Julie Libersat:
Safety Moves
Performative Installation
Safety Moves (2024) is a performance and sculptural installation that subverts the aesthetics of public utilities and safety equipment to underline the precarity of our present moment. Multiple crises exist, yet we remain complacent in the face of genocide, environmental destruction, and the loss of our civil liberties. By using safety equipment to evoke celebrations and joyous occasions, such as parade floats and color guard performances, the work highlights the strange and unsafe circumstances of living in late-stage capitalism. Safety Moves nudges viewers to reflect on how secure they feel in public spaces and with public utilities that should provide this liberty.
Bio
Julie Libersat is an intermedia artist and assistant professor of art and design at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, TX. Born in Kerala, India, and raised in Philadelphia, she received her BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, followed by an MFA in New Media and an MA in Art Education from the University of North Texas. Libersat has exhibited in the U.S. and abroad, including shows at the Dallas Contemporary Museum, School 33 in Baltimore, the Currents International New Media Festival, and Museo de la Ciudad de Mexico. She has received several awards, including a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Grant and the Velma and Davis Dozier Travel Grant from the Dallas Museum of Art. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, and Sculpture Magazine.