Levani (aka Levan Mindiashvili)

Celebrating the political, embodied sanctuary of the queer, underground dance floor, Levani’s 127.1 bpm (for my dancing peers) is a palm-leaf ornamented gate installation activated through dance. The artist considers how the pandemic emphasized the fragility of these spaces for marginalized communities and encountered new ways of gathering (including how “parks were the new clubs”). The sculpture’s title references a particularly danceable beat per minute, a speed located within a range considered “magic” by DJs. For Levani, sanctuary is not a destination. Rather they envision it as a double-sided threshold, or portal. Collaborating with the co-creative platform and “Rave Sustainability Project” Rave Scout Cookies, the artist hosts a live DJ’ed dance party Levani’s Room: ecdysis.

Original sound by Bryce Hackford
Producer, artist and DJ from New York working across a wide spectrum of styles, focussed on sensual intuition, improvisation, collage and deep listening. His most recent album “Safe (Exits)” is out now via label Spring Theory. brycehackford.bandcamp.com

About the Artist

Image by the artist.

Levani (aka Levan Mindiashvili) is a Georgian-born Brooklyn-based visual artist. They received their MFA from Buenos Aires National University of Arts (2010) and BFA from Tbilisi State Academy of Arts (2003). They have exhibited in such venues as East Slovak Gallery, Kosovo; EFA Project Space, NY; ShauFenster, Berlin; BRIC, Brooklyn; National Museum of China, Beijing; Georgian National Museum; Marisa Newman Projects, NY; NARS Foundation, Brooklyn; Silk Museum, Tbilisi, Tartu Art Museum, Estonia and more. They are a recipient of the City Artists Corp Grant, Peter S Reed Foundation Grant, NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program fellowship, Creative Time X Summit Grant, AIM Fellowship of the Bronx Museum of the Arts, NARS Foundation Studio Residency and the National Endowments for the Arts. Their work has been reviewed in publications such as Frieze, Art in America, HYPERALLERGIC, The Art Newspaper, ArtAsia Pacific, PIN-UP Magazine, Huffington Post, OSMOS, and more.

Website: levanm.com

Instagram: @levanmindi

Audio Guide

Click below to listen to the artist speak about their work.

Audio transcript available upon request.