Blurred lines. Alternative definitions. Mixed mediums. In States of Transmutation, Andrea Peña melds sculpture, choreography, and sound into a “universe” that explores the tension of a posthuman epoch from a queer and embodied perspective. Using silicone, aluminum, metal chain, rock, concrete, industrial hardware, and kinetic elements, Peña designs an environment that embraces notions of fluidity by challenging the way society considers the physical dimension of the body. 

At once deeply human and starkly industrial, the work imparts visceral sensations that bring viewers into their own bodies, all while questioning the very notion of “the body” itself. The act of questioning is, after all, where Peña’s work lives. A celebrated choreographer and visual artist, Peña is known for her political examination of the places between definitions.  

In Peña’s universe, the audience is here to explore the intersection of humans and technology. This is the post-industrial body—complete with posthuman prosthetics, pleasure and pain dialogues, and manifestations that extend beyond gender. But even in her decentering of the human experience, this is not science fiction, nor is it an examination of people becoming machines. Instead, it is a conversation where Peña invites the audience’s eyes, ears, and nervous system to the very core of this complex convergence. 

As viewers move through the space, they are met not with individual works of art, but rather several components of a whole work—much like movements comprising a symphony. The seemingly disparate parts of the whole work in harmony—sometimes through dissonance—to create the very questions that Peña asks of herself and of her audience: “how does the individual express itself within this environment that is efficiency-driven and highly industrialized?” 

At its core, States of Transmutation is a call and response. A reflection and re-definition. A framing and reframing. For all its sonic and kinetic movement, Peña’s symphony presents opposing restraint and dissonance. It is this tension, these tiny pinpricks in the fabric of what is known, that offers the possibility of something new and unexamined.    

Viewers will undoubtedly leave with more questions than they have answers. And that is exactly the point. 

Peña was selected for exhibition by a panel of Mattress Factory alumni artists through International Open Call. Mattress Factory believes that alumni artists, those artists who have completed a residency and exhibition with us, know better than anyone what our resources and capacity can accomplish and how special our community is. The panel offers a perspective unlike any other, one that is deeply familiar with the museum, engaged in many aspects of the contemporary art field, and invested in pushing our exhibitions program in new directions.  The artist alumni panelists were Vanessa German, Sohrab Kashani, Christopher Meerdo and Sarah Oppenheimer.