Life As Material for Art and Vice Versa is the work of Nicolás Dumit Estévez in collaboration with a group of New New Yorkers, as well as a selection of invited colleagues like Sol Aramendi for Artistic Direction and José Emilio Rodríguez for Design of the text.

Project Background

In the spring of 2008, texts, photographs, and similar documents were generated as result of a series of performance art workshops taught at the Queens Museum of Art and at the Elmhurst and Steinway branches of the Queens Library. During these hands-on workshops participants tapped into their everyday lives to develop visual or written narratives that were then used as material for art to create performance art pieces and art-life actions. An audio-visual presentation on seminal figures in the performance art field gave students an historical introduction to the medium. The participants then undertook careful observations, discussions, and critiques of overtly mundane activities such as walking, talking, sleeping, shopping, and eating, using the information collected to develop private or public performances and actions.

The book documenting Life As Material for Art and Vice Versa is available for download and is meant to be used as a performance art manual and a teaching aid. We have placed a Creative Commons License on the book, which prohibits commercial use or alteration of the work, but entitles you to print and distribute it free of charge. To download Life As Material for Art and Vice Versa click here.

Nicolas Dumit Estevez is an interdisciplinary artist working mainly in performance art and life-and-art experiences. He has exhibited and performed extensively in the U.S. as well as internationally at venues such as Madrid Abierto/ARCO, The IX Havana Biennial, PERFORMA 05 and 07, IDENSITAT, Prague Quadrennial, The Pontevedra Biennial, The Queens Museum of Art, MoMA, The MacDowell Colony, The Center for Book Arts, Longwood Art Gallery/BCA, The Institute for Art, Religion and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary, The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Franklin Furnace, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, among others. Residencies attended include P.S. 1/MoMA, Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony. He teaches at the Transart Institute in Berlin, Germany. Born in Santiago de los Treinta Caballeros, Dominican Republic, he lives and works in the South Bronx.