Ooooooooh Wheeeeeee! To be a pig in a tree… [THE ONE THAT GREW EMOTIONS AND DIED]

mika Castañeda MFA Thesis Exhibition

June 9 - June 16, 2023
and by appointment: m1castan@ucsd.edu

Opening Reception: June 9, 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.

with 6:00 p.m. performance "quieting down" by Alejandrina M. Medina and jun!yi Min

Closing Reception: June 16, 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.

with 7:00 p.m. play "SUCK OFF!" by beck haberstroh, María Antonia Eguiarte, and mika Castañeda; music by Victor Castañeda H; acting by Ian Guzman and Esha Kamra

Performance Space, Visual Arts Facility, UC San Diego

Reception RSVP

Spanning dive bars, drag shows, trashcans, and AA meetings. Ooooooooh wheeeeeee! To be a pig in a tree… [THE ONE THAT GREW EMOTIONS AND DIED] asks us to reflect on the ways we create and maintain our histories, problematizing many questions around the autonomous/collective observing/preserving of love and community. Departing from varied pasts, presents, and our constantly becoming futures, Ooooooooh wheeeeeee! To be a pig in a tree… [THE ONE THAT GREW EMOTIONS AND DIED] stands both as a testament to fringe acts of mutual gazing and, as a venue within a venue, provides a delicate framework that identifies our togetherness, anticipation, and fantasy as critical tools for the potential development of a more felt and held future.

As a proudly found and fabricated social sculpture and queer archive Ooooooooh wheeeeeee! To be a pig in a tree… [THE ONE THAT GREW EMOTIONS AND DIED], brings together an intimate collection of time, objects, and collaborative projects by Alejandrina M. Medina, jun!yi Min, beck haberstroh, and mika Castañeda, sincerely establishing a record that seeks to cultivate a deep sense of community embedded with affirmations towards one’s sacredness and capacity for transcendence.

*Also all this just to say that I’m really hopeful and I love you, and I’m sorry that I over sentimentalize your chewed up straws or that thing you dropped the other day.

-mika