Improvisation is very important in my creative# process, and I think it's part of many visual artists process, because accidents become# something.

But when you sort of just, you know, let yourself go, you find things that are, that# can be very special.

And the more that you stick with certain ideas, the more that you find# very special and meaningful things that with collaborators just take a life on its own.

I value# experimenting with collaborators who I trust, who trust me.

And together then we, you know, we# work towards something special.

My name is Roxana Barba, and I am an artist and choreographer# working predominantly in performance, installation and video around ideas of identity,# construction, transformation, and decay.

We are at Under The Bridge Art Space.

It# is an artist run space, and it's led by two Miami artists, William Cordova and Lou-Anne# Colodny.

They invited me to create site specific work that would blend the disciplines that# I'm interested in, which are performance, installation and video.

This invitation led# me to create this new body of work.

I had the opportunity to think about these ideas for a# whole year, which for me is the biggest luxury, because then I can go very deep into research# and try different things.

I knew that I wanted to extend some things that had popped up very# strongly for me in my most recent multimedia performance called, In My Center, A Cyborg Scene,# which was multimedia performance that I presented at Mad Art in Dania Beach.

And the performance# explored ideas of transformation that have to do with technology, but also myth and divination.

So# thinking critically about these things, and also connecting it to this myth that has to do with# black and white seed that is also an oracle, that where you can see into the future, it's# called Pallar Moche.

It's an ancestral myth from Peru.

So I was connecting these things that seemed# to be far apart, but for me made a lot of sense, because in a way I find that we circle around time# continuously.

And this interaction that we are having now with technology creates this feedback# where we are finding ourselves transformed by it.

So there were several things that I wanted to# revisit with this work.

And initially I thought that maybe I would just project some of the# video work, or take some of the documentation that I produced during the rehearsal period, and# make something with it.

But the ideas continued evolving, so curiously, I ended up working# with clay.

So I have some ceramic sculptures that embody these ideas that are connect back to# that performance, but are now a new body of work.

This work is sort of grounding us back# into the physical dimension, you know, of the ceramic sculptures, and these other metal# pieces that also take you into a digital space.

But we may see a different interaction.

Recently# I've been noticing that my work is always evolving and I've noticed that there's a pattern between# having a performance then develop into a show for a gallery, and then maybe moving to a performance# that circles back.

So I was wondering what was making the work so alive, and I think it's# the performance aspect of it.

So for example, this installation, you know, what makes it come# alive is this video that has performers activating this installation and having a very, very intimate# moments of blowing, of touching, of listening and looking into these metal tubes, and creating# something with them.

So the performance element, I think keeps moving through these pieces for me.# So even as I am describing them, I'm going back to their origin, which was that previous performance,# and I'm recycling, you know, those ideas into their bodies now.

So for me, they go back to that,# but now they're, you know, they find themselves in a different form.

The exhibition is called# Loop to Zero.

So it's a circling action that is, you know, in constant movement for me, that finds# himself beginning and ending and beginning again.

This work is called Oscillations, like when# something.

So oscillations, meaning.

This idea of moving between one thing and another, or moving# between spaces.

So I wanted to explore sound captured with this contact microphones that are# placed, that are concealed in this copper pipes, and see what would happen.

Sensorially as we# interacted with them.

So I collaborated with two musicians and two dancers who created a film.# And then for the opening of the gallery, we had a live performance.

There is a musician who brought# a mouthpiece of flute, and we were experimenting with those sounds while a dancer was interacting# with the piece in a physical way.

And between these, we also had a musician who was sampling the# sounds live and creating an atmosphere to sort of, you know, bring together the experience.

And so# this piece is quite special to me because in a way, it helped me birth this combination that# seems very easy or that seems very natural, where installation, performance, sound# and video are happening all together and they're not working against each other.

But if# there's like this balance between them where, you know, you're not overpowered by one or# the other, but for the live performance, it's very satisfying to see bodies activating# them while hearing the amplified sound because the amplified sounds transform you, but you're still# in close, you know, proximity to the performers who are physically, you know, creating lines# or creating tension, or creating these moments where they are sort of like measuring themselves# and establishing relationships with these pipes.

While I wanted to have a space for that work,# and have the projection here, I still wanted to connect this wall in a continuous way.

And# I felt like the video would work really well in this walls because it's a space that has this# interesting corners.

And I could see the video happening here.

And as I was editing, I kept# on thinking about the scale.

So I did a lot of closeups in the editing because I wanted viewers# to feel very close to the performers during this intimate moments.

And have also, for example,# this moment of oscillation, which for me is sort of like between the physical and this digital# sound, which we don't see.

And I know that, or maybe when I say digital, you wouldn't qualify# this work as digital, but you're hearing it and it's certainly present in the work.

So I guess# this has this meaningful oscillating movement, this action of, you know, this moment where we see# the tube oscillating like this, sort of represents for me these moments that we were exploring.# So it's a quiet, I think.

Well, it has sound, but quiet in the sense that there's, the action is# not too dramatic.

The dancing is not too big, it's mostly gesturing, and maybe some poetic moments,# like this one where the viewer can just create his or her own experience with what anything# that they're watching or listening may come up.