through lyricism, breath, composition, and poetics.
- - Pamela Z
Pamela Z is a composer/performer and media artist working with voice, live electronic processing, sampled sound, and video. A pioneer of live digital looping techniques, she processes her voice in real time to create dense, complex sonic layers. Her solo works combine experimental extended vocal techniques, operatic bel canto, found objects, text, and sampled concrète sounds. She uses MAX MSP and Isadora software on a MacBook Pro along with custom MIDI controllers that allow her to manipulate sound and image with physical gestures. Her performances range in scale from small concerts in galleries to large-scale multi-media works in theaters and concert halls. In addition to her performances, she has a growing body of installation works using multi-channel sound and video.
- - Latasha N. Nevada Diggs
A writer, vocalist and performance/sound artist, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs is the author of Village (Coffee House Press 2023), TwERK (Belladonna, 2013) as well as the co-editor of Coon Bidness. Diggs has presented and performed at California Institute of the Arts, El Museo del Barrio, The Museum of Modern Art, and Walker Art Center and at festivals including: Explore the North Festival, Leeuwarden, Netherlands; Hekayeh Festival, Abu Dhabi; International Poetry Festival of Copenhagen; Ocean Space, Venice; International Poetry Festival of Romania; Question of Will, Slovakia; Poesiefestival, Berlin; and the 2015 Venice Biennale. As an independent curator, artistic director, and producer, Diggs has presented events for BAMCafé, Black Rock Coalition, El Museo del Barrio, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, and the David Rubenstein Atrium. Diggs has received a 2020 C.D. Wright Award for Poetry from the Foundation of Contemporary Art, a Whiting Award (2016) and a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship (2015), as well as grants and fellowships from Cave Canem, Creative Capital, New York Foundation for the Arts, and the U.S.-Japan Friendship Commission, among others. She lives in Harlem and teaches part-time at Brooklyn College.
- - S*an D. Henry-Smith
- S*an D. Henry-Smith (b. 1992, New York) lives and works in Amsterdam. They are an artist working primarily in poetry and photography, and, by extension, vocal and sonic performance and publishing, engaging black experimental and collaborative practices.
Date: April 11, 2025
Time: 7pm
Location: Westerdoksdijk 597
Entrance: Free – Get a ticket here.