2014
Durational installation-performance
Colony Studios, Brooklyn, New York

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In 2014, Lady Alchemy presented Nigredo, a durational installation-performance at Colony Studios in Brooklyn. The work takes its title from the first stage of the alchemical opus, traditionally associated with dissolution, darkness, and the breakdown of form. In alchemical theory, nigredo marks a necessary phase of reduction through which transformation may occur.

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Combining body art, process art, and ritual performance, Nigredo uses the body as the primary medium as an action unfolds. Meaning developed through the accumulation of exposure to liminal environment, causing a sensory shift.​​ This liminal sensory environment, a stark white spatial field, experimental sound, the gradual introduction of black pigment, and strobe lighting produced a rhythmic interruption of vision that amplified disorientation and heightened sensory instability. These elements established a perceptual threshold in which contrast and repetition altered the audience’s experience of time and bodily awareness. As the performance intensified, these conditions placed both performer and audience within a shared state associated with the nigredo phase.​​

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The performance was presented before a live audience and transmitted in real time, reflecting early forms of expanded spectatorship characteristic of the early 2010s. Hosted by Amanda Lepore, the opening was recognized by Paper Magazine as one of the Top Ten Art Openings to See.

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