Cart 0
About Our Team Community Agreements New & Updates Strategic Plan Strategic Plan Audit Level Ground Productions
Artist Collective Residency Program SKEW Magazine Production Incubator Syllabus Project All
Buy Merch Buy SKEW Become a Contributor (Private) Funder Page
Cart 0
experiment in empathy

AN EXPERIMENTAL FILM, POETRY, & Installation COLLABORATION INSPIRED BY GWENDOLYN BROOKS.

Created and Produced by Level Ground • Directed by Andy Motz • Installed in partnership with Durden & Ray

 

Blooming in the Whirlwind is an experimental poetry + film + installation collaboration inspired by Gwendolyn Brooks, created and produced by Level Ground, and presented in partnership with Durden and Ray.

In August 2020, Level Ground invited poets to submit an original poem about 'blooming in the whirlwind' of the turbulent year and we selected nine poems for the project. Each poem was then paired with a filmmaker to collaborate on an original film that premiered online in Oct 2020.

After we released the project, Durden & Ray approached Level Ground to evolve and expand the project into a new collaboration that was installed at Durden & Ray from Nov 13 to Dec 5, 2021. The entire project includes 29 artists.

For the Aliveness of Living / The Thump Thump Thump of This Heart
Simone Tetrault, Alex Smith, & Andrew Neel, Ismael De Anda III

Girl in Isolation
Jireh Deng, Anthony D. Frederick, Dani Dodge

Holding On
Noor Jamal, Andrew Vasquez, Arezoo Bharthania

One Such Experience
Daniel Binkoski, Rich Johnson, Kiyomi Fukui

post cyclone
Madeleine St John, Labkhand Olfatmanesh, Tina Linville

Steadfast
Karly Kuntz, Taree Vargas, Flora Kao

stopped
DeiSelah, Leila Jarman, Ricardo Harris Fuentes

There is No Such Thing As Bloom
Christina Brown, Meredith Adelaide, Sean Noyce

Untitled: In Response to Emergent Strategy / Ricki.
Tamisha Tyler, Ilgin G Korugan, Reed Van Brunschot

Explore the Collaborations

Each of the following 9 collaborations consists of an original poem that inspired a short film that inspired an installation piece. Plus check out short Q&A’s between the poet and filmmaker(s).

For the Aliveness of Living / The Thump Thump Thump of This Heart

POEM BY: SIMONE TETRAULT
FILM BY: ALEX SMITH, ANDREW NEEL
Installation by: Ismael De Anda III

Girl in Isolation

POEM BY: JIREH DENG
FILM BY: ANTHONY D. FREDERICK
INSTALLATION BY: Dani Dodge

Holding On

POEM BY: NOOR JAMAL
FILM BY: ANDREW VASQUEZ
INSTALLATION BY: Arezoo Bharthania

One Such Experience

POEM BY: DANIEL BINKOSKI
FILM BY: RICH JOHNSON
INSTALLATION BY: Kiyomi Fukui

post cyclone

POEM BY: MADELEINE ST JOHN
FILM BY: LABKHAND OLFATMANESH
INSTALLATION BY: Tina Linville

Steadfast

POEM BY: KARLY KUNTZ
FILM BY: TAREE VARGAS
INSTALLATION BY: Flora Kao

stopped

POEM BY: DEISELAH
FILM BY: LEILA JARMAN
INSTALLATION BY: Ricardo Harris Fuentes


There is No Such Thing As Bloom

POEM BY: CHRISTINA BROWN
FILM BY: MEREDITH ADELAIDE
INSTALLATION BY: Sean Noyce

Untitled: In Response to Emergent Strategy / Ricki.

POEM BY: TAMISHA TYLER
FILM BY: ILGIN G KORUGAN
INSTALLATION BY: Reed Van Brunschot

Meet the Artists

Featuring 28 artists working on 9 different poem + film + installation collaborations, Blooming in the Whirlwind explores the pandemic in a unique and moving way through three different forms of art created at three different points of time. Special thanks to Andy Motz and Theo DeMarco – this project would not have been possible without you!

If you appreciated this project and want to support more experiments in empathy, consider making a donation to Level Ground via Venmo @levelground-co or by becoming a Level Ground Member.

Alex Smith • Filmmaker

Arezoo Bharthania • Installation Artist
Arezoo is an interdisciplinary artist. She has an MFA/MA in art. She has been showing her works internationally; Archive Machines, LAMAG/ QIPO Fair 2, Mexico City/Brand45, curated by Leslie Jones/ Installation along with Lara Salmon’s performance curated by HK Zamani/ Best of Worlds, curated by Kio Griffith, Japan, and more.

DeiSelah • Poet

Jireh Deng • Poet
Jireh is a queer Asian American journalist and poet based in Southern California. Their work appears in the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, the podcast VS, L.A. Taco, the Human Rights Campaign, and more. Summer 2021 they interned at the L.A. Times and interns at NPR this fall 2021.

Leila Jarman • Filmmaker
Leila is an Iranian-Brazilian-American filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist. Her work has been exhibited and screened in film festivals and galleries around the world including the TATE Britain, LACMA, MOCA and Ars Electronica. 

Reed Van Brunschot • Installation Artist
Reed employs sculpture, installation, and video to re-materialize everyday objects of the nostalgic or domestic into unfamiliar states of being. Coming from Peruvian and Dutch descent, she has a broad, multi-cultural understanding of visual language. Van Brunschot holds an MFA from USC and a BFA from the Rietveld Academy of Art in Amsterdam.

Simone Tetrault • Poet
Simone is a writer and director whose process is deeply rooted in care for the weight of the work, those who help make it, and those who receive it. Her plays include Vice, Through the Looking Glass, and Symphony of the Fourth Dimension. She is currently writing her first poetry collection.

Andrés Vázquez • Filmmaker
Andrés is a US Latiné filmmaker from Los Angeles. As the seventh son of Mexican immigrants and a descendant of the Bracero Program, Andrés’s filmmaking examines the relationship between work and identity, and the dialectical process of people making something out of what their situation is making of them.

Christina Brown • Poet
Christina is a writer and educator living in Long Beach, CA. She is the managing editor at Pear Shaped Press and cohost of The Bi Pod: A Queer Podcast. Her first full-length poetry collection will be available in 2022.

Flora Kao • Installation Artist
Examining architecture and technology, multimedia artist Flora Kao explores the poetics of human relationship with the environment. Kao has exhibited solo at Pasadena Museum of California Art, Commonwealth and Council, Gallery 825, Art Merge LAB, UC Irvine University Art Gallery, HAUS Gallery, and the LA Art Show.

Karly Kuntz • Poet
Karly is a poet, theatre maker, and artist based in sunny Santa Barbara, CA. She passionately uses these mediums to explore experience and relationships, diving into the nitty gritty of what it means to be in a state of being and never ending becoming. Her artistic endeavor is to invite others into conversation with abounding generosity and space to listen, learn, and grow.

Madeleine St. John • Poet
Madeleine is a globally based writer, fundraiser, and dance therapy practitioner. With communication as the axis of each practice, Madeleine draws inspiration from culture, nature, and the human experience in order to beget meaning and connection in artistic, philanthropic, and therapeutic contexts.

Ricardo Harris Fuentes • Installation Artist

Tamisha A. Tyler • Poet
Tamisha is a Los Angeles-based speaker and facilitator who hosts workshops and discussions around diversity, community and art. She is Executive Director of Art, Religion, and Culture (ARC), an educator, artist, and a PhD candidate currently writing a dissertation on the religious themes in the work of literary genius Octavia Butler. When not working, Tamisha enjoys good food, good friends, and good karaoke.

Andrew Neel • Filmmaker
Andrew is a literary manager at Required Reading Lit. With experience in film acquisitions, development, distribution, and sales, Andrew is a fierce advocate for independent storytellers. He has a M.A. in Theology & Film, and he is the former Director of Programming for Level Ground. 

Dani Dodge • Installation Artist

Ilgın G. Korugan • Filmmaker
Ilgin is a filmmaker and photographer from Istanbul currently based in Los Angeles. In 2020, they co-founded a queer film collective along with the producer of Ricki., Tammy Sanchez. With their work, they aim to draw attention to multicultural experiences and the ideas of belonging and community.

Kiyomi Fukui • Installation Artist
Born in the U.S., Kiyomi grew up in Japan as a daughter of a Zainichi-Korean father and a Japanese mother. Beyond print-based artwork, Kiyomi practices participatory performance and fiber arts. At the core of her practice is an attempt to capture transient intimacy, irrespective of media.

Meredith Adelaide • Filmmaker

Rich Johnson • Filmmaker
Rich is an Asian-American writer, filmmaker, and creative technologist with a passion for telling stories that explore what curiosities lie beneath the surface. Rich is the creative force behind projects including FOUR WALLS (2020) and Letters to the Universe (2020) and is the co-founder of Centrifuge Arts.

Taree Vargas • Filmmaker
Tamisha is a Visual Anthropologist and graduate student whose practice centers phenomenological impacts of structural violence. Positing that feelings are factual, her narratives explore non-linear life histories of embodiment using expressionistic filmic techniques to reveal invisible experiences. Past work has promoted social justice and community-led movements.

Anthony D. Frederick • Filmmaker
Anthony is a multidisciplinary storyteller with a primary focus in digital video and post-production. He currently works as Creative Director of Post-Production for the digital studio Watcher Entertainment. 

Daniel Binkoski • Poet
Daniel is a Los Angeles based poet. For Daniel, writing poetry has always been the primary method to understand experience and parse through internal emotions. Between any two people, there is invariably shared internal throughlines, so publicizing some of his own is an invitation to connection, resonance, and self knowledge.

Ismael de Anda III • Installation Artist
Using mutant practices, de Anda’s works are often site-specific, inspired by the communities in which they are created. He has exhibited his work internationally/locally, including Galleria Bruno Lisi, Rome, and Angels Gate Cultural Center. De Anda is co-curator for the 2021 SUR:biennial at the Torrance Art Museum.

Labkhand Manesh • Filmmaker
Labkhand is a photographer, documentary and experimental filmmaker whose work interrogates her identity as an Iranian and an immigrant in the U.S. while centering themes of feminism and social and cultural norms. Labkhand uses her work to create an invitation, and a platform to open up conversations.

Noor Jamal • Poet
Noor is a 24 yr old writer based on the east coast. With a background in healthcare, writing has always been her side passion and outlet for creativity. ‘Holding On’ was written during the 2020 pandemic as a reminder that change is inevitable- as we hold on, we will grow into who we are meant to be.

Sean Noyce • Installation Artist
Born and raised in Salt Lake City, UT, Noyce’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the globe, including Scope Art Show, Miami and New York; Supermarket Art Fair, Stockholm; SPRING/BREAK Art Show, LA. His gallery, Noysky Projects, has been featured in Artforum, Los Angeles Times, and Curate LA.

Tina Linville • Installation Artist
Tina received her BFA in Sculpture from the University of Washington and her MFA in Fibers from California State University,  Long Beach. Alongside her studio practice, Linville is the cofounder  and managing director of the artist-run space Four Fourteen. She lives and works in Marysville, California.