Adrians Black

PERFORMANCES - RITUALS

Melting Point by NON GRATA + GUERRILLA THEATER + ANARKOARTLAB

Washington Square Park - NY 2025 - January

Melting Point

The performance reflects on the growing divide between ideologies, drawing attention to how the conflict between these two sides may seem glaring but ultimately leads to similar outcomes—consolidation of power, corruption, and institutional control. The notion that both sides “play the same game” is symbolized through mirrored elements that highlight their shared complicity in maintaining an authoritarian structure, despite their apparent differences.

The act of proposing the beheading of all authorities becomes a metaphor for rejecting all hierarchical systems, particularly political figures and structures that perpetuate division. The beheading of authority questions the very essence of power and control.

The president’s head on a soccer ball, being tossed around by performers and audience members, creates an act of “playing” with this head that serves as both a liberation and a critique, where figures of power are reduced to powerless objects. This challenges the audience to rethink their notions of authority, power, and respect. Participants’ interactions with the heads range from mockery to destruction, symbolizing the act of dismantling systems of power Playing soccer with the head of "authority" during the performance symbolizes the impermanence of power and the eventual collapse of oppressive political ideologies.

Audience participation is the key element in this performance. Each person is given the opportunity to interact with and “break” the head, symbolizing a collective rejection of authoritarianism. In this case, the audience is not merely a passive observer but an active participant in the political commentary of the performance.

The title Melting Point also suggests a metaphor for the collapse of structures. In chemistry, a melting point refers to the temperature at which a substance changes from solid to liquid. This may symbolize the transformation of hardened political ideologies into something more fluid, more dynamic, and possibly more cooperative. It may reflect the idea that the tensions politics have reached a boiling point, where something must give way to a new form or reality.

This physical transformation serves as a visual metaphor for the transient and decaying nature of power structures. The performance includes discordant sounds—such as loud, aggressive political speeches or chaotic, fragmented noises—playing in the background, heightening the sense of tension and conflict. The performers move in exaggerated, almost grotesque ways, playing on the absurdity of political systems. Their movements are ceremonial, perhaps suggesting both violence and the ritual of overthrowing power.

At its core, Melting Point critiques the two sides of American politics, presenting both sides as equally complicit in the larger system of oppression.

Empowerment through the dismantling of authority: By proposing the decapitation of all authority figures and allowing the audience to physically interact with these symbols, the performance seeks to empower the audience to take control of the narrative and dismantle authoritarian structures.

Ultimately, Melting Point is an intense and visceral commentary on the dangers of control, hierarchy, and the need for collective transformation. It is a call to question authority, break down power structures, and reclaim agency.

Anarchist art festival 2024 - La Plaza Community Garden - September

Healing a Suicidal Society - Based in Ayakamey Poem “Inside the Box”

Healing a suicidal society by ANARKOARTLAB / Guerrilla theater / Artemis Beasts and Friends

Healing a Suicidal Society is a performance that embodies the disintegration of social constructs through dynamic Social Sculpture, blurring the boundaries between artist and participant. Rooted in the poetic structure of the poems “Collapse” by Adrians Black and “Inside the Box,” by Ayakamay the performance is a living, breathing organism—fluid, nonlinear, and constantly dissolving.

The performance begins with a process of collective creation, where the audience is invited to contribute physically and conceptually, with a primal scream, eroding the distinction between artist and spectator. Fragments of the poem are spoken, whispered, and shouted in overlapping waves, creating a cacophony of voices that reflect the entropic unraveling of meaning. Language itself becomes unstable—words disintegrate into sound, sentences stretch and compress, collapsing into incoherence.

The space is transformed into a shifting landscape. Physical structures—paper walls, symbolic barriers with structures of authority and power—are slowly torn down, crumpled, and reshaped by the collective, symbolizing the collapse of social norms: property, gender, authority, and control. Participants’ movements become increasingly chaotic, blurring the boundaries between individual and collective bodies.

Visual and auditory elements heighten the disorientation. Elements simulate the collapse of physical systems, while dissonant soundscapes of industrial noise, distorted voices, and fragmented transmissions evoke a reality in free fall.

Throughout the performance, the principles of quantum uncertainty from being inside the box that can be either alive or dead [wave-particle duality] serve as metaphors for social instability. Equations, mathematical symbols, and abstract formulas are repeatedly drawn and erased, symbolizing the constant collapse of fixed knowledge and meaning.

The climax is a moment of collective entropy—performers and participants enact a ritual of dissolution, destroying symbolic structures, discarding identities, and collapsing into a raw, formless collective presence. The performance ends in a state of suspended ambiguity—disintegrating, denormalizing, and unrecognizable—leaving the audience with a sense of having experienced the collapse of self and society, only to be reconstituted through shared vulnerability and collective creation.

LOS T BONES - 2024

Ritual - healing bones from underground Washington Square Park and all victims of wars / NYC - 2024

with ANARKOARTLAB + ARTEMIS BEASTS + GUERRILLA THEATER

sounds BODYMECHANICNYC + JACOB COHEN

Special guest CARME

LOS T BONES is a ritual-performance that resurrects the forgotten bones of victims buried beneath Washington Square Park—a site laden with unmarked graves of enslaved people, marginalized individuals, and victims of violence and oppression. The performance channels their voices and memories, transforming the park into a liminal space where the past and present converge.

The bones, symbolic of erased histories and silenced suffering, come alive through movement, sound, and collective action. The piece acts as both a mourning and a rebellion—lamenting the weight of historical violence while invoking a radical call for transformation in the face of contemporary wars, climate catastrophe, and rising fascism.

The ritual begins evoking spirits rising from the soil. They carry objects (bones, stones, and artifacts) symbolizing the remnants of the forgotten dead. The performers trace a spiral into the center of the park, creating a temporary sacred space—a symbolic excavation of buried truths. The performers enter a state of trance-like movement, their bodies embodying the fragmented memories of the dead. Physical gestures mimic cracking, breaking, and reassembling—symbolizing both collapse and resurrection.

Layers of spoken word—poetry and fragmented phrases—are interwoven, spoken in multiple languages, representing the diversity of the lost souls. The performance intensifies with erratic, chaotic movements, symbolizing the collapse of oppressive structures. The performers engage in violent, gestures—falling, writhing, and disassembling human chains—emulating the crumbling of regimes, ideologies, and illusions of power. a participatory gesture symbolizing collective responsibility for confronting the violence of the present.

Performers use sound instruments to healing the space invisible and visible whispered names, and fragmented chants, creating a haunting auditory texture, deep percussive beats could represent the heartbeat of the bones awakening deeply . Snippets of original text of the poem Collapse in various languages, symbolizing the global nature of oppression and resilience.

The Bones as Seeds of Rebirth, In the final act, the performers slow down, planting them into the earth as if sowing seeds. The ritual closes with a communal gesture, where performers and audience members place their hands on the top of each other, symbolizing a vow to remember and resist

LOS T BONES is not just a performance but a transformative experience—immersing the audience in a ritual of remembrance, grief, and hope. It serves as a poetic confrontation of historical while envisioning new possibilities of collective healing and resistance.

AnarkoArtLab + Non Grata

New York performance at Russian consulate @3 PM at 9E 91st Str., NYC We bring body parts from Ukraine to deliver to the Russian Consulate in New York City.

Ukraine is between two fires and we bring fire extinguishers to stop this madness.

Free Ukraine, free the World from imperialism!

[Flyer by Black] [Sign by Jez Bold] [Music by Jacob Cohen ]

Performance with support and collaboration with MACC

PERFORMANCE BY ANARKOARTLAB in collaboration with NON GRATA

Ukrainian Between Two Fires is a visceral performance that confronts the brutality of war and the complicity of global powers. The piece begins with a terrifying procession of performers acting as messengers, carrying fragmented body parts—symbolic representations of those killed in the conflict. These mutilated forms, made of real, raw organs such as hearts, guts, kidneys, livers, etc., evoke the shattered lives and dehumanization caused by war.

The messengers move at a slow, deliberate pace, their bodies heavy with the weight of pain and anger they display to the demonstrators who are also outside the consulate protesting on the second day of the U.S.-backed war between Ukraine and Russia.

As they advance, some performers are tied up and suffocated in clear plastic, sealed with red tape, their gasping and desperate movements visible but contained within the transparent layers of plastic. The plastic clings to their bodies, representing the suffocating grip of violence—the loss of agency, breath, and life. Their struggle becomes a physical manifestation of the stifled voices of civilians caught in the crossfire of political and military aggression.

Upon reaching their destination, the couriers deliver the dismembered body parts to Putin at the foot of the New York consulate, a condemnatory gesture of confrontation. The delivery is not an offering but an indictment—an indictment of those who orchestrate the violence from afar.

After the delivery, the artists undo a transparent banner that reads: “KILLERS".” The artists then place the severed body parts through the banner and in front of the consulate, where the American and Russian flags are flying, exposing the shared guilt of the global superpowers in perpetuating the violence.

photos by Mara Catalan

photos by Marisa Holmes

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The Brazilian government wants to pass a new law to open up the heart of Amazon to devastating industrial projects, and legalize the expulsion of indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands. The Brazilian government is pushing draft bill PL490 that will essentially legalize genocide.

But there is hope: if the people from all over the world are against the genocide of indigenous people, and destruction of Amazonia Forest, our pressure could tip the balance.

First Healing house from Gojira / Anarkoartlab Campaing - Mato Grosso do Sul - Brazil [August 2021]

Indigenous and Artists articulations

Joe from GOJIRA Planting the first tree for the healing houses project - Mato Grosso do Sul / Brasil - August 2021

Campaign

We expected $75.000 but we got $320.000 — $150.000 went to APIB (Brazil’s Indigenous People Articulation) and $170.000 went to Kuñangue Aty Guasu – Assembly of Guarani and Kaiowa Indigenous Women.

Take responsibility, this fight is also yours.

The Indigenous from Brazil are in the front line of this fight and we are with them.

You can be with us posting your art at @int.art.solidarity

Think about it…. and act

“SANGUE INDIGENA NENHUMA GOTA A MAIS /INDIGENOUS BLOOD NO MORE ANY DROP“

08/25, 2021

This is a site-specific-performance-ritual-social-sculpture by Anarkoartlab in front of the supreme court in Brasília, together with 6,000 indigenous people from all over Brazil doing a ritual of cleaning the blood of our ancestors that were abused, tortured, murdered.

DESTROYING KILLING AND BURYING PL490 [Destruindo matando e enterrando a PL 490]

GUERRILLATHEATER + ANARKOARTLAB

Union Square /NYC The day and time the Pl 490 was voting in Brazil

Art Laundry $

Miami [ Art Basel]

2021

[in collaboration with Non Grata ] “Human zoo”

Photos Mara Catalan

Photo Mara Catalan

VIDEO PERFORMANCE = “STOP” fascists in NYC ritual

Ritual / Performance

DESCOLONIZANDO A AMAZONIA

Amazonia decolonization ritual in front of the NYC STOCK EXCHANGE BUILDING.

April 23, 2021

performed in front of the NYC Stock Exchange building, a site specific ritual;

[Where corporations from many parts of the world are actively stolen indigenous territories and also they are responsible for the process of destroying the forest and murdering the indigenous peoples. ]

The NY Stock Exchange is an extremely guarded, policed, armed place.

So we decided to do the ritual in silence and with the people who were there, and we did everything in 7 minutes for security reasons.

We rolled out in front of her a red carpet with the names of some of the corporations that are in the Amazonia and Mato Grosso do Sul. At the end of the carpet, facing the stock exchange building, AMAZONIA was written that was abstracted in blood.

A ritual of cleaning the blood of indigenous people was performed in front of the stock exchange building.

Cameras: Benjamin Ferguson / Marisa Homes

Ritual performers: ANARKOARTLAB [Adriana Varella / Amy Gillian Wilson]

COLLAPSE OF CONSCIOUSNESS

[2021]

ANARKOARTLAB [Adriana Varella and Amy Gillian Wilson] in collaboration with MACC

Site specific to ICE building - Manhattan NYC / Brooklyn Brigid

cameras: Lee Favorite / Benjamin Ferguson / Marisa Homes

Ritual performers: ANARKOARTLAB [Adriana Varella / Amy Gillian Wilson] in collaboration with MACC members

also against our wishes with [the participation of NYPD - they followed us in Brooklyn ]

BURNED RADAR (RADAR QUEIMADAS)

ANARKOARTLAB

[Streets of NYC (The collective walked from Brooklyn to Times Square and stop at Central Park, Columbus circle, East Village to perform)

 (2020)

This public art performance is a direct response to the current crime against humanity happening in the Amazon Rain forest committed by corporations and the Brazilian government. The durational performance presented by AnarkoArtLab involves two artists, Adriana Varella and Amy Gillian Wilson, ritualistically dragging a burnt and smoking tree throughout New York City.  Are we all responsible for this? Are we seeking a parallel world? Can we even imagine what a solution could be?

Video Production:

(Cameras) Sirius Toro and Joe Fionda

(Drone) = Sirius Toro

(Edition) = Camila Marchon

(Production) = Ana Luisa Anjos

(Pictures) = Thais Aquino

photo Thais Aquino

NEW CONFIGURATIONS FOR THE QUEER FAMILY,

Queens Museum

2018

( ANARKOARTLAB )

Picture Mara Catalan

Concept: Everyone hatches the egg

Broken Borders’ life - lines

Collaboration with Vilma PeDiu

[Last Frontier]

2018

Concept: Everyone in the public becomes part of a big wall of bodies that later falls apart

Parallel Possibilities [ Experiments on Trans-Architectural Bodies ]

ANARKOARTLAB

[Black / Red / Jacob Cohen / Public]

(KGB, New York )

2019

The action is: A buffoon that places reverse genitals in the public's body and invites them to have sex:

Transversal concept: According to the person's sexual genre, if is a male the Buffon gives to the person a vagina, and the Buffon penetrates him with a phallus of paper marche,

if the person from the public is female, the buffoon give her a penis and the Buffoon uses a vagina and ask to the woman fucking with them like a guy.

This experience of inversion of the opposite sex genitalia proposes an unconscious aspect of inversion sensations

ORGY // ANARKOARTLAB - Brooklyn, NY

Many different positions of bodies a queer orgy can take shape