Open Session #23: Hosted by Rujuta Rao

An evening event at an art and architecture space in New York City, part of a series of sessions each hosted by a different artist. The host, Rujuta Rao, is an artist who works across bookmaking, beverage making, garment making, sculpture, and performance, drawing on her training as a bartender and Japanese sake adviser to consider guest-host relations, borders, and migration. For this session she will present a new form called the 'garment-essay,' a wearable publication and performance exploring fermentation as a metaphor for diaspora and transformation. During the performance, her essay will be read from an indigo-dyed garment worn by performer Rebecca Mzengi Corey while feni, a fermented cashew beverage from Goa, is served to the audience, and garments from Rao's clothing line RUGA will be available for browsing afterward.