Narcissister is a Brooklyn-based artist and performer. Wearing mask and merkin, she works at the intersection of performance, dance, art, and activism in a range of media including film, video art, and experimental music. She actively integrates her prior experience as a professional dancer and commercial artist with her art practice in a range of media including photography, video art, and experimental music. She has presented work worldwide at festivals, nightclubs, museums, and galleries. Her art video “Vaseline” won “Best Use of a Sex Toy” at The Good Vibrations Erotic Film Festival. She received a Bessie Award nomination for the theatrical performance of “Organ Player” and 2015 Creative Capital and United States Artists Awards. Interested in troubling the popular entertainment and experimental art divide, she appeared on America’s Got Talent. Her first feature film “Narcissister Organ Player” premiered at Sundance and SXSW in 2018. In collaboration with playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, she is a Sundance Theatre Lab 2018 Fellow for the development of a new evening length performance commissioned by the Soho Rep in New York that will premiere in 2019.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. New York. 1993-4. Scholarship for the study of modern dance.
Brown University. Providence, RI. May 1993. B.A. in Afro-American Studies.
University of California, San Diego. Spring 1992. Studied with artist Faith Ringgold.
La Sorbonne, Paris III. Paris, France. Fall 1992. Coursework in French-African literature.
Parsons School of Design. Los Angeles, CA. Summer 1987, 1988. Fashion Design/Illustration Program.
Narcissister performance at Milton Art Bank, PA, Oct 2018
Narcissister Performance at Q City Cinema and Performatorium, Regina Canada, Sept 2018
The Body is A House, Narcissister performance as part of Performa 2017, Participant Inc, New York, Nov 2017
Narcissister Performance as part of Make Me Up Before We Blow Blow Festival, Belgium, Sept 2017
Narcissister Performance as part of House of Realness, Wiener Festwochen, Vienna, May 2017
Atlas of a Female Body, Narcissister Performance, Yvonne Lambert Gallery, Berlin, April 2017
Narcissister Performance. Howl Gallery, Movement Research Festival, New York June 2017
Narcissister performance, as part of Movement Research Festival, June 2017.
Narcissister performance, as part of Chicago International Puppet Festival, Jan 2017.
Narcissister performance, as part of LA ART WEEK, Jan 2017.
Narcissister performance, as part of Platform 2016: Lost & Found, Dancespace Project, NY, Nov 2016.
Narcissister performance, Andy Warhol Museum, Nov 2016.
Narcissister performance, as part of “Coming to Power, 25 Years of Explicit Art by Women” Maccarone Gallery, NY, Oct 2016.
Narcissister performance,Pica’s TBA Festival,Portland, Sep 2016.
Narcissister performance as part of Out of Line, The Highline, New York, Jul 2016.
Narcissister performance at The Broad, LA, June & Sep 2016.
Narcissister performance at Fusebox Festival, Austin, Apr 2016.
Narcissister performance as part of "Live Art Live" organised by Amelia Jones, University Southern California, Jan 2016.
Narcissister performance at Untitled, organised by Participant Inc, ArtBasel Miami, Dec 2015.
Narcissister performance, San Francisco Art Institute, Oct 2015.
Narcissister performance as part of "Just Like A Woman", Abrons Arts Center, Oct 2015 and London, England, Nov 2015.
Narcissister performance as part of Outsider Festival, Austin, Feb 2015.
Narcissister performance as part of "Check Your Vernacular" tour, The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, Nov 2014.
Narcissister performance as part of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Originale, The KItchen, New York, Nov 2014.
Narcissister performance as part of Fierce Live Art Festival, Birmingham, England, Oct 2014.
Narcissister performance and workshop as part of "Dirty Looks," Pleasure Dome, Toronto, June 2014.
Narcissister performance at Night Gallery, Los Angeles, May 2014.
Narcissister performance as part of The Whitney Houston Biennial, New York, 2014.
Narcissister performances as part of "Six Impossible Things," The Getty, Los Angeles, 2013.
"Organ Player," evening-length Narcissister performance, Abrons Art Center, New York, March 2013.
"Narcissister, A Body of Work," survey of video and performance work, The Spectrum, NY, 2013
Narcissister performance as part of "Fore," Studio Museum in Harlem, Dec 2012.
Narcissister presentation as part of "Self-Gratifiers: Feminist Appropriations in the Performances of Narcissister and Ann Liv Young," PSi Conference, University of Leeds, England, June 2012.
Narcissister performance as part of "Camp/Anti-Camp" Performance Festival,Berlin, Germany, April 2012.
Narcissister performance as part of "Speak and Spell," curated by Spike Art Quarterly for Vienna Art Week, Nov 2011.
Narcissister performance as part of "Bodies of Babel" Performance Festival, Hamburg, Sept 2011.
"Edgy" Performance Festival, debut of solo Narcissister performance, Montreal, March 2011.
"This Masquerade," reworked version of evening-length Narcissister performance, Abrons Art Center, New York, Feb 2011.
“This Masquerade”, debut of evening-length Narcissister performance, The Kitchen, NY, May 2010.
“The Artist is Present,” Re-performer of “Luminosity,” Marina Abramovic retrospective at Museum of Modern Art, NY, Spring 2010.
Narcissister performance as part of Warehouse 9 InternationalPerformance Art Festival, Copenhagen Denmark, Oct 2009.
Narcissister performance as part of “Girl Monster,” curated by Chicks on Speed during City of Women Festival, Ljubljana, Slovania, Oct 2009.
“All Made Up,” Narcissister and Fauxnique, The New Museum, New York, May 2009.
“Mali Nocni Commentar,” solo Narcissister performance, Zagreb Music Biennale, Zagreb, Croatia, May 2009.
Narcissister performance as part of “Tingle Tangle Cabaret,” Deitch Projects, New York, 2009.
"The Villetta" performance, The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz, 2007.
Performer in Marina Rosenfeld's "The Emotional Orchestra," Deitch Projects, New York, 2003.
Solo performer of Jean Pierre Khazem's "Mona Lisa Live," Deitch Projects. New York, 2003.
Professional Dancer in the U.S. and abroad. 1993-98.
Performances included the German tour of the rock opera “Tabaluga and Lilli,” “Memoria” with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, and industrial work for Mercedes Benz.
Sundance Film Festival (World Premiere), Utah, Jan 2018
SXSW Film Festival, Austin, TX, Feb 2018
Minneapolis Internation Film Festival, April 2018
Las Vegas Film Festival, June 2018
Frameline Festival, San Francisco, June 2018
Marfa Film Festival, July 2018
Outfest, Los Angeles, July 2018
Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland, Aug 2018
Revelation Perth International Film Festival, Australia, Sept 2018
Jewish International Film Festival, Australia, Oct 2018
Film Forum (Official release of film), New York, Nov 2018
“Narcissister, Studies for Participatory Sculptures,” Participant Inc., New York, April 2018
Narcissister: New Video Work, Petrella's Imports, NY, 2014
"Narcissister is You,” Envoy Enterprises, New York, 2013
“ANTI,” Athens Bienniale 6, Greece, Oct 2018
“(Title TBD)” Bodega Gallery, New York, Sept 2018
“Sculpture for People,” Deitch Projects, New York, May 2018
“Cosí fan tutte”, Archivio di Videoarte del Veneto, Verona Italy, Oct 2016
“Grace Jones Project,” Museum African Diaspora, SF, April 2016
“This one is smaller than this one,” Postmasters Gallery, NY, Jan 2016 and at Galerist, Istanbul Turkey, May 2016
"Art:Work", Reverse Space, New York, 2015.
"TRABALHA-DORES DO CU", Maus Habitos, Portugal, 2015.
"Harlem Postcards", The Studio Museum in Harlem, 2015.
"Irregular Rendition," (in conjunction with “The Legal Medium: New Encounters of Art and Law” at Yale University), Fred Giampietro Gallery, New Haven, February 2015.
"Check Your Vernacular," Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, 2014.
"Auto Body" ArtBasel Miami 2014 and Faena Art Center Buenos Aires 2015
"Rockaway!" art festival, curated by Klaus Biesenbach, New York, 2014.
Narcissister video screening as part of MoWave Festival, Seattle, April 2014 (forthcoming) Narcissister: New Video Work, a screening at Petrella's Imports, 2014.
"Draped Down," Studio Museum in Harlem, 2014.
"Naked Office," as part of AREA, The Hole, New York, 2013.
"FORE," Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, 2013.
"Narcissister is You," (solo exhibition), Envoy Enterprises, New York, 2013.
"Narcissister, A Body of Work," survey of Narcissister video work, The Spectrum, New York, 2013.
"Goddess Clap Back: Hip Hop Feminism in Art," Cue Art Foundation, New York, 2013.
"With Food In Mind," Center for Book Arts, 2011.
"Duck and Decorated Shed," NutureArt, New York, 2010.
"Siren," Anna Kustera Gallery, New York, 2010.
MIV 1V,Center for Photography at Woodstock, 2008.
Manifestations of the Feminine Mystique, Center for Photography at Woodstock, 2008.
Interpreting Utopia, The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz, 2007.
Racing Pages, National Museum of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered History, New York, 2006.
Soho Rep Commission for Narcissister Theatrical Piece (with playwright Branden Jacobs Jenkins), New York 2019
The Sundance Theatre Lab (with Branden Jacobs Jenkins), Morocco, Spring 2018
The Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program, New York, 2017-18
The AZ Encampment, Joshua Tree, April 2016
The Sundance Theatre Lab (with collaborator Branden Jacobs Jenkins), Morocco, Spring 2018
The Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program, New York, 2017-18
Marie Walter Sharpe Studio Program, 2017-18.
Artist in Residence, Yaddo, Aug 2017.
United States Artists Award, 2015
MacDowell Residency, September 2015.
Theo Westenberger Grantee, 2015
Recipient of Creative Capital Award, 2015.
Artist in Residence, Yaddo, July-Aug 2014.
Quickies Erotic Film Festival, Audience Choice Award for “Vaseline,” 2013.
Bessie Award Nomination for "Organ Player," in the category "Outstanding production of a work stretching the boundaries of a traditional form", 2013.
Debut of "winter/spring collection," video collaboration with A.L. Steiner on MocaTv, 2013
Recipient of Jerome Foundation grant to develop new evening-length piece at Abrons Art Center, New York, 2012.
Selected participant in PLATFORM 2012:Judson Now, lead by Trajal Harrell.
Backstage Magazine “Bistro Award for Outstanding Performance," April 2009.
Artist in Residence, Art in General & HDLU Croatian Association of Artists, Spring 2009, Zagreb, Croatia.
Good Vibrations Erotic Film Festival “Best Use of a Sex Toy” award for Narcissister’s video “The Self-Gratifier,” 2008.
Artist in Residence, The Center for Photography in Woodstock, New York, July 2006.
Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, Studio Program, New York, 2004-5.
Workspace Grant for Emerging Artists, Center for Book Arts, New York, 2004.
“La Narcissister dont vous avez toujours reve” Tracks, Arte TV France, June 2018
“Self-Ownership, Skeletons,& the Benefits of Lonliness: A Conversation with Performance Artist Narcissister,” Flaunt, June 2018
Holland Cotter’s Spring Gallery Guide, “10 Galleries to Visit Now on the Lower East Side,” New York Times, April 2018
“Narcissister on Narcissister,” Screen Anarchy, March 2018
“An Erotic Avant Porn Artist Bares Her Body and Soul,” The Daily Beast, March 2018
“Women Artists in Conversation: Narcissister,” OUPblog, March 2018
“What Best Movies Sundance 2018 Have in Common,” The Week Jan 2018
“Artists for Gender Equality,” Artsy Short film, Dec 2017
“Performa 17: Absurd Times, Absurd Acts,” New York Times, Nov 2017
“Narcissister Starts a Pussy Riot at Performa,” Vice Magazine, Nov 2017
“Masked and Unafraid: Narcissister On the Naked Choreography of Performance,” Vice Magazine, June 2016
“Public Pubic: Narcissister’s Performance of Race, Disavowal, and Aspiration,” TDR:The Drama Review, Winter 2015
Just Like A Woman: Sacred at Chelsea Theatre, Total Theatre, November 2015
Cycles, Cogs andJobs Well Done, Brooklyn Magazine, October 2015
The Nonsense of Identity, Hysteria, August 2015
Highlights from the Creative Capital Retreat, ArtFCity, August 2015
Narcissister Is The Topless Feminist Superhero New York Needs, Huffington Post, June 2014.
Narcissister Explores Topless Rights in Video Installation, Metro, June 2014.
DOCUMENT NO.76—NARCISSISTER, IN CONVERSATION WITH PEACHES, Spring 2014.
"How Many Licks, Narcissister Unweaves the Basket", Dirty Looks, Feb 2014.
"Fabricated Identities: Megan Steinman Considers Narcissister and Brian Getnick", Another Righteous Transfer, 2013.
Adrienne Walser Reviews Winter/Spring Collection, a collaborative video work by Narcissister and A.L. Steiner, Another Righteous Transfer, 2013.
"Camp Narcissister at Dirty Looks: On Location", Filthy Dreams, July 2013.
"Love Thyself: Performance Artist Narcissister Champions Self-Love", Paper Magazine, March 2013.
"The Mannequin Also Speaks", The New York Times, Jan 2013.
"Performance Artist Narcissister Turns Self Love Into A Political Act At Envoy Enterprises", The Huffington Post, Jan 2013.
"Is it Art, or Avant Porn?", Jewish Daily Forward, Jan 2013.
"Narcissister’s Art Hates You (But Loves Narcissister)", Hyperallergic, Feb 2013.
DANCING SOCIAL, Ariel Osterweis and Barbara Browning consider the multiple publics at play in the work of artist-performer Narcissister," Theatre Survey, Aug 2012.
Narcissister interview, Bad at Sports Contempory Art Talk, Aug 2012.
"Narcissister: an image that changes itself, an almost inhuman being, always behind a mask, an organ-less body", Spike Art Quarterly, Fall 2010.
"NARCISSISTER: KITSCHY GLIMPSES AND THE DISAVOWAL OF VIRTUOSITY", Dream Y Belly, 2012.
"Manuel:Sex, Narcissister :This Masquerade", Texte Zur Kunst, April 2011.
Review of group 4 woman group exhibition, Siren, Anna Kustera Gallery, Art Hag, July 2010.
Siren selected for "Critics' picks," Time Out New York, July 2010