Scenes from the Buoy R+R, a Post-Feminist Art Retreat and Residency

Viva Soudan and Bailey Nolan, aka the movement-oriented artist team Buoy, caught our attention this spring with their announcement that they were accepting applications for a residency and retreat at an 11-acre property in Deep River, Connecticut, catering chiefly to post-feminist performance art duos.

At the Buoy R+R, which took place from July 6th to 12th and was co-directed by Wesley Flash and fluct's Monica Mirabile, participants were invited to use their bodies to develop site-specific performance pieces inspired by the land itself and conceptual prompts (e.g. manipulation, nurture, anxiety, joy, danger) provided by Buoy. On the final day, they invited the public to witness their creations in a “gallery” walk, which was part guided, part choose-your-own-adventure style.

Transported via a magical blue, Buoy-chartered converted school bus from Bushwick, we were lucky enough to be a part of the audience at the culminating event, which was also attended by Deep River locals. Below, check out some of our favorite moments from this unique exercise in creative collaboration.

Alexandra Marzella, Claire Christerson and India Menuez performing as the Buoy R+R’s only trio

On the bus, which ran from the Junxion gallery in Bushwick

Scenes from the bus en route to Deep River

Scenes from the bus en route to Deep River

Buoy greeting the arriving audience

Even the Buoy port-o-potty is uplifting and magical

Claire Christerson, leading the audience

Ella Robin Rosenberg and Angela Whitehead, invoking a waterfall

India Menuez, guiding the audience

Alexandra Marzella, India Menuez, Claire Christerson

Go! Push Pops - a queer, transnational, feminist radical art collective run by Elisa Garcia De La Huerta and Katie Cercone

Viva and Bailey beckon

Go! Push Pops

Alexandra Marzella and Claire Christerson

Katie Cercone

Ellen Robin Rosenberg and Angela Whitehead

The participants

Admiral Gray and Katie Harrington

India Menuez, Claire Christerson and Alexandra Marzella coax the audience through an s+m-tinged limbo moment

Roxanne Crocker and Kiera Jaffin made food for the week

Buoy’s version of a campfire

Following the performances, Buoy led an artist talk and q+a during dinner

The bus was an adventure in its own right, especially when it broke down in a rest stop parking lot. Here, passengers kill time with some 2am stretches before ultimately finding alternate modes of transport back to Brooklyn.