Part of the Practice
What is social practice, and how does it affect the ways we navigate our lives and make change in the world? Join artists, scholars, and collaborators from Social Practice CUNY on Part of the Practice, hosted by Catherine LaSota, as we discuss our individual art practices, our communities, and the role of socially-engaged art in our work for social justice.
Part of the Practice
12: Models and Processes with Esther Marveta Neff
In this episode of Part of the Practice, host Catherine LaSota is in conversation with SPCUNY Fellow Esther Marveta Neff. Esther talks about their collective/thinktank/entity PPL, and their work in the Ph.D. program in Theatre and Performance Studies at the Graduate Center CUNY. Also covered in this episode: different definitions of models, the concept of logical space, agency and community, the joys of pedagogy, and...vibes!
FULL TRANSCRIPT of Episode 12 available here.
About our guest:
Esther Marveta Neff is the founder of the philosophy thinktank, performance collective, and organizational entity PPL (Panoply Performance Laboratory). Neff/PPL make large-scale + durational performance projects including “operas of operations," prefigurative “institutions” such as the PPL space (see Institution is a Verb, published by the Operating System), Brooklyn International Performance Art Foundation (BIPAF), and Affection Research Center (ARC). Neff also organizes the platform PERFORMANCY FORUM, for para-capitalist performance/ritual/social practices, and makes "solo" and participatory performances. Their writing has been published in Routledge and Palgrave Macmillan books, and in many magazines and journals. Neff’s libretto/philosophical “operating manual” Embarrassed of the (W)Hole has been published by Ugly Duckling Presse. Neff is currently completing a PhD at CUNY Graduate Center and is an adjunct professor at Hunter College. In January 2025, she was in residence at PiAR in Kumasi. Ghana.
More about Esther Marveta Neff:
websites: estherneff.com, panoplylab.org
Instagram: @thefenserf, @panoplylab, @performancyforum
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Thank you to our podcast editor Jade Iseri-Ramos, and thank you to Gaius LaSota for our Part of the Practice music.
Part of the Practice logo courtesy of Maliyah Mohamed.
Social Practice CUNY is funded by the Mellon Foundation.