Gabrielle Civil, Black Weirdo School Psychic Defense Club
New York performance premiere
Curated by Shameekia Shantel Johnson
Friday, November 6, 7pm

On November 6, 2026, we will share Black Weirdo School Psychic Defense Club, the first iteration of our long-term collaboration with LA-based writer, performer, and artist, Gabrielle Civil, curated by writer and curator Shameekia Shantel Johnson. This iteration of Civil’s Black Weirdo School (2022-present) continues the artist’s way of activating performance to combat the psychological effects of racialized violence, particularly in relation art, education and art education. Part exorcism, part survival preparedness, and part pop up dance party, this solo performance is precursor to a major survey exhibition being organized for Spring 2027.

Black Weirdo School, is a decentralized network of performances, conversations, skill shares, community building & public offerings to remix ideas of race, art, and education. The first public mention of the project came in a conversation with Steffani Jemison in Critical Correspondence. In 2023, Black Weirdo School [Pop Up Critique] premiered at Automata Theater at LAPP's LAX Festival in Los Angeles. Later that year, Black Weirdo School (Lorde Remix) happened at the "Poetry is Not a Luxury" symposium at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Black Weirdo School (Pop Up Critique) was reprised at the Pacific Northwest College of the Arts in 2024. In February 2026, Black Weirdo School Poetry Club was featured in the Spare Change series at Crawl Space in LA. In July 2026, a preview iteration of Black Weirdo School Psychic Defense Club took place at RESILIENCE curated by LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) at LA Dance Project.

Black Weirdo School Psychic Defense Club is a fugitive extracurricular space inspired by / especially offered to fortify BIPOC folks studying/working/showing their creative work in predominantly white institutions. Incorporating storytelling, movement, and images and "psychic defense practice time," the performance may include collective reading, psychic shielding, socializing, motto making, small group work or other improvisations. Get ready. Stay ready.