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“A chaotically choreographed game of cause and effect that places anonymous feminine bodies in a machine where there usually are none.” – INTERVIEW
“Narcissister’s neo-burlesque performance works seem to spring from a limitless body. Masked and anonymous, she transforms herself through acrobatic prowess and ingenious stage and costume design, as she plays with themes of race, sex, gender, and pop culture. ” – ARTFORUM
ABOUT THE WORK
Originally conceived as a kinetic installation for Brooklyn’s Pioneer Works, Narcissister’s Voyage Into Infinity transforms Skirball’s stage into a dynamic site of surreal feats, lo-fi magic, and theatrical pyrotechnics. A feminist response to Peter Fischli and David Weiss’s iconic video The Way Things Go, the performance centers female-presenting bodies as both agents and objects of fascination. With a live score by Holland Andrews, Voyage Into Infinity features Narcissister’s signature blend of humor, critique, and visual spectacle, channeling raw energy and punk spirit. At its core, the artist’s iconic mask continues to provoke urgent questions around identity, beauty, and race.
Narcissister: Voyage Into Infinity (2024) is commissioned by Pioneer Works, and curated by Gabriel Florenz
PRODUCTION GUIDANCE
This performance contains nudity and erotic gestures that may not be appropriate for children.
RUN TIME
This performance is 60 minutes with no intermission.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Narcissister is a Brooklyn-based artist and performer. Masked and merkin-ed, she works at the intersection of dance, art, and activism in a range of media including live performance, film, video, collage, and sculpture. She presents work worldwide at festivals, nightclubs, museums, and galleries. She won “Best Use of a Sex Toy” at Good Vibrations Erotic Film Festival, a Bessie nomination for the theatrical performance Organ Player, and Creative Capital and United States Artists Awards. Her first feature film Narcissister Organ Player premiered at Sundance 2018. Her activist short film Narcissister Breast Work premiered at Sundance 2020 and won a Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary Short at Outfest 2021. Voyage Into Infinity had its world premiere in 2024. Narcissister is a 2025 recipient of a Sir Peter Shaffer Charitable Foundation commission to develop a new theatrical piece at Playwrights Horizons.
CREATIVE CREDITS
Director/Performer: Narcissister
Additional Narcissister Performers: Effie Bowen, Jessica Emmanuel
Music: Holland Andrews
Band: Justin Frye, Austin Sley Julian, Gregory Fox
Pyrotechnics Artist: Alex Podger
Pyrotechnics Designer/Skirball iteration: Jeremy Chernick
Finishing Director: Reginald Robeson
Choreographer/Movement Director: Wanda Gala
Lighting Design: Michael Zumbrun
Costume Design: Narcissister and Karen Boyer
Pyrotechnics Design Assistant/Skirball iteration: Katia Carmichael
Builders: Nathan Benett, Mike Berlant, Cade Duff, Tyler Giordano, Chris Lesnewski, Travis Spinks
Rigging: Noah Price
Consulting Production Managers: Brian Freeland, Joey Shaw
Production Interns: Maggie Sheridan, Rosa Acevedo
Special thanks to: Pioneer Works, Jeffrey Deitch/Deitch Projects, Bernard Lumpkin and Carmine Boccuzzi
SUPPORT
Presented in partnership with Under the Radar Festival®
Mark Russell, Founding Director
Meropi Peponides & Kaneza Schaal, Co-Directors
ArKtype, Festival Producer
More information at utrfest.org
utrfest.org
Under the Radar is the United States’ premier festival of experimental theater and performance art. As a long-time New York City-based platform for cutting-edge work hailing from around the globe. Produced by ArKtype with Festival Director Mark Russell, UTR has been reimagined in its 20th annual season as a city-wide celebration that incisively speaks to our moment. Rather than being tied to a single host institution, Under the Radar’s current iteration is curated collaboratively with an array of renowned arts organizations and curators, each harnessing the connective nature of the festival format to introduce some of the world’s most innovative multidisciplinary voices to wider audiences. The 2025 edition of UTR will include over 33 distinct programs at 24 theater spaces, presenting more than 250 performances in only 16 days from January 4 to 19. The depth, breadth and excellence of this year’s festival serves as proof that collaboration can power the American theater through this era of existential crisis into a reinvigorated future of conjoined artists ready to embrace diversity, challenge and reinvention.
NYU Skirball’s programs are made possible in part with support from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and the Howard Gilman Foundation; Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels; Culture Ireland; The Shubert Foundation; Collins Building Services; General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA; Goethe Institut New York with support from the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany; Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation; Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation; New England Foundation for the Arts; Harkness Foundation for Dance; and Marta Heflin Foundation; as well as our valued donors through memberships, commissioning, and Allies for Arts Access Fund support.
