Oscar Miguel Santos

performance | music | design | education | curatorial | arttrax radio podcast | cv |




  2. Variedades ‘Little Central America: 1984″

    I was a member of the collaborative ensemble cast of Variedades “Little Central America: 1984” presented by Grand Peformances

    VARIEDADES, the performance series conceived and curated by Rubén Martínez, explores Los Angeles history most often by presenting under-told stories from the point of view of its visionaries and outsiders. Two of its episodes have been filmed by KCET for television broadcast: The Ballad of Ricardo Flores Magón and VARIEDADES on Olvera Street (part of the station’s award-winning Artbound series).

    “We present this Central American and American story to make visible a forgotten chapter in our history and to shed light on the deep context of violence and trauma that today’s refugee crisis stems from –violence that we approach with the healing salve of art.”

    https://www.grandperformances.org/more_info.php?show_id=550



  3. MOCA MUSIC

     
    Our collaborative live music performance group Sister Mantos, performed at The Musueum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles as part of the Spaceland Presents MOCA MUSIC series.



  4. N enter S

    LACE, Hollywood, CA, 2015

    A collaborative performance and conversation with Odeya Nini. We were invited by Native Strategies to dialog about our work and perform with and for each other. The conversation was recorded on a mock television set inside of LACE. More information about this performance series can be found here. The conversation was transcribed in a publication available here in pdf.



  5. En Caso De Enciendo

    Arista 1701, Mexicali, Mexico, 2015

    A collaborative performance with Juan Manuel Gudiño and Julio Salcedo as part of ‘3 Days in Mexicali’.
    I sang and played the bass as Juan Manuel Gudiño created a painting using tortilla packages, cal (quicklime), and ańil (indigo). Julio projected videos during the performance.



  6. I Only Have Eyes For You / It’s Too Late Baby

    Confusion is Sex III, Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Area, Los Angeles, 2013

    I walked around a tree while I silently held my hand out to viewers in attendance.
    I approached the viewers and if they took my hand i led them in a walk around the tree.
    I walked around the tree and gazed into their eyes and sang the songs “I Only Have Eyes For You” by the Flamingos and “It’s Too Late” by Carole King . I then led them away from the tree and let go of their hand.

    photos by : Jorge Espinosa



  7. Church

    Church- A collaborative performance and installation, Human Resources, Los Angeles 2012

    “The performance will be losely based on the structure of a catholic
    mass: an entrance procession, a priest, music, other speakers, an exit
    procession.
    The idea is to create an experience that is a new church for
    freaks, punks, and queers. ”

    Oscar Miguel Santos
    January 2012

    Procession- Rafa Esparza

    Entrance- Rafa Esparza & The Church Band (Alex Black, Allen Bleyle, Tamala Poljak, Oscar Miguel Santos)

    Sermon- Paloma Parfrey, Alice Cunt & The Church Band (Alex Black, Allen Bleyle, Larissa James, Tamala Poljak, Oscar Miguel Santos)

    Exit- Alice Cunt & The Church Band (Alex Black, Allen Bleyle, Larissa James, Tamala Poljak, Oscar Miguel Santos)

    _______________________

    The following performance and installation were held on January 26, 2012 at Human Resources Los Angeles – HRLA

    Participants: Rafa Esparza, Oscar Miguel Santos, Alex Black, Tamala Poljak, Allen Bleyle, Larissa James, Paloma Parfrey, Alice Cunt

    Installation: Rafa Esparza, Alice Cunt, Oscar Miguel Santos, Jeffzilla

    Organized by Oscar Miguel Santos
    Psychic Director: Asher

    Documentation: Donovan Vim Crony

    _______________________

    The performance was part of ‘HR IN JAN’ a performance series organized by Dawn Kasper and Carole Ann Klonarides that was commissioned by The Getty and LAXART as part of Pacific Standard Time.



  8. Tree For Ten Hours

    UCLA Sculpture Yard, 2002

    I dug myself into the ground from the waist down.
    I impersonated a tree for ten hours.



  9. Bellevue Park

    Bellevue Park, Los Angeles, 2002
    Documented by Christian Vallejos

    A video of my performance at Bellevue Park in Silverlake, CA.
    My hands and feet were bound with duct tape.
    I also had duct tape over my mouth.



  10. The Bad Axe Massacre of 1832

    In Accordance With Necessity, curated by Dawn Kasper
    FIVE THIRTY THREE    , Los Angeles, 2009
    Photos above by Wild Don Lewis

    In 1832, approximately 150 members of the Saux and Fox tribes were massacred by the United States Army at a location known as Bad Axe (near Victory, Wisconsin).

    I created a video where I read accounts written by witnesses of the massacre and a presidential speech by Andrew Jackson. I created a soundtrack to the video using the songs ‘Nowhere to Run’ and ‘Where Did Our Love Go’ by The Supremes. During the performance I stood in front of the projection and danced and sang along to the music.

    Click to read the historical sources used for this performance

    “That those tribes can not exist surrounded by our settlements and in continual contact with our citizens is certain. They have neither the intelligence, the industry, the moral habits, nor the desire of improvement which are essential to any favorable change in their condition. Established in the midst of another and a superior race, and without appreciating the causes of their inferiority or seeking to control them, they must necessarily yield to the force of circumstances and ere long disappear.”
    Andrew Jackson
    Fifth Annual Message
    December 3, 1833
    Fellow Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
    http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29475

    “Our braves, but few in number, finding that the enemy paid no regard to age or sex, and seeing that they were murdering helpless women and little children, determined to fight until they were killed! As many women as could, commenced swimming the Mississippi, with their children on their backs. A number of them were drowned, and some shot before they could reach the opposite shore.”
    — Black Sparrow Hawk
    http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/teachers/lessons/secondary/bh_badaxe.asp

    “The battle lasted upwards of three hours. About 50 of the enemy’s women and children were taken prisoners, and many, by accident in the battle, were killed.
    When the Indians were driven to the Bank of the Mississippi, some hundreds of men, women and children plunged into the river, and hoped by diving, to escape the bullets of our guns; very few, however, escaped our sharp-shooters.”
    –Addison Phileo
    The aboriginal races of North America: comprising biographical sketches of eminent individuals, and an historical account of the different tribes, from the first discovery of the continent to the present period, and a copious analytical index, By Samuel Gardner Drake, J. W. O’Neill, 1860

    “But the Ruler of the Universe, He who takes vengeance on the guilty, did not design those guilty wretches to escape His vengeance for the horrid deeds they had done, which were of the most appalling nature. He here took just retribution for the many innocent lives those cruel savages had taken on our northern frontiers.
    During the engagement we killed some of the squaws through mistake. It was a great misfortune to those miserable squaws and children, that they did not carry into execution [the plan] they had formed on the morning of the battle — that was, to come and meet us, and surrender themselves prisoners of war. It was a horrid sight to witness little children, wounded and suffering the most excruciating pain, although they were of the savage enemy, and the common enemy of the country.
    It was enough to make the heart of the most hardened being on earth to ache.”
    –Surgeon’s Mate John Allen Wakefield (eye witness account)
    http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/diary/003030.asp



  11. Arrival Departure Absence Forfeit

    Trauermusik: HumanEar Summer Concert Series, Curated by Shoghig Halajian and Alex Black of eighteen-thirty, and HumanEar’s Jason Grier.
    eigheen thrirty, Los Angeles, 2009

    The video and performance were created for the Trauermusik series organzied by HumanEar. The video was displayed as I performed an improvised vocal performance. All sound and images were pulled from Jacques Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.



  12. Rooftop Noise

    eigheen thrirty, Los Angeles, 2008

    Video of a noise performance at the eighteen-thirty short film festival.
    Equipment used:
    EH Deluxe Memory Man, EH Smallstone, Ibanez Tubeking, SIB Mr. Echo, Boss DD7 all looped together through a Fender Squier amp.



  13. 1884

    eighteen-thirty, Los Angeles, 2007

    I created a list of 1884 different musical note combinations (3 note combinations, ex: A,A,A# and A,A,B etc.).
    Click here for the  1884_Note_Combinations list.pdf
    I also made a list of 1884 different primary color combinations (3 color comginations ex: Red, Red, Red-Orange and Red, Red, Yellow etc).
    Click here for the_Color_Combinations list.pdf
    Click here to view the 1884 Color Combinations.pdf

    Visitors to the performance were asked to participate in a series of chance based games to chose 9 note and 9 color combinations from the lists.
    Each of these 9 chosen color combinations were then projected for a minute each in the exhibition space while a group of 10 musicians used the note combinations to perform a live improvised score.