I LOVE ME
February 2023
Everson Museum, Syracuse, New York
On the Edge
Created November 2016, Short film released 2022
Buffalo, New York
On the Edge, is a collaborative performance and in progress film with Columbian based artist, Carol Montealegre. Through desperate times, endurance finds itself the winner every time. Will you align with mother nature, as the beast you are, or become defiant in your assumed role, and try to break against the normalcy that faces you? Only time will tell…
El Martillo y La Rosa (The Hammer and The Rose)
June 2016
Maravatío, Mexico
El Martillo y La Rosa, was a collaborative work created during my time as an artist in residence at The Guapamacátaro Center for Art and Ecology that was located in the countryside of Michoacán, Mexico. This was my first experience in working with a male collaborator -Luis Guizar (LA). From our observations and gatherings, our experience at this location seemed to part on the influence of religion, stereotypes, cultural norms, and preservation. This endurance based performance included movement, sound and our surroundings. (Images taken by Dino Dinco)
Untitled (Awakening our ancestors to pay tribute to the commoner)
June 2016
Maravatío, Mexico
Untitled (Awakening our ancestors to pay tribute to the commoner), was a work created during my time at a residency that was located in the middle of the agricultural landscape of Michoacán, Mexico. While a resident, I learned to ride horses, read works by Octavio Paz and worked in a strawberry field that was in walking distance to the residency.
Columbian born performance artist, Carol Montealegre participated in this piece, by accompanying me on my journey around town placing a strawberry around the necks of the locals as a gift of gratitude. Images taken by Stephanie Gonzalez.
blaNGk
Friday May 13-15, 2016
Echo Art Fair
blaNGk, was a social experiment that engaged fair goers in conversations and intimate experiences that were developed on a personal basis to fit the needs and desires of the individual. A sliding scale per experience was established and payment was delivered after the experience was successfully completed. Examples of experiences include: a foot race, a group hug, an re-enactment of an animated video, dating advice and philosophical debates. At the end of the experience the engaged individual “signed” my dress.
You Don’t Own Me
A Performance by Tina Dillman & Liv Fontaine
Friday July 31, 2015
BT&C Gallery
You then told us to stop selling ourselves, but it was you that was making us so poor. Then you told us to cover ourselves, but you set that standard agency. You told us to be aware of our sisters, but it was you who grouped us together and now pairs us in composition.
You Don’t Own Me, is an interactive performance that delves into the complexities of exploitation, femininity and the relational roles of gender. By flirting with power, subversive positions will be reversed, as the spectator becomes a key player of the unfolding of the piece.
Now you stand in our box, the box that you gave us but not like a gift not like we do nicely and warmly for you, making sure when you are us you feel ok. No, the box we were given was not fur lined, and no one gave us a glass of wine when we came through the door. Our boxes didn’t have any windows and everybody is talking about the glass ceiling, but its pitch fucking black in here and no one can see us, and no one can hear us.
As part of my MFA thesis exhibition, I produced a performance piece titled, Public, where I interacted with the guests waiting to enter the Old Mint for the public opening on Friday May 16, 2014, from 7-9pm. I pinned the letters T.I.N.A. on guests, with each letter representing a different word, and the letters forming the saying, “Time is never abundant.” Photo documentation by Mido Lee.
On March 8, 2014, I participated in an event, The Pasta Bowl that was organized by a new collaborative project, between the graduate students at SFAI and CCA, SFiCA, with a new piece I designed for the grass knoll across the street from the gallery. Sermon on The Mound, was a reading with a group discussion after about the role and responsibility of artists in the Bay Area during this time of distress, due to the increasing rental costs and countless evictions.
On January 31, 2014, I performed a piece titled, Inscription, for a small, selective audience of 5, at Ed Hardy’s tattoo shop, Tattoo City, with the help of tattoo artist, Mary Joy Scott. This piece is rooted in my beliefs that we should all be treated fairly and equal, and not discriminated based on sex.
On November 2, 2013, I participated in the annual Dia de los Muertos celebration in the Mission District of San Francisco with, In Memory of… For the performance I lied on a raised burial that was constructed for my body out of recycled dirt and moss in the shape of a oval. For the 3+ hours that I remained still members of the community walked by and paid their respects to loved ones lost, by sharing stories with me, laying flowers atop of my body, or leaving altars that they made.
In October 2013, at the Concentrate Student Art Sale at the San Francisco Art Institute, I prepared freshly squeezed lemonade for customers at, The Lemon Stand. Drinks were made to order, on a scale of $1-$10, but had to be ordered off the menu, according to their title. The Poor Man was $1, the Average Joe was $3, and I have a disposable income was $10. I made $69 that day during my 4 hour shift.
During the Fall 2012, I created three performances that took place at the 800 Chestnut campus of the San Francisco Art Institute. The first work, The Kissing Booth, was a social experiment that occurred during the Winter Festival, which was a public event for current students to sell their artwork. I sold intimate experiences, such as a hug or a kiss. Prices were reasonable, but the profits were low. I didn’t break a $100.
For the second, I performed, How I Became a Feminist, a half-hour lecture that included a video introduction, and over 100 slides of images referencing work by female artists such as Ana Mendieta, Hannah Wilke, and Lynda Benglis, and writers such as Bell Hooks and Kathy O’Dell. This work was inspired by events in my life that had influenced my relationship to the feminist movement and ideology.
And for the last in 2012, Untitled, (Digging a grave for sentimental objects that no longer hold the same meaning), was a six hour performance that was documented through video and photography. Referencing the relationships that humans form to inanimate objects, I wanted to break that bond by performing a ceremonial gesture with objects that were quite loaded from my own personal history. Chosen for their historical relevance in American history, violet colored pansies were planted for the memorial marker.
In July 2012, I participated in an intervention at the Sutro Baths in San Francisco by students of Hans Winkler. Inspired by the sound of the landscape and the remnants of structures, I became part of the environment in Untitled, (Laying for one hour with a 30lb block of ice on my stomach).
In May 2012, I had the opportunity to travel to Cuba for the 11th Havana Biennial. I spent two weeks in Havana, observing and experiencing the life and culture of the island. As a thank you to the friends that I had made at the Instituto Superior de Artes (ISA), I performed, Bienvenido, where I welcomed guests into the Utopian neighborhood that the students from ISA had created, with their professor, Renee Francisco, for the Havana Biennial.
