Blueness

Muyassar Kurdi (b. 1989 in Chicago) is a New York City-based interdisciplinary artist. Her work encompasses sound art, extended vocal technique, performance art, movement, painting, analog photography, and film. She has toured extensively in the U.S. and throughout Europe. She currently focuses on interweaving homemade electronic instruments into her vocal and dance performances, stirring a plethora of emotions from her audience members through vicious noise, ritualistic chants, and meditative movements. Kurdi was a finalist in the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship for Combined Disciplines 2023, she was awarded a Roulette Intermedium 2020 commission and artist residency in 2022 (with support from Jerome Foundation). She is also a recipient of the Queens Fund New Works Grant, NYFA City Artist Corps grant, and Puffin Foundation grant. Recent residencies include Harvestworks and The Watermill Center with OPERA ensemble. Forthcoming solo exhibition will open in the Fall of 2023 at LaMaMa Gallery in NYC. Performance highlights include Roulette Intermedium, Center For Performance Research, Lincoln Center, The Rubin Museum of Art, Issue Project Room, Cafe OTO, Chicago Cultural Center, Center for Contemporary Art Laznia, Fridman Gallery, University Galleries, Zaratan – Arte Contemporânea, and Judson Memorial Church as well as exhibitions and film screenings (solo and group works) at VIERTE WELT, Trieze Gallery, Knockdown Center, Queens Museum, Spectacle Theatre, and Anthology Film Archives. She taught workshops in movement and voice throughout Europe most notably in Portugal at Zaratan – Arte Contemporânea and in Istanbul Turkey at Bilgi University and Cultur as well as a MoMA PS1 in NYC.

OUTSIGHT is presented by LEIMAY in partnership with New York Restoration Project.

The New York Restoration Project believes that access to nature is a fundamental human right. We work to ensure that all New Yorkers have equitable access to green space. For 25 years, NYRP has invested in and stewarded parks and gardens throughout the city’s five boroughs to strengthen communities, promote food sovereignty, and counter environmental and social injustice. Effectively carrying out our mission requires collaboration, synergy, and understanding of the communities we serve on many different levels. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are embedded into our core identity and we deeply value the unique perspectives, knowledge, and resources that each member of our team and extended community brings to NYRP. Visit nyrp.org

LEIMAY is a grassroots non-profit arts organization and ensemble based in Brooklyn since 1996. LEIMAY attracts, provokes, and supports exchange and generative confrontation, among culturally diverse audiences and artists, by producing work and programs that center the creation and the experience of art as catalysts to transform ourselves and the world around us. Programs include OUTSIGHT (2017-Present), LEIMAY Incubator Program (2021-Present), LEIMAY Fellowship (2008-2021), LEIMAY Art in the Community Garden Commissioning Fellows Program (2018-2021), SOAK (2012-2018), the NY Butoh Festival (2003-2009), the CAVE gallery (1996-2006), Vietnamese Artist-in-Residence Program (2004-2005), Butoh Workshops (2001-2007), NY Butoh Kan Training Initiative/ NY Butoh Kan Teaching Residency (2008 -2011).

OUTSIGHT is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and the Mertz Gilmore Foundation.

LEIMAY works and programs are supported, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts, the City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Howard Gilman Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Dance/NYC, The Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York, Indie Space, and Café Royal Cultural Foundation, and many generous contributions from individual donors.

Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya – Artistic and General Co-Directors
Adolfo Villafuerte – Marketing and Outreach Associate
Brandon Perdomo – Administrative and Program Associate
Jenna Taus – Program and Development Associate
Megan Kendzior – Strategic Development Consultant