TECHNIQUES FOR ECSTASY
Techniques for Ecstasy: Alexandra Beaumont
MAY 4 - MAY 25
Dance floors are fertile ground for unbounded self-expression, cradled in the arms of community. They are sites of embodied resistance and reclamation. They can spark an empathy kindled from the recognition of joy in another. In dancing together we simultaneously discover and create shared understandings of our humanity and reinforce the ties of community. This is especially true and essential for marginalized communities. Techniques for Ecstasy celebrates the exuberance of dancing together and the revolutionary power held in - and between - our bodies.
In March 2023, Alexandra Beaumont hosted an evening of joy, togetherness, and sweaty sweaty boogie down at Public Functionary in Minneapolis, as a party titled “Dancing with Friends,” featuring local and international DJs, live video projection, and an installation of textile works. Dancers and revelers of the evening shared and shaped the space. The images and experience of that night are Beaumont's reference and inspiration for the artworks in her forthcoming solo exhibition.
Techniques for Ecstasy is an immersive textile exhibition that returns the resulting body of work to the site of reference. Multi-layered, hand stitched, embellished, textile collages depict participants of “Dancing with Friends” in their individuality and release.
On May 23rd, Beaumont will host a public discussion with academic and practicing scholars about dancing together. In celebration, in devotion, or in protest, something powerful happens when we move as a group. The symposium will seek to illuminate and examine our modern methods for this power generation, its sources, and the uses we choose to put it to.
About the Artist
A textile artist and dancer, Alexandra Beaumont, was born and raised in South Carolina to a Jamaican father and American mother, both working musicians. She attended the residential South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities throughout high school, focusing on dance and visual arts, and went on to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY where she studied fashion design. After working in New York City as a menswear designer, she returned to a fine arts practice, incorporating her love for fabrics and hand sewing.
Beaumont now lives in Minneapolis, MN, where she makes work centering themes of personal reconstruction, community, and celebratory display. Her first solo exhibition “Version” was presented at Ridgewater College in Minnesota in the fall of 2022. She is a 2022 recipient of the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council “Next Step Fund” grant, the 2023 Forecast Early Career Project grant, and the 2024 Minnesota State Arts Board Creative Individuals grant. She is a member of PF Studios in Minneapolis, MN.
Dancing with Friends Reference Collaborators: Photographer Drew Arrieta, filmmaker Ryan Stopera, DJ Just Nine (Kenichi Thomas), DJ Jacques (Jacques Elate Joss), and the Montreal-based Moonshine collective. The atmosphere was created by Mike Bishop, Booscapes and Nolan Morice.
This exhibition is supported by Forecast Public Arts through the Early Career Artist Project Grant.
Alexandra Beaumont is a fiscal year 2024 recipient of a Creative Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. (Arrive Together: Dance Symposium)
Public Functionary’s 2024 Exhibition Program is sponsored by BLNCD Naturals.