Group of people sitting and clapping while watching a performance

Untitled: Artist Takeover

Featuring Franklin Cruz and Sammy Lee

Event Program

Performances & Experiences

Not-to-miss moments happening throughout the evening. *Some performances will occur twice.

6-6:30 pm, Grupo Tlaloc Danza Azteca (Martin Building, outside on Acoma Plaza)
Grupo Tlaloc Danza Azteca is a traditional Mexica/Azteca group embodied of Chicano/Mexicano families and students of all ages dedicated to preserving and nourishing the ancient knowledge of their ancestors. They have pledged to uphold and walk a spiritual way of life and have committed themselves to help educate the public’s view of the Aztec culture.

6:45 and 7:45 pm, Slam Nuba Altar Activations (Hamilton Building, levels 1 and 2)
Creating connections through spoken word performances that capture stories of power and truth with Slam Nuba. How often do we get to project a self-authored story that we feel accurately represents us? The value in being your own author is immense and creates diversity and authenticity. The 6:45 pm performance will be on level 1 and the 7:45 pm performance will be on level 2.

*7 and 7:30 pm, Offbeat Art Tour: Our Heart is the Land (Hamilton Building, level 1)
Aracely Navarro leads a tour to heal the heart and land in the exhibition, Speaking with Light: Contemporary Indigenous Photography.

*7 and 7:30 pm, Offbeat Art Tour: Dr. Doo's Magical Mystical Art Historical Seance and Tour (Hamilton Building, level 2, Near East to Far West exhibition)
Performance art and sketch comedy by Sueyeun Juliette Lee: As a Silk Road charlatan and quack, the campy character "Dr. Doo" lightheartedly holds a mirror up to centuries of orientalist exchanges to point to the absurdity and persistence of these cultural misrepresentations. Juliette will be in Orientalist drag and remain in character for the duration of the tour.

7:15 pm, Workin’ on Something (Hamilton Building, level 2)
Dance and storytelling performance about union through labor and camaraderie. Boog and TayTay bring to life the meaning of solidarity and show how to create space for connection even when our work life becomes overwhelming.

7:45 pm, Inside Look (Martin Building, level 1, Creative Hub)
Dance performance that interrupts the practice of ignoring each other and aims to reconnect us through the simplest means. Lisa Li, Vivian Kim, and Taylor Madgett utilize house techniques and modern dance to bring to life the connection that comes from slowing down and becoming aware.

8-8:20 pm, Sweet Tomorrows (Martin Building, level 2, Sturm Grand Pavilion)
What if things actually work out well for us? Engage with beings from a hopeful future as they transmit stories and messages through shadow puppetry. Performed by Shelsea Ochoa.

8:45 pm, Starting with Heart (Martin Building, level 2, Sturm Grand Pavilion)
Collaborative performance by Sammy Lee and Franklin Cruz. Experience percussive rhythms and movement, as Cruz and Lee show the trust that develops in creative collaboration. With live video projection, "A Pulse of Nature," by David Grajeda Gonzalez.

9 pm, Slam Nuba (Martin Building, level 2, Sturm Grand Pavilion)
Join Slam Nuba for amazing storytelling through spoken word. Enjoy powerful performances and poetic techniques that will surely present new ways of thinking and self-expression that won't disappoint.

9:15 pm, Cypher de Corazones (Martin Building, level 2, Sturm Grand Pavilion)
A dance cypher is a circle of folks freestyling and self-expressing to achieve release, find liberation, and to dream. Each dancer will capture their own release of stress and pressure in an improvised performance. Vivian Kim, Taylor Madgett, TayTay, Boog, Lisa Li, and Franklin Cruz will carry us through the performance. Live video projection by Kevin Sweet. Live, improvised video projection by Kevin Sweet will wash the dancers in color and abstract form.

Drop-In Experiences

Artmaking and other drop-in experiences available during the night.

6-8 pm, Dumpling Demo & Samples (Outisde on Acoma Plaza)
Learn about the tradition of dumplings with (She)f Penelope Wong of Yuan Wonton Food Truck and try a sample. Please note supplies are limited.

6:15-7:45 pm, Very Proper Table Settings (Martin Building, level 1, Creative Hub)
Sammy Lee invites visitors to arrange imaginary meals for a loved one using Korean dinnerware. Participants contemplate, learn, adapt, and expand traditional meaning by shifting the tableware's functionality from the Korean context to their own.

6-9:30 pm, Nuevo Antiguo or New Ancient (Martin Building, level 1, Creative Hub)
Get inspired by mask making and make your own mask with Victor Escobedo. A selection of Escobedo’s own indigenous ceramic masks will be on view for visitors to observe. Please note supplies are limited.

6-9:30 pm, Collage Creation (Martin Building, level 1, Creative Hub)
Explore sculptural collage with Katherine Flecksing. Choose and create images that reflect the perception and impact of stereotypes. Please note supplies are limited.

Art Installations

Temporarily installed artwork by Untitled creatives.

Moonlight on the Colorado by Sammy Lee (Martin Building, level 1, Creative Hub)
Since 2017, Sammy Lee has collected more than 120 table settings from various neighborhoods of the Denver area. This project invites participants to serve imagined meals for their loved ones using Korean dishes to create a paper-cast communal table. Lee arranged these meal casting in a lunar landscape, where it is familiar yet unfamiliar.

Video Projection Overlays:

  • Murmur and Resonance by Jaye Rhee. The video projects an inverted black and white moving image of an Asian female dancer’s movements. The dancer utilizes the floor as a prop for her movements as if gravity pulls her on the floor.
  • Steps and Wells by Kevin Sweet. Through mapped video projection, Sammy Lee's cast table settings are transformed into an architectural moonscape, populated with steps, trees, and the characters who play amongst them.

Baoli Table by Sammy Lee (Martin Building, level 1, Creative Hub)
Shaped like an inverted pyramid, a baoli is an Indian step well. People assemble at baolis to draw water or to cool down from the heat, but beyond pure utility, they also act as sites of the congregation. They hold countless encounters, stories, and legends like the endless stairs that cross their walls.

A baoli’s steps offer a breadth of possible seating arrangements: elderly folks recline, crouching children play, squatting housewives converse, and girls lean as they do laundry. Clusters emerge, and the community gathering spot takes on a range of functions, whether as a storefront, playground, parlor, or workplace.

  • Generational Soundscape by Mark Zoleta. The soundscape by Zoleta conveys the experiences and the relationship between the immigrant parent and the United States born child, as well as the external forces acting upon them.

Changing Station by Sammy Lee (Hamilton Building, level 2)
Changing Station is about a culture that looks at the space where intimacy meets mechanical systems of production - the infants’ changing station. The installation consists of infant clothes positioned as if amid a diaper change, frozen in white tissue, and lined up along a conveyor belt. By contrasting the ritual of daily care against the mechanized system of efficiency and capitalism, the artist draws the viewer’s attention to how efficiency and productivity impact the most intimate aspects of our lives.

Trancestor Veneration by Jenna Manchego (Hamilton Building, level 2)
An altar invoking creativity, rest, and resourceful states of being.

Future Memories by Jenna Manchego (Hamilton Building, level 1)
Altar honoring those who came before us, who illuminate our path with the light of their Spirit and Life’s Work, who remind us of the courage and fortitude it takes to live in our fullest expression. Respond to questions from the artist at this altar.

What is Untitled?

Untitled: Artist Takeover is a quarterly collaboration with local artists and creatives to create an evening full of events, performances, artmaking, and one-of-a-kind experiences. Throughout the night, artists showcase their work while providing a hands-on and engaging atmosphere.