Performa 2025 Returns with New Commissions by Ayoung Kim, Pakui Hardware, Aria Dean
This November, New York City is set to host the Performa Biennial, spotlighting the 2025 iteration of this event that celebrates 20 years of performance art. Among the featured artists are Diane Severin Nguyen, who, with composer Laszlo Horvath and ten performers, will merge American protest music with pop elements. Lina Lapelytė will present her acclaimed work The Speech (NYC), engaging 270 children in a transition from spoken words to primal sounds. Additionally, Tau Lewis will perform an interpretation of the Sumerian epic The Descent of Inanna, while Ayoung Kim integrates motion capture with martial arts in her presentation.
Key facts
- Performa Biennial returns November 2025 in New York City.
- Commissions include Diane Severin Nguyen, Lina Lapelytė, Tau Lewis, Ayoung Kim, Pakui Hardware, Aria Dean, Sylvie Fleury.
- Nguyen collaborates with composer Laszlo Horvath and ten performers.
- Lapelytė's The Speech (NYC) involves 270 children.
- Lapelytė won Golden Lion at 2019 Venice Biennale for Sun & Sea.
- Lewis performs at Harlem Parish with vocalists Gelsey Bell, Alicia Hall Moran, Justin Hicks, narrator Lyra Pramuk, and musicians Eli Keszler, Kevin Sun.
- Kim's performance uses motion-capture choreographed by Squid Game stunt performer Cha-i Kim.
- Pakui Hardware's Spores includes an AI therapist, community choir, and score by Miša Skalskis.
- Dean's The Color Scheme set in Berlin's Tiergarten after WWI, with virtual set by Filip Kostic in Unreal Engine.
- Fleury's installation references Fluxus and Happenings, costumes by Chris Peters.
Entities
Artists
- Diane Severin Nguyen
- Lina Lapelytė
- Tau Lewis
- Ayoung Kim
- Pakui Hardware
- Aria Dean
- Sylvie Fleury
- Laszlo Horvath
- Gelsey Bell
- Alicia Hall Moran
- Justin Hicks
- Lyra Pramuk
- Eli Keszler
- Kevin Sun
- Cha-i Kim
- Neringa Černiauskaitė
- Ugnius Gelguda
- Vaidas Bartušas
- Miša Skalskis
- Nile Harris
- Zaid Arshad
- Filip Kostic
- Chris Peters
Institutions
- Performa Biennial
- Harlem Parish
- Venice Biennale
Locations
- New York City
- United States
- Berlin
- Germany
- Tiergarten
- Seoul
- South Korea