La Pocha Nostra's Other Art World opens Sept 12 at Saint Joseph's Arts Society
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Monday, September 1, 2025


La Pocha Nostra's Other Art World opens Sept 12 at Saint Joseph's Arts Society
Louis Malle shoots GP for "In the Pursuit of Happiness", San Diego/Tijuana, 1986.



SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- This fall, Saint Joseph’s Arts Foundation presents The Other Art World, a bold and expansive exhibition chronicling over four decades of transgressive, transdisciplinary work by Gómez-Peña and his legendary performance art troupe La Pocha Nostra.

Conceived by Founding Artistic Co-Director Guillermo Gómez-Peña and co-curated by Emma Tramposch and La Pocha Nostra with the Saint Joseph’s Arts Foundation, the exhibition brings together a sweeping constellation of photographic “performance-for-the-camera” works, films, sound art, velvet paintings, performabilia, and rare archival material that spans from the artist’s birth to the present day.

Founded in Los Angeles in 1993, La Pocha Nostra is known for its provocative explorations of borders—cultural, geographic, spiritual, and technological—and its creation of large-scale performance rituals rooted in radical pedagogy, ethno-techno aesthetics, and queer spectacle.

Over the decades, the troupe has pioneered and refined the genre of “photo-performance,” a format blending performance art and visual documentation, through carefully staged collaborations with renowned photographers including Antonio Turok, Manuel Vason, RJ Muna, Teresa Correa, Piero Viti, Sarah Stolar, and Herani Hachi, among others.

“This isn’t a retrospective in the traditional sense,” says Gómez-Peña.

“It’s a living archive, a poetic rebellion. We’re activating the sacred and the profane, inviting the audience to enter into a ritual of remembrance and reinvention.”

The exhibition unfolds across the historic interior of Saint Joseph’s Arts Society, with works thoughtfully placed throughout the space to guide viewers through a layered journey, inviting moments of encounter, reflection, and surprise as they navigate different facets of Gómez-Peña and La Pocha Nostra’s living archive. Featured works include large-scale photo-performances, salon-style image clusters, sound installations, intimate reading areas, and time-based media environments. These elements will be activated by live performances during the public opening and special events.

“This exhibition is both an archive and altar,” says Martin Strickland, Director of Saint Joseph’s Arts Foundation. “La Pocha Nostra’s work embodies a fearless commitment to the sacred, the queer, the decolonial. Their legacy is a call to imagine another art world, one rooted in collaboration, confrontation, and collective liberation.”

The exhibition extends La Pocha Nostra’s creative collaboration at Saint Joseph’s, building upon the multi-year partnership between the troupe and the Foundation, with the site serving as a sanctuary for radical performance.

To mark the occasion, Saint Joseph’s will host a dramatic opening celebration on Friday, September 12, from 7:00 to 10:00 PM, featuring appearances by La Pocha Nostra core members and collaborating artists, including a special partnership with this year's Flower Piano Festival musicians. The evening will include a special activation titled The History of Art in 15 Minutes, a roaming, multi-part performance staged throughout the exhibition space. A robust calendar of public programs—including artist salons, ceremonial activations, workshops, and talks—will unfold throughout the run of the exhibition.

As a former church turned nonprofit arts hub, Saint Joseph’s is proud to present The Other Art World during a time when art, identity, and politics are in deep negotiation. In partnership with one of the most influential performance collectives of our time, the Foundation continues its mission to offer sanctuary for radical imagination.










Today's News

September 1, 2025

A rare gold coin of Egyptian Queen Berenice II was uncovered in excavations conducted at the City of David

Final weeks to see modernist masterpieces from Berlin at the National Gallery

Royal treasures unveiled: Medals of Italy's last kings go under the hammer in Geneva

Lead weight inscribed with the name of an official in the Hellenistic administration recovered

Living better by design in NGV's Making Good: Redesigning the Everyday exhibition

Larry Bell 'Irresponsible Iridescence' to open at 101 Spring Street

Hauser & Wirth Basel unveils first Swiss exhibition of Symbolist master Eugène Carrière

Derek Eller Gallery announces a solo exhibition of new paintings by Jameson Green

assume vivid astro focus opens Friday at Tibor de Nagy Gallery

Exhibition of works by Ebecho Muslimova opens at Kunsthall Stavanger in Norway

Bortolami to host first New York gallery show of artist Xiyadie

Ruiz-Healy Art presents "Views from Mexico: A 20th-Century Panorama"

Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal presents 19th edition of the Biennale d'art contemporain

Paul Thiebaud Gallery announces John Santoro: Mud Time and the Sprites of Spring

Northwestern Qatar's Media Majlis Museum presents Memememememe

Jacco Olivier explores isolation and the human condition in new exhibition, Point Nemo

Philadelphia's 20/20 Photo Festival returns in September 2025

Jenny Jisun Kim: Verses on Oxherding opens September 5 at Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery

Mathieu Cherkit's new exhibition turns everyday life into art

Ayana Ross's solo exhibition Saving Our Sacred Selves opens at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia

Speed Art Museum presents documentary honoring the unseen labor behind the Kentucky Derby

Pedro Costa Innervisions 30th anniversary exhibition at Tokyo Photographic Art Museum

Claire Gavronsky & Rose Shakinovsky open exhibition at Goodman Gallery London

La Pocha Nostra's Other Art World opens Sept 12 at Saint Joseph's Arts Society




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 




Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)


Editor: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful