"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.

Southern Naptist Convention Public Service Announcement

Nikki Araguz, Michael Galbreth, Mattress Mack, Stephanie Saint Sanchez and Cressandra Thibodeaux testify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmEQQQ5GYoM

What is a Naptism?

What is a naptism?
When someone believes in and is committed to a regular practice of napping, they are ready for naptism. Naptism involves an outward professing of this belief and then a ceremony of being laid to rest and doused with feathers. The believer then awakens to a new lease on life provided by regular restful, healing naps and the abolishment of any shame regarding napping.

Naptisms will be offered this Sunday, June 12 during the Southern Naptist Convention hosted by 14 Pews, 800 Aurora St., Houston, TX 77011.

THE NAPTURE!

The Napture is based on the prediction that humans are increasingly becoming insomniacs. There is already evidence pointing to it being true as humans stay awake for 16-18 hour stretches on average while most animals engage in napping throughout the day (just think of how much our pets sleep!). The invention of the light bulb has affected this change as have societal pressures. People staying up through the nocturnal hours fuels insomnia and increases the usage of environmental resources while daytime sleeping is demonized as laziness. Technology is also keeping people "wired" for longer hours.

Naptists believe we need sleep for survival. If not practiced, it is predicted that on the set date of October 21, 2011 non-nappers will be left awake in an insomniac hell.

Southern Naptist Convention, Where Two or More Gather to Nap!

The Southern Naptist Convention is congregating Sunday, June 12 at 1pm at 14 Pews. Please join us for napping, naptisms, and preparing for the uphttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifcoming NAPTURE!

This is a very busy weekend as the Southern Baptist Convention is also taking place!

The Southern Naptist Convention is open to all faiths!

For more information, please contact Emily Sloan at 713-582-1198 or emily@emilysloan.com or visit: www.nappingaffectsperformance.blogspot.com

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.

Napping Affects Performance, Universal NAP Church, and the Southern Naptist Convention are organizing the "NAPTURE: Don't be Left Awake!" event to be held in Houston, October 21, 2011 at 14 Pews. For more information, please visit: www.nappingaffectsperformance.blogspot.com

About 14 Pews: Located at 800 Aurora St., Houston, Texas 77009, this Houston landmark is the oldest white wooden church in the Heights. Built in 1924, it has housed the Sunset Heights Church of Christ, Aurora Picture Show, and is now home to 14 Pews. 14 Pews is a non-profit microcinema providing regular screenings of independent documentaries and feature films, along with 4 annual film festivals and several affordable film/video educational classes. For more information, please visit: www.14pews.org

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.

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...

Emily Sloan: Wash, one day only performance

Wash is a one day performance of the washing of hair. Wash will be performed by Emily Sloan and the participating audience. Recent performance work by Sloan includes Napping Affects Performance, an ongoing project including performances inspired by/while napping which launched at Art League Houston this past May 2010. Sloan also organized this summer's "Salon des Refusés", an exhibition of artworks rejected from Lawndale Art Center's "The BIG Show."

Wash will take place on Saturday, September 11, 2010 from 9am to 5pm at Gallery 1724, 1724 Bissonnet St. (between Dunlay and Woodhead), Houston, Texas, 77005.

“It is the ritual situation which makes the hair “powerful”, not the hair which makes the ritual powerful.” --E. R. Leach

This event is free and open to the public.

Napping Affects Performance at Little Woodrow's

Mari Omori and June Woest created a "Napping Affects Performance" sign on the 4200 block of Bellaire Boulevard in Houston, Texas.

Friday, August 27, from 5pm to 8pm, Napping Affects Performance administered naps next door at Little Woodrow's (4235 Bellaire Blvd., Houston, Texas 77025) from 5-8pm. There were many inquiries about the project and the time slots filled with five nappers napping from 15 minutes to an hour.

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!

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.

Cholla's Protest: The Nap-Site Stays!

Cholla, an artist who has taught at Art League Houston for over forty years, leads a group protesting to keep the Nap-Site at Art League Houston. Earlier during the run of the exhibition, Cholla started a petition to keep the nap room. It is not too late to sign it!

Cholla (above).


Tomorrow is the last day of the Nap-Site at Art League Houston. A trained Social Worker will be on hand for consultations.

Power Nap / Cuddle Puddle with Bedtime Story

On March 27, A power nap was arranged in the middle of Performance Art Houston's performance night at El Rincon Social. Audience members were invited to refresh themselves with a power nap-cuddle puddle in the upstairs loft. A timer was set for 10 minutes, and I read the group a short story called "Not Tired" from Else Holmelund Minarik's "Little Bear's Visit". Afterwards, everyone was refreshed for experiencing the remaining performances.

Ok, so we were in a cuddle puddle, but what's your favorite position?
Saw this article on Yahoo..."What does your sleep position reveal about your personality?"

This will be interesting to see for nappers during the (NAP) project at Art League Houston.

Photo courtesy of Matthew Glover.

Puppie Pile Nap in a Bar

On January 29, a puppy pile was performed at NOTSUOH in Houston, Texas. A score of "Please join me in a puppy pile" was presented on a sign for the audience to read and decide whether to participate. I chose the score and had painter Heather Strange paint the words on the sign for me. This was to bring the event even further from my control as I knew it already would be performed in public. Writer and educator Emily Bludworth read Miranda July's short story "This Person" while I lay on blankets next to the sign. Three people joined me.



Heather Strange (above)

Start of pile...(below)





Emily Bludworth reading next to pile.






Audience at Notsuoh.

Naps May Improve Performance Later in the Day is an article from NPR discussing the benefits of napping before spending time learning.

Photos courtesy of Richard Clark.

Napping Affects Performance...

Napping Affects Performance (NAP) opens Friday, May 14 (6-8pm) at Art League Houston and runs until June 25. NAP is a generosity (free) service and a participatory/performance project offering people a place to take a nap. NAP’s relation to performance is two-fold: its benefits on day-to-day functioning and the context participants are placed in while experiencing performance art whether a reading, interaction, etc.

Participants may drop-in or make an appointment to nap by calling 713-582-1198 any time during Art League Houston hours. Special group/community events including bedtime stories and lullabies will be scheduled throughout the run of the show.

The projected affects of NAP are a more restful community, a unique experience of performance art, and a new context for artists performing.

NAP can be followed at www.nappingaffectsperformance.blogspot.com. For an appointment to nap, please call: 713-582-1198.

Location:
Art League Houston
1953 Montrose Blvd.
Houston, TX 77006
May 14-June 25, 2010