Mother | Goddess, Or, Việt Namaste: Queer Vietnamese Indigenous Shamanism
In collaboration with 500 Capp Street’s Shifting Possessions, join us for a spiritual drag show (of sorts): an elegantly bombastic remix of the traditional high-energy, high-stakes, centuries-old hầu bóng Mother Goddess ceremony, followed by a panel discussion with Headlands Bay Area Fellow Việt Lê; traditional lên đồng musicians musicians Anh-Tấn and Hồ Nga Cao (Hà Nội); dancers Jay Carlon (LA), Megan Lowe (East Bay), Johnny Huy Nguyễn (SF); and Janet Hoskins, Professor of Anthropology and Religion at University of Southern California. We’ll have special-secret-surprise world-renowned guests, dance, and music collaborators—our secret sauce. Putting the “trans” in “transcendence,” and making it rain (like in da club), this evening’s event will center queer ritual in Southeast Asia, its diasporas, and worlds beyond.
As part of this special evening—and speaking of secret sauciness—audiences will convene for a dinner in the Mess Hall featuring a menu conceived by Lê and Headlands Chef Damon Little.
A free shuttle from San Francisco to Headlands will be available by reservation. The shuttle will depart from 500 Capp Street at 4PM, and will return to 500 Capp Street following the conclusion of the event at 8PM. This shuttle is intended to serve those without access to individual transportation.
This evening is co-presented by Headlands Center for the Arts as a part of 500 Capp Street’s Shifting Possessions salon series and trầnsfiguration, an exhibition curated by Việt Lê at / (Slash). Shifting Possessions is a salon series that features dialogues and programming on queer(y)ing object collections, remediation strategies, geopolitical connections, historical trauma, and healing. 500 Capp Street’s Shifting Possessions salon series is made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, with additional support from Teiger Foundation.
For accessibility questions or requests please contact info@headlands.org.
Photo by Aaron Wojack.
