"NAP Church: Exercises for Rebel Nappers"

Sunday, July 10, 1-3pm, at SKYDIVE ArtSpace as part of a Many Miny Residency.

"NAP Church: Exercises for Rebel Nappers" by Rev. Emily Sloan
Napping Affects Performance’s NAP Church will meet for a Sunday nap on July 10 from 1-3pm. In addition to napping, we will be discussing rebellious napping strategies. This B.Y.O.P. (Bring Your Own Pillow...and blanket, yoga mat, whatever suits you) event of “two or more gathered” to nap is open to all faiths!

Location:
SKYDIVE
2041 Norfolk Street,
Houston, TX 77098
info@theskydive.org

About the Many Mini Residency:
Many Mini Residency is a short-term residency program operated in conjunction with alternative exhibition venues in Europe and the United States. The name 'Many Mini' encompasses two main components of the project which is hosted in one room 24 hours a day for one week. The 'Many' describes the open call for proposals and the resulting multiplicity of responses and participants. The 'Mini' component of the residency describes the limited amount of time available and the scale of the room.

About SKYDIVE:
SKYDIVE is an artist run exhibition venue unique to Houston. Its mission is to broaden the spectrum of the dialogue in Houston by bringing in artists from outside of Texas. The aim of SKYDIVE is to host a range of art practices that push the limits of their material forms, including non-traditional methods of sculpture, installation, video, performance, and works that engage the viewer through participation, as well as text and web-based projects.

SKYDIVE utilizes an open and collaborative model for producing its programming. A group of artists, curators, and other professionals function as Advisors to help create shows, invite artists, and collaborate in the mission and programming of the space. Participants in SKYDIVE will be invited to Houston for a sustained number of days, previous to the exhibition to make their work, interact with the Houston community and see the sites in Houston and surrounding areas.

About Napping Affects Performance:
Napping Affects Performance (NAP) and NAP Church are interactive performance projects by 14 Pews artist-in-residence Emily Sloan providing community naps in collaboration with various performances, including (but not limited to) collaborations with sound, word, touch, and the delivery of naps to various sites and/or contexts. In May and June of 2010, NAP operated out of Art League Houston with six weeks of continuous performances taking place during Art League’s regular hours of operation. Since then, followers and napophiles began meeting once a month for a Sunday naps and naptisms during NAP Church services.

NAP Church meets monthly for Sunday naps.

NAP Church: Daylight Saving Time Travel

Houston, TX - Art League Houston is excited to announce NAP Church: Daylight Saving Time Travel, a collaborative art performance between Emily Sloan’s Napping Affects Performance and Patrick Turk’s Time Travel Research Institute Presents: in recognition of Daylight Saving Time, which begins March 13 at 2:00 a.m. The performance will take place in the main gallery on Sunday, March 13, 2011 from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Eye coverings, ear plugs, and a limited number of cots will be provided. Yoga mats and sleeping bags are also welcome. This event is free and open to the public and all faiths.

The Time Travel Research Institute Presents: and (NAP) have come together to create NAP Church: Daylight Saving Time Travel, an environment for visitors of the gallery to come and catch up on their lost hour of sleep. “The first day of Daylight Saving Time is the perfect time to take a nap at The Time Travel Research Institute,” said Emily Sloan, napping minister and naptician from Napping Affects Performance. “Patrick Turk’s light installation offers an organic and spiritual environment that is ideal for adjusting one’s physiological time clock.”

About Napping Affects Performance
Napping Affects Performance (NAP) is a performance and participation project by Emily Sloan providing community naps in collaboration with various performances, including (but not limited to) collaborations with sound, word, touch, and the delivery of naps to various sites and/or contexts.
In May and June of 2010, NAP operated out of Art League Houston with six weeks of continuous performances taking place during Art League’s regular hours of operation. NAP and NAP Church are organizing a Southern Naptist Convention to be held in Houston, June 12, 2011.

For more information or to book a naptism or mobile nap, please call 713-582-1198 or email: nappingaffectsperformance@gmail.com or visit: www.nappingaffectsperformance.blogspot.com

About The Time Travel Research Institute Presents:
Prepare to enter the surreal and extraordinary research laboratory of artist and quasi-scientist Patrick Turk, whose recent studies in quantum mechanics and atomic sciences have generated an interactive light installation that playfully explores the phenomenon of time travel through a series of sculptural works that combine three-dimensional collage with electronic mechanisms, LED technology and futuristic design.

About Patrick Turk
Patrick Turk is a self-trained Houston-based artist from Galveston, Texas. His works have been exhibited throughout Houston in galleries including Art Storm, Lawndale Art Center and Rudolph/Projects/Art Scan, as well as galleries in Galveston, Texas and Los Angeles, California. His works have been published several times in Mung Being Magazine and include high profile commissions for the 2009 Houston Art Car Parade Poster, as well as the Philokalia album cover by Golden Cities.

ABOUT ART LEAGUE HOUSTON
Art League Houston is one of Houston's longest operating non-profit visual arts organizations and was the first alternative art space in Texas. Founded in 1948 and incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1953, Art League Houston (ALH) was created to promote the public appreciation of and interest in the visual arts. During the past 62 years, ALH has provided over 785 exhibitions to the Houston community, showcased the work of nearly 12,000 artists, and instructed over 36,000 students through the Art League School and outreach programs.

NAP Church at Little Woodrow's, Sunday, January 23, 2011

For Immediate Release-- HOUSTON (January 19, 2011)—NAP Church, arranged by Napping Affects Performance and Emily Sloan to take place at Little Woodrow’s, 4235 Bellaire Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77025, on Sunday, January 23, 2011 from 1pm to 4pm. This event is in conjunction with artist June Woest’s RoadsignUSA project including a nearby billboard designed by artist Mari Omori inspired by “Napping Affects Performance.” The sign was unveiled on August 26, 2010 and will be removed shortly after Sunday’s service.

A prayer meditation tailored to each participant will be available for individuals throughout the period. "Drop-ins" are welcome anytime between 1 and 4pm. Eye coverings, ear plugs, and a limited number of cots will be provided. Yoga mats and sleeping bags are also welcome. This event is free and open to the public and all faiths.

“I am looking forward to sharing a time of uplifting napping at Little Woodrow’s Ice House, especially as it is playoff season” said Emily Sloan, napping minister and naptician from Napping Affects Performance. “This is the perfect time to put aside the burdens we daily carry around and just rest. It is also a great opportunity to share with people about the upcoming Southern Naptist Convention to be held in Houston on Sunday, March 13, 2011."



About Napping Affects Performance: Napping Affects Performance (NAP) is a performance and participation project providing community naps in collaboration with various performances, including (but not limited to) collaborations with sound, word, touch, and the delivery of naps to various sites and/or contexts. In May and June of 2010, Napping Affects Performance operated out of Art League Houston with 6 weeks of continuous performances taking place during Art League’s regular hours of operation. Collaborators with the project include: Mari Omori, Kisa Parker, Beth Secor, Julia Claire Wallace, June Woest, Ruby “Lips” Woodward, Art League Houston, El Rincon Social, the Heart of Texas in Nacogdoches, Lawndale Art Center during The BIG Show, Little Woodrow’s, NOTSUOH, and St. Rose College in Albany, New York.

For more information or to book a naptism or mobile nap, please call 713-582-1198 or email: nappingaffectsperformance@gmail.com or visit: www.nappingaffectsperformance.blogspot.com

For more information about RoadsignUSA, please visit: www.junewoest.com

About Little Woodrow’s: The original Little Woodrow's “by the railroad tracks.” The first location is a little smaller and also a little quieter than the others. Inside you’ll find a big long bar full of regulars enjoying the company of one of our long time bartenders. This place has pool tables, dart boards, trivia, Golden Tee Live, and an on-call naptician! For more information, visit: www.littlewoodrows.com

Universal Nap Church

Breaking News: Napping Affects Performance has grown into a church! Beginning in January 2011, the Universal Nap Church will be having monthly nap gatherings.

Universal Nap Church is open to all faiths.

More to come!

Rebirth Ritual

"Rebirth" is a ritual event that took place at El Rincon Social on Sunday, November 14. A truck bed filled with blessed fluid was utilized for participants to be buried/submerged in and then reborn as part of a ritual of beginning anew.

The rebirthing process...












Photos courtesy of Michael Brims and Emily Sloan.

Napping at St. Rose in Albany, New York

Joan Horgan, sister of Mary Horgan a recipient of a Mobile Nap Delivery, has organized a community nap inspired by Napping Affects Performance at College of St. Rose in Albany, New York. The event took place on Thursday, November 18, 2010.

According to Joan, "It is amusing that when I mention the idea to adults on campus they look at me a little funny but the students jump all over it with excitement saying how much they can’t wait."

Joan will be sending pictures to post!

Wash Day

Wash is a performance about cleansing, ritual and intimacy. A full day at Gallery 1724 in Houston, Texas was devoted to the washing of hair including anointing with oils. There were twenty participants and numerous observers. It was a nicely paced day of washing and talking. During Wash, conversations included memories of September 11, 2001, memories of having their hair washed by their mothers, and the love and pampering of having their hair washed by someone else. We also discussed comparisons to foot washing and baptism, vulnerability, and the intimacy of touch, particularly to the head.

The performance was documented through photographs and sound.




Above photo courtesy of Dean Liscum and Sophie Simons.



Photos courtesy of: Heather Korb, Dean Liscum, Merilee Minshew, Sophie Simons, and Emily Sloan.

Floor before, with foils...
Floor after, foils with imprint from traffic...

Napping Affects Performance and RoadSignUSA: napping at Little Woodrow's bar

Mari Omori's and June Woest's "Napping Affects Performance" sign went up yesterday on the 4200 block of Bellaire Boulevard in Houston, Texas.

Friday, August 27 (tonight!) from 5pm to 8pm, a naptician from Napping Affects Performance will be providing naps next door to the sign at:

Little Woodrow's
4235 Bellaire Blvd.
Houston, Texas 77025
713-661-5282

Please join us!

RoadsignUSA: napping affects performance

Above image: Self-portrait by Mari Omori

Artists Mari Omori and June Woest have a project called RoadsignUSA which will be recognizing the Napping Affects Performance project through a billboard to be unveiled next Thursday, August 26. The location of the billboard is: 4200 block of Bellaire Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77401. On Friday, August 27 from 5-8pm, Napping Affects Performance will be nearby at Little Woodrows with a mobile nap station set up for napping. Come join us!

From June Woest's blog:

Mexican farmers take siestas after lunch. In China, males are seen on their factory breaks napping in public on rigid vehicle barricades. Since Japan has embraced corporate naps for public health, maybe it is not counter intuitive to think American women and men can learn to relax during the day and still compete in the labor market of global competition.

RoadsignUSA #4 recognizes Emily Sloan's performance art and participation project titled, (NAP) Napping Affects Performance. It makes the conflict between sleep and stress more public, and more fun. The image for this roadsign was drawn by artist, Mari Omori, was inspired by Emily's project (NAP). Mari's reclining figure mimics her actual experience with (NAP) at one of Emily's Power Nap Stations around the city.

Emily, a social worker at one time, will deliver Mobile Naps to your workplace- and as part of the (NAP) experience, bring a cot, clean linens, pillow, face mask and ear plugs.

Call 713-582-1198 or eMAIL emily@emilysloan.com

http://www.nappingaffectsperformance.blogspot.com

CLEANSE

CLEANSE took place at The Foundry on Saturday, July 31, 2010. While participants lay on their backs they were wiped clean three times with a cloth soaked in cool water. They were then wiped down with tea tree oil to cleanse and offer a tingling sensation. This was especially refreshing due to the heat and humidity of the August evening. Afterwards, they were allowed to rest until they were ready to "rejoin" the world. Eucalyptus oil burned throughout the process.

This process is symbolic of how bodies are customarily wiped clean after death. As the participants were not dead, they had the gift of returning the the "rest" of their lives.