Levani (Levan Mindiashvili)

Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, USA

Artist statement

Through inquiries into psychology, microbiology, cosmology, and spiritual practices - I imagine taxonomies unburdened from gendered, binary dichotomies. Through the art-making that embodies immersive installations, sculptures, neons, images, video, and sound, I seek to create experiences that most effectively embody and expose these newly acquired knowledges. I am looking into examples of various life forms characterized by radical transformational qualities. I study phenomena such as complete metamorphosis in insects and regeneration of lost body parts and organs by stem cells. I look at these examples as models to facilitate the necessary transition from the patriarchal extractive systems of oppression to the generative communal networks of cohabitation while collectively addressing the pressing issues of inequality, resource monopolization, and climate change. Along with the necessity to create safe, remote, alternative spaces for the community, I find it equally vital insertion into the dominant structures of power as a queering contagion to demand the necessary ethical/queer/just approach to alarmingly fast developing engineering of the critical areas of our planetary future: BioEngineering, AI + technology, and Space colonization. My work is an invocation for queer empowerment, as my every presentation is envisioned as a safe inhabitable space for the community. Through shared meals, dance parties, or performative readings, we map out a new sense of being -together...

Artwork