Monday, November 30, 6pm CT
H0L0 Presents: Place of Assembly
WILLS GLASSPIEGEL + LITEBULB - OPEN THE CIRCLE / THE ERA FOOTWORK CREW - CHI
Wills Glasspiegel is a filmmaker, artist and PhD candidate in African American Studies and American Studies at Yale University. His short films Icy Lake, Bangn on King Drive, Meet the Era and I am the Queen have screened globally, from art galleries and museums to classrooms and community centers. Wills is currently creating a large-scale installation film for the facade of the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. He is a filmmaker in residence with The Era Footwork Crew and serves as creative director for The Era's show IN THE WURKZ, an award-winning dance performance recognized with a National Dance Project Grant in 2019. Wills is co-founder of the nonprofit Open the Circle, a community-based organization devoted to supporting grassroots dance projects on the south side of Chicago, including a footwork summer camp called Circle Up. As a journalist, Wills has produced public radio segments for All Things Considered and Morning Edition, and is a co-recipient of a Peabody Award in 2014 for his contributions to the public radio program Afropop Worldwide. He lives between Chicago and New York City.
Jamal “Litebulb” Oliver is a dancer, choreographer, artist, teacher, and cultural organizer focused on Chicago footwork. He leads The Era Footwork Crew, an arts collective comprised of leading footwork battle dancers from Chicago. He also co-direct Open the Circle, a nonprofit that he co-founded to support Black youth in Chicago through the art of footwork dance and music.
Since 2009, Litebulb has traveled widely to perform on leading stages, like New York PS-1 MoMa, the Barbican in London, and back home at the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) and the Pitchfork Festival. In 2014, Bulb appeared in a dance cameo with fellow footworker P-Top in the movie, Manglehorn, with Al Pacino. He toured extensively with footwork pioneers DJ Rashad and DJ Spinn and collaborated with leading artists such as Chance The Rapper, Jamilia Woods, and Kevin Koval. Litebulb's name is quoted in the iconic footwork song "Ghost" by DJ Rashad, and his dancing is featured in Arthur Jafa's film "Love is the Message." In 2016, Litebulb was recognized as a “dancer of the year” in Dance Magazine and a “cultural organizer of the year” in FADER Magazine. As co-founder of Open the Circle, Litebulb’s work has been recognized by leading foundations, including Theaster Gates’ Rebuild Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the University of Chicago, and the Field Foundation of Illinois. He received a National Dance Project Grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts to redevelop The Era’s latest project IN THE WURKZ, a multimedia stage show which is set to tour in the fall of 2021.
- Recent interview with Sam Hillmer and Litebulb for Stadium goods:
- 2018-2020 Project Report for our nonprofit Open the Circle:
https://otcprojects.org/s/OTC.pdf
- Recent short film by The Era that touches on BLM themes called "The Testament":
https://vimeo.com/437979804/baca93ddb9
- Recent short film co-directed with The Era producing that focuses on uniting Indigenous dance and footwork in Chicago for Indigenous Peoples' Day: https://vimeo.com/467513066
- The Era's Music:
https://vimeo.com/455993223/225bd8d891
- A project that ties everything together that we do is called IN THE WURKZ. Attaching a description of that show here, as well as a screen shot of its recent presentation at Theaster Gates' Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago. This show won a $100k national dance project grant last year from the New England Foundation for the Arts, and will tour to Wesleyan and The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in 2021. Preview here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V1emEeaktQ
PLACE OF ASSEMBLY : PODCAST -
Every episode of PLACE OF ASSEMBLY will feature a new artist space. We will look at any space that exists in the physical world, and in some way house creative communities and cultural production.
During this time of enforced isolation, while all of our places of gathering and work have been closed off to us, we are in a unique position to consider what these places mean to us.
ABOUT H0LO - is a Ridgewood Queens based music and performance venue devoted to outsider communities of creative practice. H0L0 was founded in July of 2017 by Sam Hillmer, Marco Boggio-Sella, and Craig Kalpakjian.
Hosted by Sam Hillmer - a Brooklyn-based musician, artist, and curator. He is creative director of the Queens-based venue H0l0, founding member of the band Zs, and one half of the art duo Trouble. He also makes music as Diamond Terrifier. Recent collaborations include Dirty Projectors, Laurel Halo, Arto Lindsay, and Tauba Auerbach.
In 1998 Sam co-founded the new music presenting organization Wet Ink, from 2010-12 he ran the weekly out music party PRACTICE at erstwhile Williamsburg venue Zebulon, from 2013-16 he founded and operated Ridgewood based venue Trans-Pecos, in 2016 Sam participated in beginning the live music program at Maspeth Queens based Knockdown Center, and in 2017 co-founded H0L0. Sam has led music and performance programs for fine arts based institutions including Sculpture Center, the Queens Museum, Pioneer Works, and art fairs New Art Dealers Alliance, Satellite art fair, and Miami Project.
Sam has been active as a youth and community based arts organizer for over 20 years.