Becoming a Body of Water: A Hydrofeminism Lounge

A special late-night activation to close out PST ART's Open House, organized by Salome Asega, Director of the art, technology, and science incubator NEW INC, will close out the evening. Becoming a Body of Water: A Hydrofeminism Lounge, hosted by artist and designer Mindy Seu and chef and culinary alchemist Angel Dimayuga, will feature a curated selection of bites and beverages that complement music and conversation at the intersection of ecofeminism, marine biology, and mermaid lore. Special guests include pro surfer Sharon Shaffer; musician Arima Ederra; environmental activist Leah Thomas; and artist and filmmaker Alima Lee.
(21+; Limited Capacity)

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Bios:

Salome Asega is the Director of NEW INC, the New Museum’s cultural incubator for creative practitioners working across art, design, and technology. Asega is also an artist, researcher, and educator working between participatory design and emerging technologies. Prior to joining NEW INC in 2021, Asega was the inaugural New Media Art Research Fellow for Creativity and Free Expression at the Ford Foundation, where she supported artists and organizations in the new media arts ecosystem. She is also a cofounder of POWRPLNT, a digital art collaboratory based in Brooklyn that offers free and sliding-scale workshops run by established media artists. Since 2015, Asega has been teaching studio and design methodology courses in the MFA Design and Technology program at Parsons School of Design.

Mindy Seu is a designer and technologist based in New York City and Los Angeles, currently teaching as an Associate Professor at University of California, Los Angeles in the Department of Design Media Arts. Her expanded practice involves archival projects, techno-critical writing, performative lectures, and design commissions. Mindy’s ongoing Cyberfeminism Index, which gathers three decades of online activism and net art, was commissioned by Rhizome, presented at the New Museum, and awarded a Graham Foundation Grant. She is currently developing the lecture performance A Sexual History of the Internet, set to tour in Fall 2025.

Angel Dimayuga (they/she) is a New York City based chef, cultural producer and transdisciplinary artist. They are the co-author of Filipinx: Heritage Recipes from the Diaspora, an anthropologic, memoire-manifesto and design driven cookbook. As a humanities degree graduate, Angel often works in the ephemeral and impermanent for emergent social praxis, engaging and producing experiences sometimes with food, other artists, advocating community care, and often via nightlife celebrating queer, trans BIPOC communities. As a James Beard finalist, they were formerly the Creative Director of Food and Culture of The Standard Hotels international and executive chef of Mission Chinese New York. They are currently a mentor-in-residence for The New Museum of Contemporary Arts' Creative Science cohort, and worked as curator for “Microbial Lores” in The Compendium, an archive for Serpentine Gallery's Synthetic Ecologies Research Lab. 

Sharon Schaffer was born and raised in Los Angeles, California with strong family roots to Louisiana. She now resides at the beach in Playa Del Rey, California, enjoying her reign at her local surf break, Gillis Jetty. Schaffer’s 40-year career in entertainment includes acting, producing, professional surfing, writing, teaching, stunt work, and singing as well as various volunteer works, bringing healing through Ocean Therapy, animal rescue and political activism. She is the first Black female surfer to compete on the professional ASP/WQS tour and was featured in the How We Roll exhibit at the CALIFORNIAN AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM in 2011, highlighting cultural influences in surfing, skateboarding & roller skating. 

Arima Ederra. Waking up feels good. You should stretch when you wake— your voice, your hands, your knees. You wake up, you give thanks, you go for a walk around the block and give thanks again. If it's early, it's just you and the trees and the songs will come visit you either way. The melody might come dressed like lightning bugs. It might swing down from the crest of a hill and brush over you like wind. When it does come, be ready to grab it fast. 
Las Vegas raised with a rebel's heart, Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, and visual artist Arima Ederra has been catching songs like fireflies since she was five years old.

Leah Thomas is a celebrated environmentalist based in Los Angeles, CA. Coining the term ‘eco-communicator’ to describe her style of environmental activism, Leah uses her passion for writing and creativity to explore and advocate for the critical yet often overlooked relationship between social justice and environmentalism. Leah founded and launched the non-profit Intersectional Environmentalist, a platform and resource hub that aims to advocate for environmental justice, provide educational resources surrounding intersectional environmentalism, and promote inclusivity and accessibility within environmental education and movements in 2020 - which has since become a leading resource for diverse and accessible climate education.

Alima Lee is an anti-disciplinary artist from New York City and is currently based between LA, NYC and the Hudson Valley. Their work is an ongoing experiment in producing physical evidence from the residue of existence. They currently a Bard MFA candidate in the Moving Image discipline. As a DJ, they have toured clubs, museum galas, and venues globally while hosting monthly NTS show Rave Reparations. Their video and installation work has been presented at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery Los Angeles, Tate Modern, MOCA, Smithsonian African American Museum, Gavin Brown's Enterprise, and ICA Boston among other global entities.