Rooted in a fascination with states of impending collapse, both literal and metaphoric, Voyage Into Infinity captivates viewers through an inventive collision of reclaimed, everyday items with the spectacle that has defined much of Narcissister’s two-decade practice. The performance pays homage to Peter Fischli and David Weiss’s canonical video The Way Things Go (1987), in which the duo created and documented an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine. In contrast to the inspirational work’s unseen male creators, Narcissister’s rendition will foreground the artist and other female-appearing performers as both drivers of the action and subjects of the crowd’s fascination. Borrowing its title from a song by the hardcore band Bad Brains and featuring a live score performed by musician Holland Andrews, Voyage Into Infinity channels raw energy and a punk aesthetic. Through this work, which will exist as a video of its own right, the artist offers a contemporary, feminist revisioning of The Way Things Go. As in all of her projects, the emblematic Narcissister mask—originally repurposed from a 1960s-era wig display form—provides eerie commentary on entrenched beauty standards, the objectification of women, and the malleability of race.  

Note: This performance contains nudity and erotic gestures that may not be appropriate for children.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Narcissister is a Brooklyn-based artist and performer. Masked and merkin-ed, she works at the intersection of dance, art, and activism in a range of media including live performance, film, video, collage, and sculpture. She presents work worldwide at festivals, nightclubs, museums, and galleries. She won “Best Use of a Sex Toy” at Good Vibrations Erotic Film Festival, a Bessie nomination for the theatrical performance Organ Player, and Creative Capital and United States Artists Awards. Her first feature film Narcissister Organ Player premiered at Sundance 2018. Her activist short film Narcissister Breast Work premiered at Sundance 2020 and won a Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary Short at Outfest 2021. Voyage Into Infinity, a Pioneer Works commission, had its world premiere in 2024. Narcissister is a 2025 recipient of a Sir Peter Shaffer Charitable Foundation commission to develop a new theatrical piece at Playwrights Horizons. 

CREDITS

FUNDING + SUPPORT

NYU Skirball’s programs are made possible in part with support from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and the Howard Gilman Foundation; Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels; Culture Ireland; General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA; Goethe Institut New York with support from the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany; The Shubert Foundation; Collins Building Services; Norwegian Consulate General in New York; Harkness Foundation for Dance; Marta Heflin Foundation; and New England Foundation for the Arts; as well as our valued donors through memberships, commissioning, and Allies for Arts Access Fund support.

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